Insect conservation: finding the way forward

Relatively speaking, the conservation of mammals, birds and other large terrestrial vertebrates is a simple task. The bulk of species are described, their ecologies are reasonably well known, the threats to their habitat or breeding systems are often documented, and the funding to implement recovery programmes readily available; e.g. mammals and birds are charismatic and the general public are fairly easily persuaded to identify with flagship species such as elephants, lions and snow leopards and financially support their conservation (Wilson, 1987; Clark & May, 2002). The major problems facing large vertebrate conservation are habitat loss/destruction and genetic bottlenecks. There is no shortage of volunteers to count, survey and protect these species; e.g. turtle watch, bird counts in Britain and North America, etc.