Conservation efforts establish new populations of critically endangered insect in Britain - RZSS
Critically endangered pine hoverflies have been shown to be breeding successfully in new populations around the Cairngorms National Park thanks to conservation efforts by the Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms (RIC) partnership.
Surveys led by RIC found larvae in previously unoccupied tree stumps, meaning at least some of the pine hoverflies released by RIC partner the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) across three sites in October 2021 and March 2022 have completed a full breeding cycle, signalling a significant step forward for the species in Britain.
Dr Helen Taylor, conservation programme manager at RZSS said, “This a huge milestone for pine hoverfly conservation in Britain. We were delighted when RIC found adult pine hoverflies in the wild during the summer, but finding these larvae means we can now be certain that some of those adults found each other and found enough food to allow them to mate, lay eggs and produce a new generation at sites where this species has been missing for decades. These larvae mean we are seeing new populations emerge as a direct result of our wildlife conservation charity’s pine hoverfly breeding programme and the amazing habitat creation work that our partners at RIC and Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) have been engaged in.”
Genevieve Tompkins, project officer at RIC said, “As one of Britain’s most endangered native species, pine hoverflies are vital to forest ecosystems, acting as both pollinators and waste recyclers. One of our aims to get more pine hoverflies in more places – restoring the species and returning the important functions they provide to native pine forests. Seeing these new populations starting to establish and breed represents very exciting progress towards that goal.”
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Posted On: 18/10/2022