Spineless wonders
The WA Insect Study Society newsletter of February 2006 had a fascinating report from David Knowles, on creating a database of macro-invertbrates for the Greater Perth Metropolitan Region.
He gives an impassioned plea for invertebrates, and concludes with these fine words: The time has come when the culture of looking at biodiversity through a 2% vertebrate lens should be seen as anachronistic at best and plainly illogical at worst.
Here, here!
Just cast a look at this pie chart of species expressed as a percentage of the total of all animals found so far in Western Australia. And then remember that the vast majority of invertebrates are unknown and unnamed.
2 comments:
Hi there ... THAT is a very chastening pie chart, even for someone who has always thought themselves interested in insects in particular.
It illustrates for me (yet again) that knowing about something is nothing like knowing it ... I am plodding along, reading your posts, eyes just that little bit more open _and_ loving it; learning as I go.
jj
I know. We say glibly that invertebrates are the unknown in biodiversity, but it is still chastening to see it quantified like that!
Post a Comment