Testing the applicability of regionalIUCNRed List criteria on ladybirds (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) in Flanders (north Belgium): opportunities for conservation

Abstract

Abstract. 1. Red Lists assess the extinction risk of species and are an important tool to prioritise species conservation and management measures. Worldwide, quantitative IUCN criteria are used to estimate the threat status of species at the regional level.2. In Flanders (north Belgium), about 70 000 distribution records of ladybirds were collected in 36% of all the grid cells (1 9 1 km 2 ) since 1990 during a large-scale citizen-science project.3. Applying the IUCN criteria to the 36 resident 'conspicuous' ladybirds in Flanders resulted in two Regionally Extinct species, three Endangered species and six Vulnerable species. A further seven species were considered Near Threatened and the remaining 15 species (39%) were assessed as Least Concern. Three species were classified as Data deficient. Using the Red List status, we delineated ladybird hotspots that were mainly located in grid cells with large areas of Natura2000 sites.4. For calculating a distribution trend, we advocate the use of a high grid cell resolution (e.g. 1 9 1 km 2 or 5 9 5 km 2 ). 5. The ladybird data set from Flanders provides evidence that IUCN Red List criteria can be applied to this charismatic, but relatively under-surveyed insect group. For estimating the geographic range, the use of extent of occurrence instead of area of occupancy is advisable when the survey coverage is relatively low. We discuss the opportunities of the availability of a ladybird Red List for regional conservation measures.

Biodiversity Indicators 2017: State of Nature in Flanders (Belgium)

“…The percentage of threatened ladybird species is similar to other terrestrial insects groups (Adriaens et al 2015). Since this represents the first Red List assessment for ladybirds no trend can be discussed for his indicator.…”

Making the invisible visible: determining an accurate national distribution of Elater ferrugineus in the United Kingdom using pheromones

“…Such schemes have already proved successful, such as for L. cervus (Percy et al, 2000;Harvey et al, 2011b;Smith, 2011), ladybirds (Adriaens et al, 2015) and in other species (Silvertown, 2009). It also promotes an interest among them, enhancing the possibility of initiating monitoring schemes for other cryptic groups and provides an opportunity for raising public awareness of such organisms, utilising the goodwill of citizen science schemes.…”

The use of opportunistic data for IUCN Red List assessments

“…The development of methods for estimating trends from biological records has recently been the subject of considerable research effort and several robust approaches are increasingly being used. Abundance data are generally considered (Fox, Warren & Brereton, 2010); Dragonflies (Daguet, French & Taylor, 2008); Flies (Falk & Chandler, 2005;Falk & Crossley, 2005); Lichens and lichenicolous fungi (Woods & Coppins, 2012); Vascular plants (Cheffings et al, 2005); Water beetles (Foster, 2010) Flanders (http://www.inbo.be/nl/rode-lijsten-vlaanderen) Amphibians (Jooris et al, 2012); Butterflies (Maes et al, 2012); Freshwater fishes (Verreycken et al, 2014); Ladybirds (Adriaens et al, 2015); Mammals ; superior to distributional data for trend estimation (Isaac et al, 2014) and statistical methods are starting to be developed which derive composite trends using models that combine information from both data types (Pagel et al, 2014). Using the IUCN criteria, a population trend (criterion A) can be assessed in five different ways.…”