A new year, a new image?

Cook strait weta, pic by Mike Locke

While some may think a kiwi is the cutest, and a jewelled gecko is just stunning, My greatest inspiration comes from the invertebrate world – its hard for me to imagine not seeing the charisma in a Katydid or the elegance of a snail, but it seems I am not the norm.

It is this apparent trend towards the vertebrate that is placing some of our most unique and precious creatures in peril. I hesitate to call it narrow mindedness, I just think there is more ‘PR’ going on for the so called cute and fluffy (and particularly thick) whereas the wonders of an armor plated insect are easy to overlook.

The weta are a weird and wonderful group ranging from the voracious ground weta to docile giants, with wild looking cave dwellers and my favorites the tree weta (most likely to be the one in your gumboots in the morning). It is thought that weta occupied the niche filled by small rodents overseas, eating seeds and grains, some fruit and scavenging small insects and dead things. Some have even been found to carry and deposit the seeds of our native shrubs – although how effective they are at dispersing them is yet to be discovered.

The giants of this group (genus Deinacrida) encompass the heaviest insect in the world and would probably have filled the role of the rat, now that the rats have arrived there’s a struggle for a niche/survival and a juicy weta seems to be a good (albeit well wrapped) snack for a hungry rat. The smaller species are better able to hide, and don’t represent such a good stomach full although the effects of mice and rats on these populations is not well studied.

What we do know is that the giants aren’t doing so well, and now few survive on the

Giant giants, pic by Luc Bussiere

mainland – most have been exiled to offshore islands free of hungry mammals. The Mahoenui giants are one of the few left on the mainland, and this is only due to the coincidence of a couple of usually undesirable invaders. The gorse there has been shaped by goats and is so dense that any soft bodied critter on the hunt for a snack can’t get in – making it a safe-haven for these armored beauties.

And now the conservationists come in – it’s not easy or cheap to maintain any reserves in NZ, and one such as this with specific requirements and a particular vulnerability to fire is no different. So why is it people are more likely to donate to save the thickest bird on the planet?

I don’t mean to disregard the importance of our native birds, only to give the ‘underdog’ a mention – these are pretty amazing creatures so lets take care of them!

I’m also interested in what saves a species. Is it campaigning? Relative uniqueness? Importance to the ecosystem/ food web? Support of someone famous or charismatic? of the ‘charisma’ of the animal itself – and is this why plants are so easily forgotten?

is it a contest of cute?

Pic by Alex Hague

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Andrew for the article.

Meet the Mahoenui Weta – video here.

Article on weta and rats – building a new niche?

it’s a Bio – diverse issue?

Weta, Pic by Urby

2010 is the international year for biodiversity; it’s also a time of accelerating extinction rates and widespread intensification of agricultural practices. New Zealand is a world leader in the export of agricultural products and increasing demands are necessitating changes in the way land is managed.

Bodiverisity is something we know we should be supporting in our local systems. A balanced environment rich in species has the ability to suppress pests, support favourable species, and ameliorate wastes – and much much more, this alone is more than enough reason to support them right?

Wrong – much of this is being overlooked in favour of the increased economic benefits of intensive farming – demands on primary production are increasing and the economic benefits of intensive farming are too good to last.

While intensification of agriculture, in New Zealand and across the globe, seems like a good idea in the short term, the long term consequences are just not worth it. With the loss of biodiversity and weakening of ecosystems we are loosing the ability for environments to deal with everything we throw at them – and are risking the loss of the services they provide.

I believe the key in changing mindsets and practices in the agriculture community lies in realising the monetary value of the services provided by healthy ecosystems. What is it going to cost us to get these things when they are no longer available for free? Then people will be more prepared to invest in protecting them now.

Grasshopper, pic by Cypherone

My academic thesis topic has evolved since I last discussed it, Now I want to know what messages are out there on the topic of biodiversity and agriculture, where is emphasis placed and how effective is the available information at creating change – because if knowing something doesnt effect the way you live your life – whats the point?

Any thoughts or opinions are appreciated – much more thinking is to be done, but thats the idea as it is.

A Taxonomy call to arms

Clearwing butterfly, pic by e³°°°

I’ve talked about biodiversity before, and we know it’s important to support diverse environments as they support all sorts of good things we get out of our environment.

But what’s that got to do with taxonomy? and what even is taxonomy?

Taxonomy is the science of describing and identifying species. It’s the challenge of categorizing living things into groups of increasingly alike individuals – and it’s not as easy as it sounds.

The system currently in use categorizes things by increased specificity, a series of ‘Russian dolls’ getting smaller and smaller until only the most alike are contained within a species group. Which is fine if you want to categorise say a native mantis: first it’s an animal, an arthropod, an insect etc… And each successive grouping has more specific definitions like body structure and number of legs.

But problems arise at the finer end of the scale – what is a species?

A widely accepted concept of species is the biological species concept – if  animals actually or theoretically interbreed they are a species.

huh?

how do you know if animals will theoretically interbreed – do you put them in a box somewhere and see if they do the dirty? And what if they do interbreed but only under unusual conditions? – a horse and a donkey are considered different species but they can breed. So we narrow our concept again to those that can produce fertile offspring?

Not so fast – what’s natural about a liger.

And what about parthenogenic species like our very own New Zealand stick insect? because they don’t mate at all does

Stick insect, pic by Robert Engberg

that make every lineage a separate species?

How about genetics? if they are genetically the same they can be separate species right?

Only the problem is, as a rule there are genetic differences between all living things, and how much difference is enough to call it a different species?

In the end it’s a careful balance between all kinds of ideas of what a species is that helps us decide, and it’s not an easy task to get right. So why even bother? Isn’t it enough to realize there are lots of amazing creatures out there? isn’t taxonomy derived from the very human need to put labels on everything?

Well, while a set of labels might not be an ideal way to describe the natural world it is a necessary part of our human world. In order to preserve something we need to know it exists. And a function of the bore that is legislation is that its far more difficult to protect a place than it is an animal – but protecting something under law requires it to have a name.

We need to know whats out there before we can properly protect it, and in this constantly changing world it’s a race against time!

Biodiversity

pic by Suburbanbloke

So 2010 is the international year for biodiversity.

In a world suffering one of the the greatest recorded rate of extinction ever, what does that even mean?

There are easily more than 30million animal species alive today, and the estimation is likely to be a wild underestimate as those that are unknown or undescribed are impossible to guess.

Insects alone have an estimated between 6 and 10 million species, and because of the cryptic lifestyle of many, it’s hard to imagine we will ever know whats out there, really.

But thats no reason to give it up completely, this is where the taxonomists come in. Taxonomists are those hardworking geeks that are meticulously identifying and catalouging the immense and stunning complexity that is the world that is around us. The problem arises with extinction, and that there aren’t enough taxonomists to keep up. We need to slow this extinction, and take more care in finding out whats around us. A taxonomists ‘call to arms’ might also be handy.

……….. Ok, thats enough doom and gloom – we need to do this, and fix that. It’s true, but there is hope – and it’s in our control. The thing is we can make a big difference, just by taking a little more care in how we treat our world.

Climate change has been a popular choice to blame for this decline, but the truth is the issue is far more complicated than that.

An area I am interested in is farming, its the biggest export industry in little old New Zealand and it it one of the big players in biodiversity issues across the globe. In response to increasing economic demands and advances in technology, our use of land is intensifying and this is affecting the type and number of species that can survive there. It seems obvious that acres and acres of monoculture are going to cause problems for biodiversity – but whats being done about it?

How about using biodiversity to support farming? Can we make changes that are both economically and ecologically beneficial?

Why does it even matter that all these critters are going extinct, if we don’t even know what they are will we even miss them? Well aside from their intrinsic right to life, and the fact that this planet belongs to all the things living on it (a thought which may, and is often debated. But is my way of thinking) is the enormous value we have got from the natural world. We have learnt to much from the world around us the classic example of which is finding a cure for cancer – but as suggested in the links above, theres more than one reason to take care of our critters.

The pool of creatures that makes this planet what it is is drying up, what are you going to do about it?

The bug doth make the farm

Fresian cow, pic by Maurice Pullin

 

We were once hunter gatherers, roaming the plains for berries and protein rich bugs, stalking wild animals to fill our bellies. But increases in population size and a more settled culture requires a more consistent food source, which is where we turned to the domestication of wild animals to provide our nutritive needs. 

New Zealand is very much seen as a farming culture, the greatest of these (in size and income) is Dairy. Considered by some to be an ecological disaster in progress. 

But what’s to do with bugs? well the success in growing just about anything depends on the bugs you do and dont have in your system. For the best grass growth you at least need worms to turnover the soil, and to avoid the destructive grass grub and porina moth means more for your cows to eat, and turn into milk.  

pic by FOE

In my opinion, the problems with Dairy can be boiled down to scale and intensity. 

A healthy environment including a diverse insect population can cope with  a surprising ammount of mistreatment. If we support strong healthy environments can we alleviate the negative effects of dairy?

We can promote bugs responsible for waste processing, pollination, and pest control. But ony if we can take care of them.

A homogenised environment such as that dominated by a handful of species of pasture grasses and one species of large mammal (all introduced) is not ideal. What happened to those wild verges, hedges and shelterbelts and ‘waste’ areas not fit for pasture? It’s not just about the replacement of native habitats, the removal of those patches of  ‘wasted’ land leaves little refuge for our beneficial insects.

The value of dairy has pushed the agriculture industry towards more, larger and more intense dairy farming operations. You only have to drive through the canterbury plains to see the difference, wide open spaces dominated by giant irrigation booms –  I wouldnt like to be a cow when the wind blows. 

Does the only hope for bugs reside in areas such as organic farms where beneficial insects are supported and natural insectivores encouraged for management of pest insects. Or where riparian planting (good for allsorts of reasons) provides that bit of variation in habitat?Variety is the spice of life, lets have some.

Other dairy links: Waste management, Sustainable dairy, NZ dairy company.

An inordinate fondness for beetles.

Bugs work to our advantage in all kinds of ways, from silk production and a  nutritious food source, to cleaning museum specimens and weed control.

If you can think of it bugs do it, and if bugs do it then a beetle probably does it. Beetles are the most abundant group on the planet.

They are characterized by their hardened forewings (called elytra) which protect their soft bodies and handily open out to expose the hind-wings for flight. The elytra have  another purpose in acting as aerofoils for added lift (especially handy in the fatter beetles).

With more than 350,000 known species they make up 25% of all known life!

And there lies the key, “known life”.

How much do we really know about what’s out there? Beetles beetles everywhere! and bugs certainly rule our world, whether we know it or not.

The real question is what do we know is there?

There are an estimated 0.1% of insects and 1.7% of other invertebrates (critters without backbones) that we have named and  described. Naming an animal plays an important part in recognizing what’s out there, so we can take care of it/ will know when it’s in trouble.

Naming species is key to preserving biodiversity. For example, if you know there’s a unique or endangered animal in an area you can protect the area in their name, and by protecting that area will benefit a myriad of other plants and critters. It is far harder to protect an area based on it’s value as a natural space. Even so-called protected areas are coming under threat.

The problem is, we don’t. Critters are going extinct faster than we are describing them. Our taxonomists (the people who describe and name new species) cant keep up and we need to make a change.

2010 is the international year for biodiversity. So lets take care of our world, if we know it, we can understand it, and if we can understand it maybe we can protect it.

Not better, just different.

While the Territory was truly stunning, the adventure didn’t end there. The next stop, 6 hours drive through scrubby savannah, was A bustling metropolis in the west – Kununurra. Kununurra is a sweet little town thriving on an interesting combination of tourists mining and horticulture, the latter made possible by a reliable supply of cheap water from lake Argyle.

Lake Argyle is a dendritic lake formed behind the Ord river dam, and fills what was once the station Argyle downs, and now holds 12 times the volume of Sidney harbor. It ensures that the ord river flows throughout the seasons and it is because of this that many animals flock here for water in the big dry.

Its this flocking of animals to the river that supports the tour guides line – its better for everyone, providing water all year round to the farmers and the wildlife. But my response to that is ‘different not better’ the animals here have survived here without our interference, they have evolved ‘coping mechanisms’ for the harsh environment. The river never did dry up completely, there were always deep pools and billabongs that provided food and sanctuary for those waiting for the rain, an when it rains it pours, rainstorms can cause the water to rise meters within minutes in some parts of the river so obviously this waterway hasn’t been completely tamed but are human influences mediating our environment too much?

Are we homogenizing the world, making way for those animals adapted to a middling environment to reign supreme and loosing the ‘masters of specialization’ that rule the harshest environments?

….and despite all that the link between water and life is undeniable:

Any corrections to my ID’s are much appreciated, i’m not terribly familiar with the Auzzie fauna