A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Challenges and a call to action for protecting European red wood ants
Authors: Balzani Paride, Dekoninck Wouter, Feldhaar Heike, Freitag Aanne, Frizzi Filippo, Frouz Jan, Masoni Albergo, Robinson Elva, Sorvari Jouni, Santini Giacomo
Publisher: WILEY
Publishing place: Hoboken
Publication year: 2022
Journal: Conservation Biology
Journal name in source: CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
Journal acronym: CONSERV BIOL
Article number: e13959
Number of pages: 8
ISSN: 0888-8892
eISSN: 1523-1739
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13959
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13959
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/176234316
Red wood ants (RWAs) are a group of keystone species widespread in temperate and boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere. Despite this, there is increasing evidence of local declines and extinctions. We reviewed the current protection status of RWAs throughout Europe and their International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat classification. Only some RWA species have been assessed at a global scale, and not all national red lists of the countries where RWAs are present include these species. Different assessment criteria, inventory approaches, and risk categories are used in different countries, and data deficiency is frequent. Legislative protection is even more complex, with some countries protecting RWAs implicitly together with the wildlife fauna and others explicitly protecting the whole group or particular species. This complexity often occurs within countries, for example, in Italy, where, outside of the Alps, only the introduced species are protected, whereas the native species, which are in decline, are not. Therefore, an international, coordinated framework is needed for the protection of RWAs. This first requires that the conservation target should be defined. Due to the similar morphology, complex taxonomy, and frequent hybridization, protecting the entire RWA group seems a more efficient strategy than protecting single species, although with a distinction between autochthonous and introduced species. Second, an update of the current distribution of RWA species is needed throughout Europe. Third, a protection law cannot be effective without the collaboration of forest managers, whose activity influences RWA habitat. Finally, RWA mounds offer a peculiar microhabitat, hosting a multitude of taxa, some of which are obligate myrmecophilous species on the IUCN Red List. Therefore, RWAs' role as umbrella species could facilitate their protection if they are considered not only as target species but also as providers of species-rich microhabitats.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |  |
