See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289506984 Conservation of European dragonflies and damselflies Chapter · December 2015 CITATIONS READS 4 151 3 authors: Geert De Knijf Tim Termaat Research Institute for Nature and Forest Dutch Butterfly Conservation / De Vlinderstichting, Wageningen, Netherlands 183 PUBLICATIONS 923 CITATIONS 29 PUBLICATIONS 488 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Juergen Ott L.U.P.O. GmbH 29 PUBLICATIONS 1,178 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Diversity and Conservation of Odonata in Europe and the Mediterranean View project Monitoring species for Natura2000 View project All content following this page was uploaded by Geert De Knijf on 30 April 2020. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Conservalion G. Oe Knijf, T. Termaat fr J. Ott Bern Convention in 1982, incorporating it in 1992 in "Although it is species themselves that typically have the the Habitats Directive which came inro force in 1994 greater impact on public consciousness when they are and was updated several times following the ioclusion threatened with extinction, it is their habitats, and the of additional countries into the European Communiry. ecosystems and biotopes that contain those habitats, This Directive has several implications and resulted in that must constitute the primary targets tor protection, a list of species proteered in all member srates of the because no species can persist tor long without a suita ­ European Union, either directly or through rheir habi­ ble place in which to live" tat(s) . Besides, in several countries of Western and Cen­ (Corbet 1999) tral Europe some or even all dragonfly species and their babirats are officiallv proteered by narional legislarion. Introduetion An overview of these different legislations is given Efforts to proteet and conserve dragooflies need to below and their impli cations for rhe conservation of focus on the protection, conservation and management dragonflies and their babirats are discussed. of their habitats, particularly the aquatic babirats where they reproduce. That of course does oot meao The Ramsar Convention that actions should notsametimes be directed at specif­ The Convention on Wetlands of Internati onal lmpor­ ic species, especially those less mobile, rare or endemie tance, known as the Ramsar Convention, is an inter­ to limited areas. governmenral treaty that provides the framework for On a global scale, the most urgent need is to conserve national action and international cooperation for rhe a wide range of habitats in nature reserves, giving pri­ conserva:ion of wetlands. lt is the only global treaty ority to streams in rainforest and surviving lowland that deals with a particular ecosystem. An assignment marshes (Moore 1991d in Corbet 1999). Biotopes for as a Ramsar site is mostly based on the prese11ee of dragonilies, terrestrial as wel! as aquatic ecosystems, (water) birds, often called rhe 1 ° o rulc of the total are being lost or degraded all over the world at an population of a species \Vhich is present. The criteria accelerating rare (Corbet 1999). On regional and local for identifying wetlands of International importance scales, conservation efforts should be focused on the are not only applicable to birds but also roother taxo­ most valuable and threatened habitats. In most parrs of nomie groups although this has to our knowledge Europe the large variation in biomes in combination neve r been applied to dragonflies. The following rhree with human pressure on many habitats makes conset­ official criteria used in the Ramsar Convention could vation planning a complex matter. Hence it is an be applied to dragonflics : impossible task to propose general conservation meas­ • A wetland should be considered internationally ures for all European species (Sa hlén et al. 2004). Each importantifit supports vulnerable, endangered, or region must look at the species pool present and take critically endangered species. appropriate measures. • A wetland should be considered internationally The fust plea for the proteetion of ome European important if it supports popularions of plant and/or dragooflies goes back to the early seventies, when animal species important for maintaining rh e biolog­ Durnoot (1971) drew attention totheneed for protee­ ica] diversiry of a particular biogeographic region . tion of six species in Europe. Forty yea rs later, the li st • A wetland should be considered internarionally of proteered species has expanded to sixteen through important if it regularl~ · supports 1 % of the indi­ the European Habitats Directive in its last version, and viduals in a popularion of one species or subspecies an assessment was made of all European dragonfly spe­ of wetland-dependent non-avian animal species. cies, resulting in the first European Red List of dragoo­ flies (Kalkman et al. 2010). This means rhat localiri es which harbour populations of (nearly) endemie European species such as Pyrrhosoma Legislation and Legal Proteetion elisabethae (A lbania, Greece), Boyeria eretensis (Crere Species of dragooflies and their habitatscan be proteer­ - Greece), Somatochfora borisii (B ul ga ria , Greece, Tur­ ed on a global, European and nationallevel. The oldest key) and Macromia splendens (France, Portugal, Spain ) and at the same time the only global treaty of impar­ could be incorporated into thi s internationally proreered tanee related to dragooflies is the Ramsar Convention. nen.vork. Also the localities of ve ry rare species within a lt is seldom taken into account when it comes to pro­ specific biogeographic region could be included. This is teetion of dragooflies but is nonetheless very important rhe case, among orhers, for Coenagrion hylas in rh e for the conservation of wetlands and the species they Alpine region, Somatochfora sahlbergi in the Boreal host. The only pan-European treaty is the Convention region, Aeshna caerulea in rhe Atlantic region in Scat­ of Bern, which aims to proteet European wildlife and land and the large populations of Leucorrhinia peeto­ natura! habitats. The European Union (EU) ratified the ralis in rhe Ariamie Biogeographic region. Conservation ----------------- ------------------------ 27 The Bern Convention cies, including migratory species. This convention The Convention on the Conservation of European included annexes listing plantand animal species requir­ Wildlife and Natura! Habitats, called the Bern Conven­ ing proteetion but does not refer to networks of proteer­ tion, is a binding international legal in strument in the ed areas. A total of 16 dragonfly species are listed, 14 of field of nature conservation that aims toproteet the nat­ them being also included in the Habitats Directive ura! heritage in Europe (including the Russian Federa­ (Table 5). Only Calopteryx syriaca and Brachythemis tion, Georgia, Armenia and Turkey). lts aims are to con­ fuscopaliata were not considered for the Habitats Direc­ serve wild flora and fauna and their natura! habitats and tive, as these two do not occur in Europe. In the Euro­ to promate European cooperation in that field. lt places pean Union member states, the Bern Convention has particular importance on the need to proteet endan­ been implemented by means of the Habitats Directive gered natura! habitats and endangered vulnerable spe- which has effectively replaced the Bern Convention. Table 5. Dragantlies which are either mentioned in the Bern Convention, or listed in Annexes 11 or IV of the Habitats Directive, or which are endemie to Europe or threatened in Europe or the EU27. '' The three subspecies of Cordulegoster hellodico have been each assessed and were classified as Critica! Endangered (ssp. kostolio) or Endangered (ssp. hellodico and ssp. buchhofll). 28 ---------------------------- Atlas of the European dragantlies and damselflies Outside the EU member states, the Bern Convention has andrepresent western Europe disproportionately. With not been fully implemenred in national legislation and the extending of the EU in 2004 ro include most coun­ therefore has not resulted in better proteetion of drag­ tries of Eastern Europe, only a few species were added onflies and their habitats. to the H abitats Directive species li st. In addition, many of the species threatened in the 1980s have recovered, Habitats Directive partly due to proteetion afforded by the Directive, and Since its implementation in 1994, the Habitats Direc­ are no Jonger considered to be strongly threatened, tive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation although they are still good indicators of habitats need­ of natura! habitats and of wild fauna and flora ) has ing protection. Camparing the li st of Annex species become a fundamental and increasingly important way with the list of threatened species in Europe (Kalkman of implemenring nature conservation within the Euro­ et al. 2010), it is clear that species in needof proteetion pean Union. This measure and the Birds Directive at a Europea n scale are not covered by the H abitats (1979) rogether provide the main pieces of legislation Directive (Ca rdoso 2011). Therefore fo r adequate pro­ ensuring the proteetion of nature in Europe. One of the teetion of dragonfli es in Europe rhe se lection of ~ p ecies regulations of the Habitats Directive is that member li sred in the H abitats Directive should be updated. states must designare SpecialAreasof Conservation for some 220 specific types