e u ro p e a n information c e n tre No. 49 - 1985 for n atu re Editorial H.R.H. Princess Marie Aglae of Liechtenstein 3 conservation European insects m .c.d. Speight 4 Projects of the Council of Europe m. c. d. Speight 7 European Invertebrate Survey m. M eyer 8 Protection of invertebrates in Switzerland: legislation and reality w. G e ig e ra n dc. D ufour 10 fter a cold winter we look forward were counted, 60 years later (1972) are found; in marshy land 30 and in dry Ecological living conditions to the spring, to early morning only 30; over two-thirds of the colour­ thinly grassed areas up to 40 or more. ful butterflies have disappeared. An of insect communities L. Bigot 12 A birdsong, to the first blossoms at Environmental awareness, appreciation the edge of the woods and the first initial Red List of Endangered Butter­ of nature and environmental issues have Symbol for the Council of Europe s nature butterflies fluttering in the meadows. fly Species (Macrolepidotera) in Baden- increased greatly since European Con­ conservation activities. The current situation of dragonflies J. van Toi 15 Alas, the number of butterflies we are Württemberg lists 400 species, meaning servation Year in 1970. That is gratifying able to see on our walks is dwindling that nearly 40 % of the species that and credit is due to the Council of fast. Many of those we saw regularly once occurred there are endangered. Europe. But at the same time, the pres­ S. Ingrisch 20 Orthoptera in our childhood settling on flowers Yet nobody hunts the harmless and sure on habitats has increased and in the garden or in the fields are un­beautiful butterfly. No-one hunts the nature’s equilibrium has to a large Naturopa is published in English, French, known to our children. And when didApollo, for example, and yet it is amongst German and Italian by the European Why this decline? N.M.CollinsandJ.A. Thomas 23 extent been lost sight of in industrial you last find Peacock or Painted Lady the rarest species. Its caterpillar feeds Information Centre for Nature Conserva­ development, the growth of technology only on the thick leaves of the stone- tion of the Council of Europe, BP 431 R6, caterpillars on stinging nettles? in agriculture and forestry and “prog­ crop, a plant resembling the houseleek. F-67006 Strasbourg Cedex. An amazing diversity A .D em irsoy 28 This issue of Naturopa is devoted to ress” in biological and biochemical Like other endangered butterflies, the Editor responsible: Hayo H. Hoekstra the familiar and yet strange invertebrate research. More and more alarmed scien­ Apollo is a specialised feeder that Conception and editing: animals. Familiar because we come tists and thinkers are calling for an ethic can only live where its food plant Annick Pachod International laws: into contact with them almost daily, that embraces our relationship with 29 grows, in dry, often stony, grass-tufted Adviser for this issue: a worrying insufficiency h. e. Back yet strange because we know so little plants and animals, with the whole of places. The number of such unwooded Marc Meyer, European Invertebrate about these so varied species. Even nature. places not intensively cultivated is Survey (EIS) for entomologists, they hold untold steadily decreasing. Land is either farm­ Co-operation through the Council of Printed by: Georges Thone, mysteries and unanswered questions. ed intensively or built on. The result Europe in the field of nature conserva­ Liège (Belgium) Whilst there are “only” some 45,000 spe­ is increasing pressure on the com­ tion and the environment is of great Repros: Gam Grafic, cies of vertebrate animals, the inverte­ paratively few remaining natural spaces. importance for the preservation of our Herstal (Belgium) brates num ber some 1.5 m illion species. Wild plants and animals are left with natural heritage. The various projects Articles may be freely reprinted but it 97 % of all wild animals are inverte­ fewer and fewer habitats. The variety of the European Committee tor the would be appreciated if reference is brates. The interested layman thinks of species dwindles, nature is the poorer. Conservation of Nature and Natural made to the source and a copy sent to the primarily of individual types of insect In the case of butterflies this is amply Resources provide valuable basic in­ Centre. The copyright of all photographs (beetles, butterflies, bees, wasps and documented: on fertilised or heavily formation about the occurrence of is reserved. dragonflies), crabs and spiders and grazed land, only about five species European plant and animal species The opinions expressed in this publica­ various kinds of molluscs (snails, mus­ tion are those of the authors and do not and about Europe’s typical habitats sels and octopodi). We may also be necessarily reflect the views of the and ecosystems. Better known to the familiar with the many “worms”, jelly­ Council of Europe. general public are the Council’s cam­ fish and sponges, none of which have paigns for the protection and conserva­ What a a jointed skeleton. Of great importance tion of endangered biotopes and the in nature, too, is the largely unknown Convention on the Conservation of world of animal microorganisms. This European Wildlife and of Natural Habi­ Cover: Aeschna cyanea variety of life, the miracle of nature, is (Photo Anne and Jacques Six) tats. For Liechtenstein, the Council of now endangered. The purpose of our Back: Photo G. Lacoumette our understanding of invertebrates, their Europe’s smallest member state, co­ hat a crowd! efforts to preserve biotopes intact, to Captions to illustrations p. 16-17: habits and their way of life. If only operation in nature and environment And)( imperator It is difficult to evaluate the keep water, air and soil healthy is to as indicators of the “health” of our protection is particularly important. We 1. Very young larva number of invertebrates in the pass on the variety of living com­ natural environment, they are indis­ are accordingly prepared, as far as we (Photo Anne and Jacques Six) world, for every day new ones are munities to posterity. We are responsible 2. Larva eating a mud-worm pensable and deserve our bending over are able, to participate actively in the discovered, and every day there are for this legacy. The extinction of indi­ (Photo Anne and Jacques Six) backwards to guarantee their survival. work of the European Committee for 3. The adult insect releases itself from some which disappear for ever. Although vidual plant and animal species and the Conservation of Nature and Natural the exuviae most of these species are little known the sickness of whole communities (Photo Anne and Jacques Six) The next edition of Naturopa (No. 50) Resources and to make our contribu­ should be a clear signal to those in 4. Newly emerging dragonfly and therefore often not much loved, will be devoted to the theme “Young tion through the National Agency of (Photo Anne and Jacques Six) they are nevertheless of major import­ people and volunteers for the protec­ authority that life itself is in danger. the Council of Europe’s Information 5. Freshly emerged, the young imago ance. Centre for Nature Conservation. has as yet no colouring tion of nature”, and will be published Scientific research has confirmed and (Photo Anne and Jacques Six) This edition of Naturopa deals with in the context of International Youth documented, for example, the disquiet­ HRH Princess 6. The male with his final colours the work already done in Europe or Year. ing decline of butterflies. In one Swiss (Photo Anne and Jacques Six) planned for the near future to improve H.H.H. locality in 1913, 95 species of butterfly Marie Aglae of Liechtenstein of pollen as food, showy flowers would poses. But no more than perhaps 1 % years of trial and error experimentation not exist at all and the world’s plants of the available species has as yet been into how to perform the functions they would carry only wind-pollinated flowers recognised as worthy of exploitation. each perform today, conducted through the process of evolution. Each insect like the diminutive and unspectacular In Europe man rarely uses insects as species thus represents a remarkable inflorescences of grasses and pine trees. food, but in the tropics a wider range store of encapsulated information, far Plant/insect co-evolution has produced of species is exploited, with beetle superior to anything man can achieve on the one hand gloriously coloured, larvae, termites, and even locust-oil as a result of a few years of “research deliciously scented and attractively figuring in the diet of different cultures. shaped flowers to act as sign-posts and development” work and which will and attractants for insect flower-pol- Recognition of the potential utility of remain available to us for tapping for linators and, on the other, a host of predatory and parasitic insect species only as long as each of these species insects specialising in the use of flower as controls of pests has led to the set­ endures. pollens and nectar as food. Fully 80% ting up of biological control agencies of flowering plants (i.e. plants other throughout the world. Insects are also than ferns, mosses, lichens, fungi, etc.) being used progressively as experi­ The plight of the insects are pollinated by insects. The fruit, mental animals, both in the laboratory vegetables and other crops pollinated and in the wild. Significant recent ad­ A recent Council of Europe study by insects include: pears, apples, vances in genetics, population dynamics, demonstrated that in Europe approxi­ peaches, apricots, cherries, almonds, understanding of energy-flow in the mately 20 % of the European butterfly strawberries, raspberries, dates, figs, biosphere, etc., have in this way come species are threatened with extinction oranges, lemons, tomatoes, aubergines, from studies of insects.