Tranche 2 Action Plans: Volume 4

For more information about the UK Biodiversity Action Plan visit http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-5155 UK Biodiversity Group Tranche 2 Action Plans Invertebrates THE RT HON JOHN PRESCOTT MP DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS Dear Deputy Prime Minister, BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLANS I am writing to you in my capacity as Chairman of the United Kingdom Biodiversity Group (UKBG) about the latest group of 75 species action plans which UKBG have completed and published in the present volume. The volume contains 103 species action plans (all for invertebrates) and a technical introduction by the chairman of the editing group which drafted the plans, highlighting some of the conservation issues. Also included are 28 species statements. For some of these species, monitoring is required to confirm whether there is any significant decline in their populations. For others, which have not been recorded for over 10 years, search is the only current action possible and action plans will need to be prepared if new populations are discovered. This is the fourth volume in the Tranche 2 Action Plan series, and follows hard on the heels of the third which was published ten days ago. We expect to produce two more volumes this year, one containing the action plans for the remaining terrestrial priority habitats and species, including further invertebrates, the other covering coastal and marine priority habitats and species. As ever, these action plans have been produced through the hard work of Government departments and agencies, voluntary conservation groups, land managers and academic institutions to set challenging but achievable targets to conserve and enhance these species. As in earlier volumes, these new species action plans are accompanied by a list of lead partners (often a NGO) who will take the lead in their implementaion, supported by a contact point (always a Government agency or department). We are still looking for lead partners for some of the action plans. The new action plans are accompanied by a table showing their indicative costings so that those charged with implementation are clear about the scale of the financial consequences. As the phase of plan preparation draws to a close, UKBG will focus more sharply both on action plan implementation and the degree to which targets and objectives are actually being achieved. I am confident that those most concerned with implementing the plans will work enthusiastically for their success. But, in many cases, such success required reconsideration of wider policy, and consequent changes to programmes and practice too. A notable example is the Common Agricultural Policy which has not been helpful for wider biodiversity objectives. It is welcome to the Group that the Government’s policy is to seek reform of the CAP and that its agri- environment schemes take account of biodiversity priorities. But in the UK also, Government and its Agencies, and other sectors too, will need to take a hard look at their policies and practices to see how they might operate in a more biodiversity friendly way. Often, this requires not that particular acticities should cease but that thay should be planned and underatken in such a way as to take account of existing reservoirs of biodiversity, with a view to conserving and enhancing them. The growing number of local biodiversity action plans and the information they contain should make it rather easier for existing biodiversity resources to be identified and opportunities for their enhancenebt to be grasped. On behalf of UKBG, I commend to you and your ministerial colleagues the action plans set out in this volume. SOPHIE LAMBERT Contents Page 1. Introduction to the invertebrates ..............................................5 2. Priority Species Action Plans and Species Statements ...............................7 Coleoptera Action Plans ............................................8 Statements ............................................70 Diptera Action Plans ...........................................74 Statements ............................................96 Hymenoptera Action Plans ..........................................100 Statements ...........................................143 Lepidoptera Action Plans ..........................................147 Statements ...........................................209 Other invertebrates Action Plans ..........................................221 Statements ...........................................238 Annexes 1. List of abbreviations and acronyms ...........................................242 2. Action plan costings ......................................................243 3. List of species, with Contact Points and Lead Partners ............................247 1. Introduction to the invertebrates 1.1 With more than 30,000 species of terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates in the UK there are inevitably exceptions to any generalisations regarding their life history. Nonetheless, many species share common factors in their life history that make them particularly vulnerable to the changes in land use that have prevailed in the latter half of the twentieth century. Four aspects are especially important: 1. most invertebrates have an annual life cycle and require their specific habitat conditions to be present each year; 2. the ecological niches occupied by invertebrates can be highly specialised; 3. many insect species require different conditions for each stage of their life cycle (egg, larva, pupa, adult); and 4. many species have limited powers of dispersal. 1.2 Changes in the physical structure of habitats, for example through an increase in grazing, can be catastrophic to invertebrate populations, leading to local extinctions if nearby refugia are not available. Invertebrates are dependent on continuity of management within range of colonisation if they are to sustain populations in the medium to long term. These detrimental changes may even be more subtle, such as the loss of flowerheads through untimely cutting, and may affect relatively small areas of a particular habitat that may be of crucial importance to certain species. As semi-natural habitats, especially in the lowlands, become more and more fragmented the possibility of species colonising adjacent patches becomes increasingly less likely. For our more specialised species the result is a steady loss of populations at a national scale, heralding concerns about eventual extinction. 1.3 The greatest threats to invertebrate populations in the UK come from habitat mis-management or loss and increasing fragmentation of habitats. Often these threats arise from ignorance of the significance of particular features (or combinations of features) within habitats. Nature conservation can address these problems by (1) sympathetic habitat management, (2) a greater awareness of the vulnerability of invertebrate populations, and (3) by sharing knowledge on the locations of vulnerable species and their ecological requirements. 1.4 These three elements are at the heart of practically all of the Species Action Plans contained within this volume and their instigation would go a long way towards ensuring that the biological objectives are achieved. However, it is also true that knowledge about the status, distribution and ecology of many species is imperfect. This is inevitable given the vast number of invertebrate species and the relative paucity of specialists and enthusiasts. Very few invertebrate species have been the subject of detailed studies in the UK and the starting point for most plans is to undertake surveys to establish status and to carry out research to identify ecological requirements. In some cases, particularly with regard to species considered to be endemic, there is uncertainty over taxonomic status. This is an area of research that must be given greater attention if we are to be fully aware of the contribution the UK can make to global biodiversity. 1.5 For many species it was considered that it was premature to be dogmatic about specific actions before survey and research has been completed. In these cases actions have been proposed that are commensurate with our level of knowledge of the species. It is proposed that lead partners/steering groups will refine (by agreement with all key agencies involved) individual actions necessary to achieve the plan objectives once sufficient information is available. However, 5 where species have been subjected to autecological research (especially in the case of Species Recovery programmes, etc), more detailed and specific actions have been included. Of course, action should not be deferred indefinitely until autecological studies have been completed. In most cases habitat management can be implemented using basic principles that address the four key aspects of life history discussed above. To account for this, target dates assigned to actions have frequently been staggered to reflect stages of implementation in line with the accumulation of knowledge. 1.6 For a proportion of species, reintroductions are proposed as a possible means of increasing the number of UK populations or of restoring historic range. Few invertebrate species have been the subject of reintroduction attempts and hence there is little experience to build on for restoration of former populations. Without autecological research to inform establishment projects, failure rates are likely to be high and therefore reintroductions have only been proposed for species where there would appear to

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