Saturday Star

Conservati­on of tiny creatures is critical to human survival

- MICHAEL SAMWAYS

HUMANS like to think they rule the planet and are hard wired to do so. But our stewardshi­p has been anything but successful. The last major extinction event, 66 million years ago, was caused by a meteorite. But the next mass extinction event, which is under way right now, is our fault.

Geologists have even given this era in the history of the Earth a new name to reflect our role: the Anthropoce­ne, the age of humans.

It’s the first time in the history of the Earth in which one species dominates all the others. These “others” numbers are probably around 10 million. The vast majority are the invertebra­tes, the animals without backbones. Not all are so small – some squids and jellyfish are several metres long or across.

Most, though, are small and unassuming. And they are hidden in plain view. They are busy maintainin­g the fabric of the world around us. They are the warp and weft of all natural systems. They make the soil, pollinate the flowers, spread seeds, and recycle valuable nutrients back into the soil. They are also food for many birds that are so loved, and keep other small animals in check by eating or parasitisi­ng them.

Yet most of us are oblivious of the many roles of these mostly small, even tiny, animals. If all their services were gone tomorrow, many plants would soon go extinct. Crops would be lost overnight. Many birds would die from lack of food, and soil formation would largely halt. The knock-on effects would be huge as food webs collapse, and the world would quite literally fall apart.

Saving small animals

Future generation­s depend on these small animals, so the focus must be on increasing awareness among the young.

Research has shown that children are intrinsica­lly interested in what a bee, cricket, butterfly or snail is. Their small world is at the same level as this small world of insects and all their allies without backbones.

Yet strangely, while we care about our children, we care so little for all the small creatures on which our children depend on now and into the future.

Children must be shown that the bee is keeping the flowering plant species alive and well, the grasshoppe­r is recycling scarce food requiremen­ts for plants, the millipede is making the soil, and the ladybug is stopping pests from eating our food. Showing children that this miniature world is there, and that it’s crucial, is probably one of the best things to do to help them survive the future in this world of turmoil.

Being aware of what the various species actually do for maintainin­g ecosystems is crucial to understand­ing how complex the world around us is.

Pointing out that a bee is intimately connected with flowers and so seeds are produced, and an ant is the cleaner of the forest floor, taking away all the debris from other small animals, and the caterpilla­r is feeding the soil by pooing on it.

Then we can conceptual­ly jump to the whole landscape, where there are millions of little claws, mandibles and tongues holding, munching and sucking nectar all the time, though we rarely see it.

Natural communitie­s

A good way to understand this complexity is to view a small community of 1 000 species. This can lead to half a million interactio­ns between the various species.

Yet the natural communitie­s around us are usually much larger than that. This makes understand­ing this world mind-boggling, and conserving its complexity too unwieldy.

What this means is that for conservati­on, while we use conceptual icons, like the bee and the butterfly, the actual aim is to conserve landscapes so all natural processes can continue as they would without humans.

Conservati­onists have developed approaches and strategies that maintain all the natural processes intact in defined areas. The processes conserved include behavioura­l activities, ecological interactio­ns and evolutiona­ry trends.

This umbrella approach is highly effective for conserving the great complexity of the natural world. This doesn’t mean particular species are o ve rl o o ke d . S mal l - c r e a t u r e conservati­onists work on and develop strategies that work at three levels.

The first is at the larger scale of the landscape. The second is the medium scale of the features of the landscape – like logs, ponds, rock crevices, patches of special plants, among many others. The third is the still smaller scale of the actual species.

The third is about a conceptual scale because some species need large spatial areas to survive. At this fine scale of species, conservati­onists focus attention on identified and threatened species that need special attention in their own right. The endangered Amatola Malachite damselfly, which lives in the Eastern Cape, is a case in point.

The common thought is that it’s only tigers, whales and parrots that need conserving. But there are hundreds, if not thousands, of small creatures that all need special conservati­on focus like bees, for example.

This focus becomes increasing­ly and critically important every year, if not every day, that passes. It’s crucial to think and conserve all these small animals that make up the platform for our future survival on the planet.

Time is short as the Anthropoce­ne marches on. Putting in place strategies that conserve as many animals as possible, along with the rest of biodiversi­ty, is not a luxury for the future.

New strategies are possible, especially in agricultur­al and forestry areas where the aim is to optimise production yet maximise on biodiversi­ty conservati­on and the maintenanc­e of natural ecosystem function.

Samways is professor of conservati­on ecology & entomology at Stellenbos­ch University

 ??  ?? Time is short as the Anthropoce­ne marches on.
Time is short as the Anthropoce­ne marches on.

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