The EC is leading an initiative to protect the insects polinizadoresConoce the history of the animal that migrates from Africa to Europe across time and space and the tiempoInsectos: animals essential and undervalued
Spain is home to over 45,000 species of insects . An estimate that exceeds, for example, the number of vertebrate species known worldwide. “There is increasing interest in this fauna, but the funds for your conservation are virtually zero,” laments Eduardo Galante, president of the Spanish Association of Entomology (AeE). “A large number are threatened (95.000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature); however, a ridiculous figure of them (553) are categorized in Red Lists”, underlines this professor of Zoology of the University of Alicante.
Of insects, that participate in all the ecological processes of terrestrial habitats and freshwater, depends on the production agricultural . And also act as the “scavengers of nature” , to degrade the dead bodies and excrement of other organisms, and by fostering the fertility of the plants. “There are too many prejudices, and ignorance with respect to them: less than 2% are pests or spread disease”, said the expert.
In his opinion, the insects only can be protected by conserving and enhancing their habitats. Therefore, the Esa provides scientific oversight to the organizations, individuals or administrations that wish to establish in a particular territory a book entomological . “It is a figure that gives the own Eee from 2012 because, for the moment, any legal provision in force the acknowledge; even if there are autonomous communities that want to support it and incorporate it into their programs of protection of the natural environment, such as Castile and León and the Valencian Community”, confirms the researcher.
Less than 2% of insect species are pests or transmit disease,
The first few bookings entomologicas in Europe emerged in the Kingdom United . “In other countries of the continent, such as France , Germany or Swiss , the insects have a reputation of lacking in Spain, where there is a large scientific knowledge” about this kind of animal, continues Gallant.
The Biological Reserve Campanarios de Azaba (Salamanca) was the first enclave in Spain that had the distinction of booking entomological in the year 2013. It is an estate of 600 hectares where the area has expanded progressively over the Foundation Nature and Man (FNYH) in the context of a Life programme by the european still in force for the safeguard of the west iberian. “After a decade of efforts aimed at avoiding the intensification of the soil and of the lagoons of the space, the number of butterfly and beetles has been increased in the area,” says Carlos Sanchez, president of the organization.
Maiden of the waves red. Butterfly species whose population tries to preserve in the Biological Reserve Campanarios de Azaba – FNYHInterconexión natural living
In the framework of other project Life, “Miera” , which gives its name to a river of the Cantabrian mountain range that acts as an ecological corridor within the region, the FNYH has been presented to the Spanish Association of Entomology (AeE) the application of two spaces located in Cantabria in order to acquire the reserves category entomology. It is, in particular, the Site Cornueva-Rubalcaba , in the town of Liérganes, and the Park River Regatta of the municipality of Medio Cudeyo. In the first case, the name would affect 40 acres, which are used for grazing activities, and timber, and nearly two hectares in the second, because it is an enclave of urban areas.
“The organizations we cannot legislate, we can only encourage the greening of the natural environment through voluntary agreements of custody of the territory , such as that we signed with the Municipality of Liérganes, which we lease four plots (29 ha) of the Landscape Cornueva-Rubalcaba, and with the Board of residents of Ceceñas, which belongs to the Fluvial Park of the Race,” indicates Sánchez.
The european legislation through the Habitats Directive, precisely, protects the beetles (Lucanus cervus), which is present in the Place Cornueva-Rubalcaba, such as the horse of the devil (Coenagrio mercuriale), insect predominant in the Fluvial Park of The Regatta. “The trigger for the creation of a reserve entomological may be one or a group of species included in any listing or provision of law. But, then, for designing conservation programs adequate, one must examine the set of relationships that have emerged between the different living beings that share the same place and time,” says Galante.
should Be to examine the relations that arise between the different living beings that share space and tiempoCiervo steering wheel – FNYH
With respect to the foregoing, from FNYH highlight that, during the eight censuses carried out between April and August 2016, in The Regatta were inventoried five species of insects belonging to different orders, being the most striking, due to the increased number of individuals detected, the rare and threatened caballito del diablo (37 adults). The beetles, for its part, would fulfill the role of “umbrella species and flagship” in the Place Cornueva-Rublacaba. Your protection would imply that of other insects with similar ecological requirements and could be enhanced, moreover, by the own local population, knowing of this great beetle mandibles prominent, point to the entomologists of the organization.
Regeneration of trees and environmental education
“The current scarcity of dead wood that records the Place Cornueva-Rubalcaba due to the likely removal of the wood fall on the part of the neighbors of Liérganes affects the beetles”, are José Manuel Pereira and Miriam Palomo. Plight to which is added the action of the herds of goats , that leave the soil clean of seeds preventing the regeneration of the oak forest, the main food source of this insect decomposer. Hence, the FNYH has raised measures of planting and exclusion of livestock from certain areas.
Despite all this, the racking common in sheep inside the forest has also led to the formation of a trail “easily accessible and without unevenness” that could be used as “route interpretive self-guided” to bring closer to the citizenship, “the values that treasures and seeks to perpetuate the future reserve entomological,” adds Blanca Serrano, coordinator of the Life Miera, supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
have Already been installed, in change, posters interpretation , pyramids of dead wood and a hotel for insects in the Park River Regatta, given that it receives daily many visitors and in its vicinity was located a school.
harmonious coexistence between the traditional uses of the mountain, and insects is possible
The organization has imagined the two reserves entomology to strengthen the biodiversity in the river Miera. “The harmonious coexistence between the traditional uses of the mountain, and insects is possible. We trust, also, to reach agreements with universities and research centres to carry out periodic inventories of these beetles and damselflies that are so important and unique for their character as indicators of the quality of a ecosystem , ” concludes Serrano.
An authentic and universal network of reserves entomology
“The Place Cornueva-Rublacaba and the Fluvial Park of The Race just to be studied by the board of the Spanish Association of Entomology (AeE), that has decided to its approval as reserves, and entomology, and the only thing left for the official communication to their drivers,” says its president. The next, almost certainly, will be located in Ibi (Alicante) , inside the Botanic Garden of the Torretes Font-Red, whose scientific direction corresponds to the CBIO, a research institute of the University of Alicante.
The Station of Hydrobiology manages the University of Santiago de Compostela in the municipality of Villagarcía de Arosa ( Pontevedra ), and the Association of Naturalists in Palencia, which aim to establish a reserve of butterflies in the Monte Viejo , they have also moved their efforts to the Esa. “Our ultimate goal is to standardize a model (based on a previous proposal, a subsequent appointment and a follow-up to a constant) that will contribute to consolidate a genuine network of reserves entomology with a vocation to extend beyond our borders”, argues its president.
“One of the specialists most reputable in Biodiversity is often said that if mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate again and would go back to the rich state of balance that existed ten thousand years ago. But if the insects disappeared, the environment would collapse into a c years , ” recalls Galante, to paraphrase the entomologist and american biologist Edward Osborne Wilson.
