Bees Boost Irish Economy

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have shown that bees contribute almost €4 million to the Irish economy each year, simply by improving seed production in crops of oilseed rape.

Known for its brilliant yellow flowers, oilseed rape is being grown to an increasing extent in Ireland as farmers respond to a heightened demand for pure plant oil. This oil is an important source of biofuel and could ultimately reduce our reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels as we seek greener, more environmentally friendly solutions to energy demands.

The crop is pollinated adequately by the wind, but, for the first time in Ireland, researchers were able to show that foraging bees transferring pollen from flower to flower greatly boost the all-important yield. When bees were experimentally excluded from visiting the flowers, seed production was, on average, 27% lower than when they had open access.

This discovery, which will soon appear in the international Journal of Insect Conservation, added to related findings that were reported in another article in the journal GCB Bioenergy. Both papers sprang from research conducted as part of the Sectoral Impacts on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (SIMBIOSYS) initiative, which received €1.6 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency over a five-year period.

In addition to the discovery that bees are important assets to oilseed rape farmers, the previous paper showed that these fields were buzzing with insect life comprising many species of bees, hoverflies and beetles.

Associate Professor in Botany at Trinity, and Director of the Trinity Centre for Biodiversity Research, Jane Stout, who was the principal investigator on both papers said: “Oilseed rape fields are full of pollinators, including honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies. Although many people think of the honeybee as being our main pollinating species, bumblebees and hoverflies are also important pollinators of oilseed rape crops. We found hundreds of bees, especially in spring oilseed rape, where we estimated on average 600-800 colonies of bumblebees alone using the pollen and nectar from just one field.”

The diversity and sheer volume of pollinators in oilseed rape crops came as something of a happy surprise, because some reports had previously suggested that swathes of the plant might discourage farm-friendly insects. However, researchers caution that different patterns could arise when the crop is grown on a larger scale than was investigated. They also recommend interspersing fields that grow food and biofuel crops in the hope that such a patchwork quilt-like pattern will promote insect diversity and enhance the precious pollination service provided by the critters.

Researcher Dara Stanley, who worked with Stout on these projects, added: "Oilseed rape crops in Ireland are expanding hugely, and, if they benefit from pollination, this is both good news for farmers, and an incentive to conserve bees in agricultural areas.”

One major threat to bees comes from the use of certain pesticides called neo-nicotinoids, which have been implicated in recent declines of many species throughout Europe and North America. An EU ban preventing the use of these pesticides on oilseed rape was recently agreed, which will hopefully help the bees of Ireland keep up their good work in our farmers’ fields. However, there are concerns that use on other crops, which is still permitted, will negatively affect our furry friends.

Biodiversity Beermats

A group of Irish biologists have produced a set of eight biodiversity beermats which aim to raise awareness of biodiversity issues in Ireland.

The postgraduate students from the School of Natural Sciences in Trinity College Dublin under the banner of the Trinity Centre for Biodiversity Research  have produced the beermats as an innovative way of sharing their work with the Dublin public.

The beermats were designed and illustrated by Aileen Crossley and can be found in 10 pubs around Dublin. The group are also hosting 2-3 minute long pop-up pub talks on biodiversity.

The beermats have also been featured in the Irish Times and Science magazine in recent months. I'll drink to that!

More info: Biodiversity in our lives website

New Species Discovered in Suriname- Picture Special

A scientific expedition to Suriname has yielded some impressive results for Conservation International - not least the possibility of newly classified species.

>>Scroll down for more images<<

The Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) expedition was a three week survey along the Kutari and Siplaliwini rivers in Southern Suriname from August to September 2010.

The scientists identified a total of 1,300 species 40-50 of which they believe may be new to science.

The new species include the Cowboy Frog (Hypsiboas sp.) so called because of its distinctive 'spurs' on the frogs 'heels'; the Armoured Catfish (Pseudacanthicus sp.) with its sharp spines to defend itself from giant piranhas; and the Crayola Katydid (Vestria sp.) so called due to its striking colouration.

Other interesting (although not new) species spotted include the Pac-Man Frog (Ceratophrys cornuta) whose massive mouth allows it to swallow prey almost its own size; the Great Horned Beetle (Coprophanaeus lancifer) a dung beetle the size of a tangerine; the Spectacular Conehead Katydid (Loboscelis bacatus) with fluorescent green and pink colouring; and the Green Crested Katydid (Steirodon sp.) a plant eating insect which mimics vegetation in order to avoid being eaten.


Cowboy Frog (Hypsiboas sp.) 
Image: Paul Ouboter/ Conservation International

Armoured Catfish (Pseudacanthicus sp.)
Image: Kenneth Wang Tong/ Conservation International

Crayola Katydid (Vestria sp.)
Piotr Naskrecki/ Conservation International

Pac-Man Frog (Ceratophrys cornuta)
Image: Trond Larsen/ Conservation International

Great Horned Beetle (Coprophanaeus lancifer)
Image: Piotr Naskrecki/ Conservation International

Spectacular Conehead Katydid (Loboscelis bacatus)
Image: Piotr Naskrecki/ Conservation International

Green Crested Katydid (Steirodon sp.)
Image: Piotr Naskrecki/ Conservation International

Images from Conservation International: “An Armored Catfish, a ‘Cowboy Frog’, and a Rainbow of Colorful Critters discovered in Southwest Suriname”

Killarney wins Bioblitz

Killarney NP won the 2011 BioBlitz event which was held on 20-21 May.

BioBlitz is a scientific race against time. The aim of this fun event is to find as many species as possible within a park over a 24 hour period. 

Killarney National Park won this year’s competition with a massive 1088 species tally over the 24hr period. This included 681 plant species, 59 Butterfly and Moth species and 62 species of bird.

The tally for Killarney is double the number of species recorded by last year’s winner, Connemara National Park. It's an amazing average of 1.3 species for every minute of the competition. 

All of this year’s sites exceeded last year’s winning tally, so the standard of recording in all five sites was remarkably high.

The contestants comprised five national parks and nature reserves from around the country including Killarney National Park (1088 species), The Raven, Co. Wexford (826). Ballycroy National Park (702), Dromore Nature Reserve (688) and Liffey Valley Park (687).

As the organisers note: "The real surprise is the huge tally recorded at Liffey Valley Pary, Waterstown as it is by far the smallest park and has limited habitat diversity".

Ireland's Biodiversity Recorded

The National Biodiversity Data Centre has just published a document outlining the state of knowledge of Ireland's biodiversity in 2010.

This impressive report outlines the breathe of knowledge about Ireland's flora and fauna, while at the same time, highlighting where gaps in this knowledge occur.

The importance of such work cannot be over emphasised, given that services provided by Ireland's biodiversity are estimated to contribute at least €2.6 billion per year to the Irish economy. This figure is arrived at, given the importance of biodiversity in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism industries, as well as the significant contributions towards clean air, water and productive, healthy soils.

Figure 1 (Click on the image to see a larger version; NBDC)

As the report authors point out: "as the Irish economy seeks ways to revitalise itself, gaining a greater understanding of Ireland's biodiversity and protecting Ireland's natural capital should be one of the building blocks of that recovery".

Ireland has 11,422 species of insect; 8000 non-insect invertebrates; 5500 species of fungi and 2328 different species of plant (see figure 1).

Figure 2 (Click on the image to see a larger version; NBDC)

Despite this high level of knowledge about Ireland's rich biodiversity, the NBDC estimate that about 25% of the country's species are yet to be recorded. Significantly, they estimate that up to 5,000 more species of Irish algae need to be recorded.

The report also indicates the threat of extinction of Irish species, with 23% of known species currently threatened, according to IUCN red list data (see figure 2).

You can read the report in full here.

Christmas Science 5: Christmas Cactus

In the run up to Christmas, Communicate Science offers you 20 Christmas Science Facts. We'll post one every day until the 25th December.

Christmas Cactus
Lots of people will be quite familiar with the bright purple flowers and prickly looking foliage of the Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera truncata). It is widely cultivated and sold as house plants, particularly around this time of year.

There are in fact five species in the genus, all from South America. Four, including S. truncata, are native to the Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro and adjacent parts of Sao Paulo, while the remaining species is geographically isolated from the rest.

S. kautskyi is on the Red List of critically endangered plants and is found in just two small mountain localities, both of which are in an area where recent residential developments are causing significant changes. The species, discovered in 1986, is under increasing pressure in the wild and just small fragments of its home range remain.

This endangered species is very similar to the Christmas Cactus with which we are familiar, with its flattened stem segments and sharply pointed edges. The flowers of the cultivated species however, are much larger than its endangered cousin.

Source: RBG Kew, Plant; J. Marinelli (Ed)

What's the state of Ireland's Biodiversity?

A major meeting of scientists will take place in Waterford this month to discuss the state of knowledge on Ireland's biodiversity in 2010.

The 'Biodiversity Knowledge Quest' conference is organised by the National Biodiversity Data Centre based at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT)and will take place on the 26th and 27th of August.

The meeting is being held as part of Ireland's contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity 2010.

A range of Irish experts on a variety of different groups of organisms will speak at the conference. For example, Prof. Mike Guiry of NUI Galway with speak on Algae biodiversity on the first day, while Dr. Matthew Jebb  of the National Botanical Gardens will speak about vascular plant biodiversity on the following day.

Dr. Niamh Roche from Bat Conservation Ireland will talk about the challenges of conserving bat populations and Dr. Michael Simms from National Museums Northern Ireland will deal with Lichen biodiversity.

The full programme for the two days is available here.

A spokesperson for the organisers said: "The event will provide a major benchmark on the state of biodiversity knowledge in Ireland in 2010 and assist prioritisation of work to fill the remaining knowledge gaps in time for 2020, to coincide with the next international biodiversity target.

"The event will be of interest to anyone involved with surveying and researching the distribution and conservation of Ireland’s species and habitats. It will provide an opportunity to contribute to the knowledge base on Ireland’s biological diversity and to influence the future direction of survey priorities needs in Ireland."

The National Biodiversity Data Centre is the national centre dedicated to the collation, management, analysis and dissemination of data and information on Ireland’s biological diversity.

European Red List Shows Biodiversity Still Threatened

An IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) assessment of around 6,000 European species suggests that the EU will not meet its target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 with around 14-23% of all European mammals, amphibians, reptiles, dragonflies and saproxylic beetles shown to be threatened within the EU.

The survey, underway since 2005, is looking at every species native to Europe (or naturalised before 1500 AD) and data on its geographic range, population, habitat preferences, major threats, conservation measures, etc. is collected across the continent. Depending on the results, the species are then placed in one of nine possible categories:

The results so far suggest that over half (59%) of Europe's amphibians and 42% of all reptiles have declining populations. A significant proportion (31%) of butterfly species in Europe are also in decline according to the survey.

On the other hand, dragonfly populations seem to be stabilising after declines in the 60's, 70's and 80's caused by large-scale land conversion, canalisation of rivers and water pollution. It is thought that improved water management and decreasing eutrophication of waterways has had a positive impact on dragonfly populations (at least outside the Mediterranean region). Over half of dragonflies are now thought to have stable populations.


Despite failing to meet the original target of halting biodiversity decline by 2010, the EU is in the process of preparing a new biodiversity strategy. This new target puts back by 10 years the original deadline, promising that by 2020, the EU governments will have halted the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of "ecosystem services".

In a long-term vision, the new strategy also proposes that by 2050, EU biodiversity will be "protected, valued and appropriately restored".

Lessons from the previous failure need to be learned. Patchy implementation of EU conservation legislation, insufficient funding to meet conservation goals, policy and knowledge gaps and a failure to ember biodiversity protection into other policies have all been blamed and will be taken on board when the new strategy is fomalised.

One of the major developments, is that this summer will see the European Environment Agency launch a new Eu biodiversity baseline. This will ensure that, for the first time, we will be able to accurately measure both the quality and quantity of progress towards these new targets.

Six European Red List reports are now available. The remaining three (on freshwater fish, molluscs and plants) will be available next year.

We're all in this together

We're all in this together. That's the message from a new EU campaign to inform us about biodiversity and to get people actively engaged in preserving and restoring it.

The timing is critical as it coincides with the International Year of Biodiversity and according to the Stern Review on the Economic effects of climate change, 15-40% of species could disappear by the end of this century. Despite the pretty wide margin there, any loss of species is undoubtedly a bad thing and  needs to be guarded against.

The campaign will target all EU countries but with particular focus on Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Romania. Quite why these specific countries have been chosen, I'm not sure.

The campaign entitled "We are all in this together" (certainly NOT We're... or to be confused with the UK Conservative Party slogan used in the recent elections) was launched at the start of the year with a snazzy new logo. As a means of getting their point across quickly, it looks pretty succesful.

Recent research in the Netherlands show that only one third of Europeans feel they know what biodiversity means or how it benefits them, with many associating the term with "distant wildlife".

A key part of the campaign is to emphasis the effect biodiversity has on every citizen and how a loss of biodiversity has negative impacts on human society - from water purification to food supply, and from energy to pharmaceuticals.

A campaign spokesperson said, "Expect to see provocative images and messages designed to catch people's attention, channelled through word-of-mouth 'viral' marketing, such as graphic outlines of a dead sparrow or flower chalked on city streets and pavements. The initiative will also feature a widspread print campaign, social networks such as Facebook and a dedicated website on biodiversity in Europe".

You can biodiversify a photo of yourself here.

Cork's Lough - Biodiversity Made Local

There's no doubt that the recent humpback whale activity off the southeast coast has been a real treat for nature lovers. The spectacular still images captured by Patrick Whooley and others serve to whet our appetites for the high definition video footage promised for later in the Spring.

However, when such grand natural displays are visible so close to us, there is a tendency to overlook what is right under our nose when it comes to the natural world.

That's why a new publication on the biodiversity of Cork City is so timely. Nature in the City was produced by Cork City Council as a product of the Cork City Biodiversity Plan 2009-2014 and makes for interesting reading.

It's also a timely publication, coming as it does, at the start of 2010: the International Year of Biodiversity. The UN have designated it a "celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives".

Biological diversity (or biodiversity for short) is basically the variety of organisms within a given space or ecosystem. So we can talk of biodiversity at the global level or at the local level (e.g Cork City). As well as the obvious measures of biodiversity such as the numbers and varieties of plants and animals in an ecosystem, biodiversity also includes the wealth of genetic differences within those species.

The UN estimates that about 1.75 million species of living things have been identified. However, it's reckoned that there are about 13 million species in total on the planet and less conservative estimates put that figure closer to 100 million. This means that every habitat destroyed and every river polluted could mean that we are loosing species that we don't even know about yet.

Biodiversity also encompasses the variety of ecosystems such as those that we find in deserts or woodlands, mountains or rivers. By protecting these ecosystems, we protect the variety of species that make their homes there.

Not just that though, protecting biodiversity also brings real benefits for humans; often economic benefits. For example, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is estimated to contribute 6 billion Australian Dollars to that country's economy based on tourism, recreational activities and commercial fishing.

Closer to home, in the UK, a 2003 report estimated that forests contributed £1 billion to the economy. That includes the economic benefit derived from recreation (£393 m), biodiversity (£386 m), landscape (£150 m) and the forests ability to sequester or tie-up carbon (£94 m). The UK forestry study didn't even include the benefits of supplying fresh, clean drinking water, the cleansing of pollutants from the air and the reduction of soil erosion.

In Nature in the City, our attention is drawn to some of the important sites of biodiversity importance within the Cork City. For instance, the Lough is a familiar site to all Corkonians and its biodiversity (although we may not call it that) is a source of great pride and affection for many of us.

This shallow, spring-fed lake has at its centre a densely wooded island which acts as a refuge, roosting and breeding site for a variety of resident bird species including Mute Swan, Shoveler Ducks, Tufted Duck, Pochard and Mallard. Large numbers of Gulls, Starlings, Little Egrets (and even the odd Cattle Egret), Jackdaws and Magpies also utilise this important site.

The publication notes that up until the 1950's a range of aquatic plant species covered 90% of the Lough's surface until the introduction of Carp in 1954 for fishing purposes led to the disappearance of most of this vegetation within 10 years. The Carp are voracious herbivores which thrive on the amount of vegetation that remains. In fact, the Irish record of 29 lb 14 oz was caught at the Lough in 1988.

Unfortunately, as the approximately 2,000 Carp flourish, the health of the Lough itself and the rest of its inhabitants hasn't been maintained. In recent years, water quality at the Lough has declined significantly. This has lead to the growth of toxic microorganisms such as Clostridium botulinum which has been the cause of a number of catastrophic poisonings resulting in the death of large numbers of swans and ducks. The most recent, in July of 2009, resulted in the loss of 50 swans.

The cause seems to be two-fold. The lack of aquatic vegetation caused by the high Carp numbers leads to low levels of oxygen in the water body. Add to that the high levels of bird droppings from birds attracted by the large amount of free food delivered by well-meaning locals and the abundance of waste bread means that algae and bacteria flourish thus further reducing water quality.

At the moment, augmented by the harsh winter, the Lough seems a shadow of its former self. Swan numbers are dramatically down and while there is no doubt that the Lough was over-populated, it is hard to see such a defining symbol of Cork at such a love ebb. If ever an example were needed of the importance of biodiversity at a local level, Cork's low-affair with the Lough and it's determination to save it is surely such an example.

Nature in the City a guide to Biodiversity in Cork City is published by Cork City Council with the support of the Heritage Council. The publication is available free of charge but in limited numbers from Cork City Council's Heritage Officer at heritage@corkcity.ie or Tel 021 4924757