Wetlands are some of the world’s most important habitats, supporting a great variety of wildlife as well as playing vital roles in the environment, such as helping to clean water and control flooding.

Every year, February 2nd marks World Wetlands Day, an annual celebration that aims to raise awareness of the importance of wetland habitats.

Bewick’s swans in flight

The Big 9 Challenge

In the run-up to World Wetlands Day, One Show presenter Mike Dilger has been on a 9-day whistle-stop tour of WWT’s Wetland Centres all round the UK, so knows exactly what’s worth going out to see right now.

You can find out more about his challenge in the video below:

Mike’s latest report said: “The UK is one of the world’s great places to experience the spectacle of thousands of swans, geese and ducks grazing across a dramatic and beautiful wetland landscape. Winter is a great time to get out there because our bird numbers are swelled by winter migrants from the Arctic.”

An rare and elusive wetland inhabitant, the bittern is now recovering in Britain

“World Wetland Day is a great time to get your wellies on and find out just how amazing these habitats are. Don’t be afraid of the slightly muddy and soggy reputation of wetlands, that’s exactly why they’re so fantastic for wildlife. Wetlands are among the most abundant habitats in the world, but you really don’t have to travel the world to explore them. Ponds, lakes, marshes, riverbanks and moors are great places to spot the likes of dragonflies, water voles, otters and swans.

The easiest access to these, with guaranteed abundance of wildlife, is to find a Wetland Centre near you. Wetland Centres are designed and managed to bring close encounters with nature to as many people as possible. It’s incredible to see the variety and abundance of birds and other creatures that live in and visit our wetland habits.”

Common otter eating eel

“In nine days I’ve seen something different and amazing at every WWT centre (where you get the full wetland experience and the added advantage of having somewhere dry and a nice cup of tea after all the fun).”

Wetlands are not just good for birds and mammals – they also support a range of other wildlife, including this common blue damselfly

For details of locations and what’s on, on World Wetlands Day and beyond, visit http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit/.

If you can get to WWT’s London Wetland Centre today, you’ve a chance to add Mike himself to your spotters list.

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A team of researchers has published a paper claiming that ‘most of the world’s plant and animal species could be named before they go extinct’ and, furthermore, it could be achieved this century.

Describing and naming new species is important as it helps drive interest in conservation. A species, once identified, can then become the focus of efforts to monitor and conserve it. The more we know about biodiversity, the more evolutionary gaps are filled, and the more we are able to explain the life histories of species on Earth. The millions of species that share our planet provide many free and valuable services which are vital for human health and well-being.  These services range from providing clean air and to fresh water, recycling nutrients, pollinating flowering plants and controlling the climate.

The Vulnerable Brazil-nut tree from Colombia provides valuable oil that is harvested by humans and used in a variety of products

“Naming a species gives formal recognition to its existence, making conservation easier,” said lead author of the paper Associate Professor Dr Mark Costello, from The University of Auckland.

The researchers propose that the target is possible due to an increase in taxonomists (people who classify, characterise and describe species), combined with a reduction in the estimate of the number of species on earth. An increase in both amateur and professional taxonomists has been driven by the growth of publicly available information on taxonomy via the internet. This increase has been seen predominantly in areas where it is needed most – areas rich in biodiversity such as Asia and South America. The recent surge in the number of taxonomists will also have gone some way towards reducing what the Convention on Biological Diversity has acknowledged as the ‘taxonomic impediment’. This is an issue created by knowledge gaps in our taxonomic system and a shortage of trained taxonomists, which in turn has affected our ability to conserve and understand the benefits gained from biodiversity.

“We believe that with just a modest increase in effort in taxonomy and conservation, most species could be discovered and protected from extinction,” said Dr Costello.

This long-nosed tree frog is one of the many new species to be discovered in the last five years

New species estimates

Current species estimates range from 2 to 8.7 million species on Earth, compared to previous estimates that have been as high as 100 million. Around 1.7 million species have already been described, with a large number still to be described, and potentially many more yet to be discovered. However, recent estimates are still significantly lower than those previously suggested, leading Dr Costello and his colleagues to conclude that with a small increase in the number of employed taxonomists, and more financial support and coordination within the international scientific community, the remainder of the world’s species could feasibly be described within the current century.

“We’ve discovered three times more people now naming species than there were ever before. We’re in the golden age of taxonomy,” added Dr Costello.

The Caquetá titi monkey is one of the most recently discovered primates, described formally in 2010

Controversy over the prioritisation of naming new species

While it may seem plausible to Dr Costello and his colleagues that the number of species on Earth, and therefore the rate of species extinction, is lower than previously thought, and that ‘species are more likely to be described than become extinct’, some remain sceptical. Jean-Christophe Vié, Deputy Director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Global Species Programme is less convinced:

“Extinction is usually underestimated. It’s more important to fight extinction than to describe or catalogue all species…. I am worried by the message implying that to conserve species you need to know everything about them. You can do a lot of protection even in the absence of knowledge.”

Vié points out that conservation of species is possible without knowing every single species within an area. Although he believes it possible that we could catalogue life on Earth, he also reminds us that ‘we don’t have the luxury of time’.

Professor Georgina Mace, from the Centre for Population Biology at Imperial College London, is also cautious about praising the new publication. Like Vié, she is not convinced about the idea that the names of all species must be known.

She states that once conservation plans are in place for places rich in biodiversity, species within these areas will benefit ‘whether named or not’.

This leaf chameleon, Brookesia confidens, was first discovered in 2007 already protected within the Ankarana National Park, Madagascar

A cautionary tale

Although there has been a decided increase in the number of described and named species, maintaining the same rate of species discovery in the field will become more difficult the fewer species there are to discover. As the backlog of collected specimens are named, and the discovery of new species slows, the current rate of newly described species will fall. Mace concludes that efforts therefore must be strategically triaged between ‘discovering, describing, monitoring and conserving’.

The researchers of this paper acknowledge the tentative good news for the conservation of biodiversity. However, co-author Professor Nigel Stork warns that ‘Climate change will dramatically change species’ survival rates, particularly when you factor in other drivers such as over-hunting and habitat loss’. This is no time to be complacent when life on Earth is at stake.

Read more on these stories at BBC News – World’s unknown species ‘can be named’ before they go extinct and The Telegraph – Extinction of millions of species ‘greatly exaggerated’.

Find out more about the importance of newly discovered species on ARKive’s Newly Discovered Species topic page.

Kaz Armour – ARKive Text Author

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Today marks UN International Mountain Day which aims to promote the sustainable development and awareness of mountains and highlands around the world and highlighting their importance for biodiversity as well as human settlements.

Covering roughly a quarter of the world’s surface, mountains are hugely diverse in the habitat they offer, from forest, desert, grassland or permanent ice and can be some of the most volatile places on earth with volcanic eruptions, avalanches, landslides and earthquakes being frequent occurences for the species living there to contend with.

Many of ARKive’s eco-regions feature mountainous habitats, not to mention the large collection of species we have that make their living on the mountain tops of the world. To celebrate UN International Mountain Day we thought we would highlight some of our favourite mountainous eco-regions.

Western Ghats – A biodiversity hotspot

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Western Ghats are an Indian mountain range running 1,600 kilometres across the peninsular parallel to the western coast. Though not conforming to the ‘traditional’ snow-capped mountain image of the Alps or the Rockies, the Western Ghats wins out on sheer biodiversity, hosting a phenomenal amount of plants and animals, many of which can’t be found anywhere else on earth.

The undulating grasslands of the Western Ghats

At higher altitudes much of the Western Ghats are expansive grass plateaus, on which species like the Nilgiri tahr graze on. The Nilgiri tahr is also very much at home on the numerous narrow cliff ledges in the area.

The Nilgiri tahr in it's mountain habitat

Gutianshan National Nature Reserve – Nanling Mountains

Eastern China’s Gutianshan National Nature Reserve protects part of the ancient evergreen broadleaved forest of the Nanling Mountains. Large amounts of annual rainfall provide ideal conditions for plants to grow as well as feeding many mountain streams and tributaries that flow down the mountain.

The montane forest of Gutianshan National Nature Reserve

The aptly named big-headed turtle lives in these cold and fast flowing mountain streams. As a nocturnal and aquatic reptile, it spends the day underwater and out of site either burrowed into the gravel bed or hidden in rock crevices at the stream edge and the nights foraging either in or near the stream.

The big-headed turtle depends on the water streams that run off the mountain

Mediterranean Basin – Greek mountains of myth and legend

The Mediterranean Basin eco-region contains a vast amount of different habitats from coasts all the way up to mountains and everything in between. The most famous of these mountains is of course Mount Olympus: the mythical home of Greek gods. This mountain range hosts 1,700 different species of plant, 25 percent of Greece’s total. Not to mention the many roe deer, grey wolves and wild cats that can also be found there.

The limestone cliffs of Mount Olympus are packed with plant life

While not limited to habitats at high elevation, the venomous Meadow viper can be found in the European mountain pastures feeding on a wide variety of birds, mammals and invertebrates.

The meadow viper on the grassy foothills of Gran Sasso d'Italia

George Bradford, ARKive Researcher

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The iconic savannas of Africa have been found to be under greater threat than rainforests, a ground-breaking study has revealed.

White rhinos are a popular sight in Africa’s grasslands

Iconic Africa

Africa’s sprawling savanna ecosystems, defined as areas that receive between 300 and 1,500 millimetres of rain each year, are home to well-known, charismatic species such as giraffes, rhinos and elephants, and are at the heart of Africa’s wildlife tourism. However, a new study published recently in Biodiversity Conservation has found that 75% of the continent’s large-scale, intact grasslands have been lost.

“These savannas conjure up visions of vast open plains. The reality is that from an original area a third larger than the continental United States, only 25 percent remains,” said co-author Stuart Pimm from Duke University.

While routine global assessments are carried out on tropical rainforest ecosystems to determine the rate of habitat loss, with the Brazilian Amazon being assessed every month, similar studies on dry woodlands and savannas are few. This new study has shown that, shockingly, a smaller proportion of grassland habitats are left than tropical rainforests, of which only 30% remain.

Masai giraffes running across the savanna

High-resolution satellite imagery

Exacerbated by a greatly increasing human population across much of the continent, Africa’s vital savanna ecosystem is currently experiencing widespread destruction and loss as a result of ever-expanding agriculture and urbanisation.

Researchers used high-resolution satellite imagery to measure the extent of Africa’s savanna, enabling them to paint a more accurate picture of how much of this critical habitat remains.

“Based on our fieldwork, we knew that most of the information out there from low-resolution satellite-based studies was wrong,” explained lead author Jason Riggio of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. “Existing global maps are quite coarse and show large areas of African woodlands as being intact. Only by utilising very high-resolution imagery were we able to identify many of these areas as being riddled with small fields and extensive, if small, human settlements.”

The African lion is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, but some populations may be facing an even higher level of threat

Lion’s view

The study took a ‘lion’s view’ in order to determine how much intact savanna remains, focusing on habitat that is healthy enough to support the continent’s top predator, the African lion.

“If areas retain lions, the continent’s top predator, they are likely to be reasonably intact ecosystems,” the scientists explained in their paper. “By considering the size of savanna Africa from the lion’s perspective, we can assess how much of it remains in large, relatively intact areas, not yet heavily modified by human influence. Clearly, smaller areas will still support less complete sets of species.”

The results of the study indicate that just 3.3 million square kilometres of savanna capable of containing African lions remains, with this vital habitat vanishing at an alarming rate.

Decline of Africa’s top predator

Lion populations have suffered a dramatic and unprecedented decline in the last few decades, with numbers decreasing from around 100,000 individuals just fifty years ago to as few as 32,000 today, a worrying decline of 68%.

In addition to declines as a result of degradation and loss of its savanna habitat, the African lion, currently listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, faces a whole host of other threats. Legal hunting, poaching and human-wildlife conflict are all taking their toll on this iconic species, and there are concerns that lions are being killed to fuel the Chinese traditional medicine market as an alternative to tiger bones.

Urgent action is needed to safeguard the future of the charismatic African lion

Urgent action

The recent study found that 24,000 African lions, a disconcerting 75% of the total remaining population, are located in just ten separate strongholds. All of these strongholds are in eastern and southern Africa, with Tanzania alone housing 40% of the global population.

Worryingly, researchers found that approximately 6,000 African lions exist in populations which may not be viable in the long term, and the study also produced evidence of local extinctions of lions, even in protected areas.

“There is evidence of strong declines and even extirpation of lions in some range countries. Especially in West and Central Africa, declines have been dramatic and conservation measures are urgent,” said the researchers. “While lions are protected in some of the lion areas, in many they are not, and in others they are hunted.”

A lack of lions in West Africa’s national parks is of particular concern to conservationists, with the region housing just 525 individuals. West African lions are considered by some to be a separate subspecies, Panthera leo senegalensis, and recent genetic studies have indicated that this population may actually be more closely related to the Asiatic lion than to other African lions.

“This research is a major step in helping prioritise funding strategies for saving big cats,” said co-author Luke Dollar of National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative (BCI), which helped fund the study. “The research will help us better identify areas in which we can make a difference.”

“Giving these lions something of a fighting chance will require substantial increases in effort,” added co-author Andrew Jackson from Duke University. “The next 10 years are decisive for [West Africa], not just for lions but for biodiversity, since lions are indicators of ecosystem health.”

Read more on these stories at Mongabay.com – Africa’s great savannahs may be more endangered than the world’s rainforests and Lion population falls 68 percent in 50 years.

Learn more about lions on ARKive.

Find out about species found in Africa on ARKive.

Kathryn Pintus, ARKive Text Author

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The observance of Thanksgiving Day is primarily associated with the United States, and is a tradition which is thought to date back to colonial times following the safe arrival of the first European settlers to the untamed shores of North America. Nowadays, families and friends congregate to give thanks for what they have, so to celebrate Thanksgiving in our own wild way, we’ve gathered together a few of nature’s special inhabitants that we think owe each other thanks: symbiotic species!

Exclusive residence

Common clownfish are able to live among the tentacles of stinging sea anemones

Simply speaking, symbiotic species are those that interact in some way, to the benefit of one or both of the critters in question. A classic example, and one that many Disney fans will be familiar with, is the relationship that exists between clownfish and sea anemones.

Sea anemones usually sting fish that come into contact with their tentacles, but clownfish have developed a clever, yet rather gross, method of disguise. By covering its skin in mucus, the clownfish can trick the anemone into thinking it is touching itself, and so does not get stung. In return for a safe place to live and food in the form of debris and parasites found amongst the anemone’s tentacles, the clownfish is thought to scare away fish that may prey upon the anemone, and even lure fish in for its tentacled home to eat – a classic win-win situation! The clownfish is also believed to provide the anemone with good water circulation through fanning its fins as it swims around.

Did you know?

There are different kinds of symbiotic relationships. Some benefit both species involved, and are known as ‘mutualistic’ symbioses, whereas ‘parasitic’ relationships are those in which one species profits at the expense of the other. In some cases, one species benefits but the other is affected neither positively nor negatively, and these are known as ‘commensalistic’ symbioses.

Nutritious nectar and pollen parcels

Bees, such as this small garden bumblebee, play an important role in plant pollination

Bees feed on pollen and nectar sourced from a variety of flowering plants, with honey bees using the nectar to make their sticky, sugary treat. Although flowers appear to lose out by ‘donating’ nectar, they actually benefit from these flying visits. As a bee rummages around the flower head for food, some pollen gets stuck to its hairy body and legs, and this accidental cargo is then transferred to the next flower the insect visits, pollinating it and enabling the plant to reproduce.

Did you know?

The traditional origin of the modern Thanksgiving Day is commonly thought to be the festivities that occurred at the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts in 1621, when the European settlers celebrated their safe voyage, peace and good harvest. However, there is some evidence to suggest that Spaniards in Florida were the first to truly celebrate Thanksgiving back in 1565.

Getting a little peckish…

Oxpeckers help remove parasites from large mammals such as this roan antelope

In the wilds of the African savanna, large mammals such as this roan antelope can quickly become covered in ticks and all sorts of other creepy crawlies, which doesn’t sound entirely pleasant! Luckily, help is at hand in the form of winged wonders known as oxpeckers. Oxpeckers are known to hitch a ride on the backs of a range of iconic species including hippos, buffalos, giraffe and various antelopes, gorging themselves on ticks, botfly larvae and other parasites – the mammals get cleaned, and the birds get fed, and so this has often been classified as a mutualistic relationship. However, more recent studies have shown that oxpeckers often pick at scabs and cuts to keep them open to get more food, subjecting the wounds to possible infection and potentially harming the host mammal, making this symbiotic relationship more of a parasitic one.

Helpful houseguests

Reef-building corals rely on tiny blue-green algae to survive

Reef-building corals provide homes for single-celled blue-green algae known as zooxanthellae, and in return these microscopic plants provide energy-containing compounds for the coral through the process of photosynthesis. The coral uses these vital compounds to build its calcium carbonate skeleton. In a way, these tiny blue-green algae are like live-in coral chefs…and they even clean up after themselves by removing any waste products! Brilliant!

Nature’s six-legged gardeners

Leaf-cutter ants tend to their fungus garden by creating 'mulch' from leaf fragments

Leaf-cutter ants are known as nature’s gardeners, as they spend their time foraging for leaves and cutting them into suitably sized fragments before transporting them back to their huge underground nests where the leaves are used to cultivate a fungus garden. While the ant colony is entirely dependent upon this fungus supply for food and so greatly benefits from this situation, the fungus benefits by being cultivated by the ants but also loses out by being eaten, and so this relationship could be classified as a more commensalistic one.

Did you know?

Most of us think of the US in relation to Thanksgiving, but did you know that several other countries observe similar days, too? These include Canada, Puerto Rico and Liberia. Additionally, the city of Leiden in South Holland celebrates the traditional US Thanksgiving Day, making the Netherlands the only non English-speaking country to formally celebrate this particular occasion.

Food on the go…

Dugong

Loggerhead turtle

Leopard shark

Giant manta ray

Scientists are somewhat divided over whether the relationship that exists between specialised fish known as remoras and a variety of larger ocean species is a mutualistic or commensalistic one. Also known as suckerfish, remoras have a specially adapted first dorsal fin which has been modified into a sucker-like organ. Remoras use this to attach themselves to other marine animals such as sharks, rays, sea turtles and dugongs, feeding on material dropped by the host species while also getting a free ride and protection from potential predators. This seems rather one-sided, but some scientists believe that the remoras may also feed upon certain parasites on the host’s body or gills, therefore providing a great cleaning service to their marine meal providers.

If these beholden bovids, indebted invertebrates and contented chondrichthyans haven’t quenched your thirst for wild Thanksgiving-related information, why not check out last year’s blog, which features a whole host of awesome animals that the first European settlers might have seen upon arriving in North America.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kathryn Pintus, ARKive Text Author

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