Celebrity species help preserve other species as well

This is what Prof. Stuart Pym from Duke University in North Carolina says, in an interview with the Hidaan website as part of the Israel Taxonomy Association conference held at the Tel Aviv University. Prof. Bruce Manga from the University of Oregon talked about a consortium he participated in establishing to study the extinction of species on the west coast of the USA, and Prof. Eva Furman from Finland talked about the relationship between the scientists and the public

Last week, the conference of the Israel Society for Taxonomy was held at Tel Aviv University, attended by the greatest experts in the field from around the world. We used this opportunity to talk about the extinction of species and the restoration of ecosystems on land and sea.

Prof. Bruce Manga, University of Oregon, says that on the west coast of the USA, as in the whole world, there is a need to curb and even slow down the rate of species extinction. For this, an inventory of species is required. There are departments where the knowledge of the species in them is not high, for example insects, bacteria and many marine species. He praised the work of his colleague Nancy Knowlton, curator of the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Nature in Washington, who is mapping sponge and coral species.
Prof. Manga spoke at the Israel Society of Taxonomy conference held last week at Tel Aviv University about the PISCO consortium, which was among its founders, and which deals with the scientific study of marine ecological environments on the west coast of the USA and the transfer of scientific knowledge to decision makers.

"We have established a system that will allow us to develop the scientific ability to investigate how many species there are in nature, how to separate them (there are many cases where a species that was classified as one species turned out to be several related species). One of the consequences of species identification will be the ability to deal with the phenomenon of invasive species both at sea and on land. Most of the invaders in marine systems are in the areas where the ships unload the water, today ships are required to dump their ballast water in the middle of the sea before they approach the port. I don't know if it slows down the rate of invasion, but it helps. In the area where I work, there are not many invasive marine species yet, but the construction of anthills is reaching there as well. However, we have a problem with salt marshes - swampy areas between the sea and the land, there are plants there that can tolerate any amount of salt, and plant species from all over the world have invaded there. They come especially by people who just plant them. On the coast of Oregon there is an invasive sand plant - hairy bow, which was brought to the place in the early 19th century from Scotland to stabilize the sand, it succeeded in its mission but completely changed the ecological environment of the sand. It replaced the natural vegetation that was there but did not stabilize the dunes.

Does global warming cause species extinction?
Global warming is definitely a human-caused factor. The science is pretty clear. In terms of impact on biodiversity, it is difficult to isolate the impact of this factor against many other human factors that contributed to extinction. There is no doubt that humans directly caused the decrease in biological diversity, due to disturbances to habitats, clearing areas and more. The key is to try to increase public awareness of the impact of human activities on nature. We must be responsible for the environment and not exploiters of the environment. There is no doubt that when the warming continues there will be a loss of species but exactly how is not yet known. This is a new phenomenon and it is difficult to predict how the ecosystems will react to it. It is not a situation where it becomes hot for a certain species and then we know how to analyze the effect, but there is an interaction between the species, each species reacts differently to warming, to the acidity of the oceans and the other consequences of warming. Because of the complex interactions with Halo it is difficult to estimate what the changes will be. But I believe they will be negative, it's hard to say exactly how and how much.

Part of the difficulty is due to the lack of historical data, it is possible to compare what we see today with what we measured 20 years ago. That is why it is important to monitor in order to have a basis for comparing future systems.

The celebrity species help save many other species

Prof. Stuart Pym, an ecologist and conservation biologist from Duke University in North Carolina, spoke at the conference on ecology and biodiversity. In a conversation with the science website, he explains: "I work with different species of birds, plants, lions and elephants. I help to manage areas such as national parks, reserves, to preserve bilogous diversity so that the species do not become extinct.

"When you come to Israel you see that a lot of land has been turned into houses, roads, farms. There are very few natural areas left here. The problem is not only this, but the fact that these areas are in small pockets, a piece here and a piece there. One of the things we want to do is to connect natural areas in some way, so that the species can move between them. I do this in Africa, in South America. It's a way to plan so that we can preserve vital populations of the species we want to preserve.

In response to the question of the Hidan website, is there not a concern that what will determine whether a species will survive or not is its degree of 'celebrity', Pim says: "There is a very high rate of extinction of species but there are many things we can do. And we have successes. We have enough knowledge to prevent extinctions. The idea is to identify umbrella species, under which other species take shelter. If you protect them, other species will also be protected, it's not just a species here, a species there, it's an attempt to find a way to preserve a large number of species."

"For example, I work in tropical rainforests. We find that these forests are also isolated here and there. We raise money to buy the areas between these pieces and replant the natural forest there. We get the money from those who want to offset their carbon emissions. The average American produces 7 tons of carbon each year. If you pay me 7 tons, I will forgive you for the sin. People want to be neutral and we get money and balance the carbon emissions. This is what we did, for example, in South Africa."

"We are very pleased with our success that can be seen on Google Earth. You can go to our website and see the photos from the past and see the areas regaining themselves from a degraded surface, through grass, small trees and up to the return. And then the species come back because we allow them to.

It is true that we want there to be emissions, and as the human race we will become more efficient in terms of energy, but still, until we switch to alternative energy, it is impossible to live without emitting carbon, but at least try to do things to compensate for the emissions.

He emphasizes that nature reserves also have economic value: "In Israel, most tourists come to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Temple Mount, all the religious and archaeological sites, but many people come to Israel to see nature - to see birds, to dive in Eilat. The economic value of biological diversity in Israel should not be underestimated.

Professor Eva Furman, from the Finnish Institute for the Environment, spoke at the conference about science communication. "I explain how science should communicate with the rest of society. When a scientist conducts experiments, he has to discuss with the company what to research, what questions need to be answered, and maybe he can include some of the company's recommendations in the research, and when there are results for the market, it will be easier for the company to understand the benefit of it. It also communicates the need for collaboration between different disciplines. Biodiversity is an ecological term, but the problem is entirely a social problem, and therefore to solve the problem, the research needs to be done in a new way in which social and natural science people collaborate and discuss the issues and decide what knowledge is needed to solve the problem."

"Let's take the Mediterranean coast as an example. To solve the problem we need not only to study the fish or the birds or even the ecological environment but also to understand what is the source of the problems, what causes the problems and what are the possibilities to solve the problems, what hinders solving the problem. We need to understand the social processes behind the issue - economic and social issues that must be resolved before we can understand the whole picture."

"When talking about overfishing, it is important to understand how fisheries management is organized. If other countries can fish all year round and Israelis can fish only part of the year, this creates friction and it causes fishermen to start fishing illegally. The Mediterranean Sea is a place where fish move from one place to another and you need to discuss this with the neighboring countries and reach agreements on who will pay for the loss of income from fishing. For example, this can be done by converting them to eco-tourism. Instead of fishing maybe they can take tourists to see the dolphins with their fishing boats.
Another important issue is the biodiversity in the urban areas: the green areas in the cities are very important, the biodiversity there can be seen as a service to the people who live in the city, so that they are the lungs of the city and they clean the water and they also help the people of the cities to understand why biodiversity is important. It is also important for mental and physical health. The green areas are important to people, but what is important in one place can be different from another place, so you have to ask the people what kind of green areas they want to increase their quality of life."