Conservation…?

Animals go extinct over time. Some of which are, knowingly or not, by our own hand. A famous example is the Dodo bird which was hunted for food. Animals that have been properly evaluated will fall into one of seven categories; least concerned, near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild, and extinct¹. Animals like the panda, rhinoceros, tigers, and pangolins first come to my mind. To reaffirm that I was not alone, I conducted a small survey.

Upon closer inspection, there clearly is a bias here and I don’t mean the pandas and tigers. A biasness is steering funding and conservation efforts toward these animals that are popular². The lack of invertebrates and the bias toward large animals. Why does this biasness exist in the first place? I believe this is due to the perspective we have on terrestrial invertebrates.

Mosquitos sucking blood, millipedes in the grass, ants in the kitchen, spiders in their cob webs on the ceiling… Many insects and arachnids are viewed as unwanted pests all over the globe probably because of how different they look and behave. In the case of spiders, their portrayal in media hasn’t been the greatest. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Eight Legged Freaks, Itsy Bitsy, Arachnophobia, and the Mist were some of the popular (horror) films that featured spiders in a nightmarish way. Speaking of arachnophobia, the fear of spiders not the movie, it is common. A quick Google search will show you just how common it is with many sites giving you tips on how to get over it. Amusingly, some entomologists are afraid of spiders too³ ,most saying it’s the movement that creeps them out!

This isn’t nightmare fuel though right!? Female Jumping Spider – Phidippus regius by Thomas Shahan is licensed by CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Is the lack of conservation efforts for invertebrates and spiders only because of their lack of popularity? No, not quite. How big do you think the largest spider is by body length? 15cm? One metre? Although the size is heavily dependent on the sex and species, most spiders’ body can fit your palm. The largest according to leg span, however, is up to 30cm⁴. That’s more than enough to cover my face! Does that seem big to you? For a spider probably so, but how about comparing it to other mammals and birds? Spiders are very small animals and accompanied by how most are generalists that eat anything, this allows them to hide and survive almost anywhere in the world. This makes them extremely difficult to find and as a result, difficult to identify if any species are threatened and in need for conservation efforts. To make things worse, there are fewer taxonomists⁵ who can identify and categorise the spider species, which makes it easier for others to understand population size and density. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN, 2020), only 0.31% of arachnid species have been evaluated for being threatened. Compared to having 73% of all vertebrates been evaluated.

This further reinforces that there are biases in conservation efforts as well as how difficult it is to evaluate an order that elusive.

What can we do to help!? Perhaps choosing the right flagship species might help⁶. It would give us a clear picture of what we are fighting for, like WWF’s Panda. Not fearing the animal will too. If you’re afraid of something, you probably don’t want more of it. I recommend looking at #spiders on Instagram. Where we are now, I believe the best we can do is understand that there is a bias and learn from it. Learn more about those overlooked by our efforts and their importance. And of course, share the knowledge!

Looking at the other part of my survey, I think we already have good start.

What animal do you think deserves to be conserved?

References

1. The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Retrieved from: https://www.iucnredlist.org/
2. Davies T, Cowley A, Bennie J, Leyshon C, Inger R, Carter H, et al. Popular interest in vertebrates does not reflect extinction risk and is associated with bias in conservation investment. PloS one. 2018;13(9):e0203694
3. Vetter RS. Arachnophobic Entomologists: When Two More Legs Makes a Big Difference. American Entomologist [Internet]. 2013;59(3):168-75.
4. Foelix RF. Biology of spiders. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2011
5. Nentwig, W and others. (2016). Accelerated global spider biodiversity reseach – a blueprint for global biodiversity investigation. Retrieved from: https://www.vinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Brochure_web_E.pdf
6. Barua M, Gurdak DJ, Ahmed RA, Tamuly J. Selecting flagships for invertebrate conservation. Biodiversity and conservation. 2012;21(6):1457-76.
7. IUCN 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2020-2. https://www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 2020-09-13
8. Featured image “Wildlife Conservation Area at Gronant Dunes SSSI” by Jeff Buck is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Retrieved from: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3353271