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Initial Report on Invertebrate Survey Findings from Across St Helena

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Initial Report on Invertebrate Survey Findings from Across St Helena Initial Report on Invertebrate Survey Findings from across St Helena Liza Fowler, Sheena Isaac, Natasha Stevens St Helena National Trust DPLUS040 Securing the future for St Helena’s endemic invertebrates 1 Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Method ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Results .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Are invasive predatory species impacting native species and their habitats? .................................. 4 What are the effects of seasonality on invertebrates? ..................................................................... 8 What is the invertebrate diversity and abundance difference between natural, restored and non- native habitats? .............................................................................................................................. 15 The effect of conservation efforts for habitats on invertebrates. ................................................... 46 Are there shifts of Invertebrate due to Global Warming? .............................................................. 47 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ 48 References ...................................................................................................................................... 49 1 2 Introduction This document reports on the findings of an invertebrate survey on the island of St Helena, primarily the results of malaise traps operated from January to November 2017. This is complemented by other work undertaken during DPLUS040. The aim of the survey was to determine species abundance, diversity and distribution over a longer time period than previously undertaken by any invertebrate survey. Several specific research questions relating to invertebrates were examined, including effects of invasive predatory species, seasonality, conservation efforts, diversity and abundance, and global warming. The survey was part of the St Helena National Trust’s ‘Securing the future for St Helena’s endemic invertebrates’ project. It was funded by the Darwin Initiative through funds allocated by the UK Government. St Helena is a small volcanic island, situated in the South Atlantic Ocean, approximately 1,800km from the west coast of Angola and 3,200km from the east coast of Brazil. It is a British Overseas Territory which is hugely important in terms of its biodiversity, with a high level of endemism. Around 30% of the endemic species of the UK and its Overseas Territories are found on St Helena (Churchyard 2014). This small island is home to many endemic plants, birds, and marine life, but most importantly of all, St Helena hosts a vast array of invertebrates unique to the island, making it a global hotspot for invertebrate biodiversity. Figure 1. Map showing location of St Helena (businessinsider.com) St Helena is approximately 10 miles by 6 miles in size, and has a diverse range of habitats, ranging from desert to cloud forest, with the high central ridge (the Peaks) reaching 823m above sea level. Small pockets of native vegetation persist in isolated locations, but most of the island is vegetated by non-native, often invasive species. The outskirts of the island are primarily rocky and barren slopes, denuded of native vegetation by the historic presence of 2 3 goats, with rabbits and other pest species now continuing to prevent natural recolonization of many native species without intensive restoration efforts. This legacy of environmental change is likely to have had great impacts on invertebrate biodiversity on St Helena. Despite significant changes to its environment, there are still known to be over 400 invertebrate species endemic to St Helena. Three of the highest profile species are presumed extinct (Giant Earwig Labidura herculeana, Giant Ground Beetle Aplothorax burchelli, the St Helena Darter Dragonfly Sympetrum dilatatum), and other easily recognisable species are at risk of extinction if no action is taken to protect and conserve them (e.g. the Critically Endangered Spiky yellow woodlouse Pseudolaureola atlantica). However, a lack of baseline information about invertebrate abundance, diversity and distribution, as well as limited identification skills on island, has hindered efforts to protect and conserve these. The survey reported in this document has greatly improved knowledge on St Helena’s invertebrates. Questions that was aimed to be answered during this project(change to question) Aims of the surveys during this project: 1. What are the impact of invasive predatory species on native invertebrate species and habitats? 2. What are the effects of seasonality on invertebrates? 3. What are the effects of conservation efforts for habitats on invertebrates? 4. What are the invertebrate diversity and abundance differences between natural, restored and non-native habitats? 5. What are the Assessments made on shifts in distribution of invertebrates attributable to global warming? Background Historic surveys, previous knowledge and projects Many well-known entomological and amateurs have visited and contributed to collections and publications on St Helena’s fauna dating back as far as the 1700’s. Joseph Banks 1771, Charles Darwin in 1836, the Swedish Academy of Sciences contributed in 1853, In 1860 Mr. C. Bewicke made a small collection of beetles, and Thomas Vernon Wollaston (1822-78) arrived in 1860 competent to naturalist John Charles Melliss who later arrived with his wife Edith in September 1875 to 1876. Captain W.H. Turton in 1884 to 1886 interested in subfossil but collected extinct endemic snails and encountered Arthur Loveridge in 1957 that retired on island and began studying the island's fauna. More recently, the invertebrates of St Helena have been subject to several surveys over the islands history. Targeted surveys have included an expedition by Belgian scientists in the late 3 4 1960s (1965-1967), a Central Peaks Survey by Mendel, Ashmole and Ashmole (2008), and surveys around the construction of the St Helena Airport (Ashmole and Ashmole, 2004, Pryce and Paajanen, 2014). These have most often focussed on a single season or specific areas of the island. Their research outcomes were generally focussed on the taxonomy and biology of species, with the ecology and habitats, with the role of invertebrates in the environment, being of lower priority. Buglife recognised that there was a gap in knowledge and understanding of St Helena’s invertebrates, so they supported the project Bugs on the Brink that saw a more holistic and ecosystem-based approach to habitat restoration on St Helena. This resulted in strategic and practical conservation working towards halting the loss of St Helena's endemic invertebrates. Bugs on the Brink had successfully integrated invertebrate work of the St Helena Government (SHG) and NGOs, resulting in a five year invertebrate strategy. Two hundred and eighty five invertebrates are now protected through new legislation and red listing started that initially started as just sixteen invertebrates. Ten weeks of training saw forty- one training opportunities delivered for SHG and NGO staff and a dataset collated with 3,000 species baseline and 10,000 records; and an invertebrate guide and reference collection established. There was also extensive engagement with Saints (local people from St Helena) with 77 education events with 1720 opportunities for children; and with 39 teachers trained on invertebrate education and wide audience of islanders . This survey builds on a previous project, Bugs on the Brink, run by the St Helena National Trust, to improve capacity on the island to identify and record invertebrates, and improve recognition of this important biological resource. While there are over 400 extant endemic species, there are also numerous non-native and invasive species that have colonised the island since the island was discovered in 1502. While the past 30 years have seen increased conservation efforts on St Helena, these have primarily focussed on improving the outlook for endangered plant species, with less attention on the smaller inhabitants that may also benefit from conservation action. This project built on the work achieved by the Bugs on the Brink project, provided an important baseline to further improve invertebrate conservation management and track changes in distribution and/or abundance of species, both native and non-native. Method (1) Survey methods The survey used standard invertebrate trapping methods including malaise traps, pitfall traps and targeted hand or sweep net searches, as well as opportunistic observations. Complementary 4 5 to this are two reports completed by visiting specialists on the project Dr Howard Mendel, a Coleopterist from the Natural History Museum, London, and Dr Timm Karisch, a Lepidopterist from the Museum for Natural Science and Prehistory, Germany (Karisch 2018 and Mendel 2018) Malaise traps are passive and capture predominantly flying invertebrates that are on an intercept path or those that crawl up into the collection
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