S.E.H. Conservation Committee Blog

The regional government of the Canay Islands made a bill of law aimed to create a new regional catalogue of protected species. The main changes proposed  for herpetofauna are to demote the category of protection of Gallotia intermedia from Endangered to Vulnerable, and also  moving out of the regional catalogue Chalcides simonyi and Gallotia atlantica laurae. This proposal is illegal as regionals laws could be more restrictive than national laws, but regional catalogues could not move out from their category of protection species listed in the national catalogue. There is a platform against this proposal that´s been trying to stop this law.

folleto.pdf

 

The Conservation Committee of the SEH has been actively involved in amphibian and reptile conservation trough the Bern convention (the “Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats”; see http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/nature/Bern/default_en.asp). As usual, there were also many case files on amphibian and reptiles discussed at the 2009 meeting of the standing committee of the Bern Convention.

There were three “complaints on stand-by”. The first complaint dealt with Bufo viridis in Alsace (France). The few remaining habitats are threatened by development projects. While the French government reported that sufficient conservation action had been undertaken, the conservation NGO expressed their opinion that much more conservation action was necessary. This was also true for the second “complaint on stand-by” which involves a French population of Testudo hermanni threatened by a development project. The third “complaint on stand-by” involved a population of population of Bufo calamita on the Swedish island of Smögen. Again, the government officials reported that the population was not threatened by a development project. However, the very detailed report of a SEH-CC member convinced that standing committee that the problem has not yet been solved. There was also a follow-up on a recommendation from a previous year that involved sea turtles in Turkey. Here, the situation appears to have improved but the problem is not yet solved.

It is therefore no surprise that no case file was closed because no report from the government officials was completely satisfactory. The member states will have to report again in 2010 on how the conservation problems were solved. Surely, protecting species and habitats through the Bern Convention requires a lot of patience because it may take many years until a conservation problem is solved. Nevertheless, many valuable habitats and the amphibian and reptile populations that inhabit them would have been destroyed without the Bern Convention.

There was one very positive thing at the meeting. For many years, SHE-CC was the only organisation defending the interests of amphibians and reptiles (with the exception sea turtles, where the NGO Medasset has been active for many years). At the 2009 meeting, many national and local conservation NGO spoke up for amphibian and reptile conservation. This shows that conservation of amphibians and reptiles is no longer an exotic endeavour but has entered mainstream NGO conservation activities.

The member states of the Bern Convention have recommended action plans for several European amphibian and reptile species (Rana latastei, Triturus cristatus, Lacerta agilis and Elaphe longissima) in 2006. Unfortunately, not much has happened since then and the action plans were not discussed at the 2009 meeting. It is certainly a job for the SEH-CC to remind the member states of the Bern Convention that these action plans exists and that they should be implemented.

All case files and the minutes of the 2009 Bern Convention meeting are available from the website http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/nature/WCD/TPVSReports_en.asp#. If you have problems locating them, then please contact <benedikt.schmidt *at* unine.ch>.

 

In November 2009 the new Red Lists on Dutch amphibian and reptiles were presented by RAVON (formal publication date is 2007). This report presents, apart from the list using official Dutch criteria, for the first time Red Lists following the criteria of IUCN, so that the situation in The Netherlands can be compared with that in other countries.

 

 

 

Amphibians

All 16 species regularly reproducing in The Netherlands were assessed according to the criteria of the Dutch government. The threatened species are being subdivided in four categories as follows (there are no species in the category Extinct in The Netherlands):

1 Critically endangered (Bombina variegata)

3 Endangered (Salamandra salamandra, Pelobates fuscus, Hyla arborea)

3 Vulnerable (Triturus cristatus, Lissotriton helveticus, Alytes obstetricans)

1 Susceptible (Bufo calamita)

The Red List comprises 8 species (50% of the assessed species). The other 8 species are Not threatened at present. The IUCN Regional Red List consists of the following categories of species: 3 Endangered (Salamandra salamandra, Pelobates fuscus, Bombina variegata) and 2 Vulnerable (Alytes obstetricans, Bufo calamita). The other 11 species belong to Least Concern.

The most important causes of threat for half the Dutch amphibian fauna are:

* Lowering of ground water levels: all species are more or less affected

* Loss and fragmentation of habitats: almost all species are affected because of their low mobility.

* Eutrophication and acidification.

* (Shrub) encroachment of habitat: especially thermophilic and psammophilic species as Bombina variegata, Alytes obstetricans and Pelobates fuscus are affected.

 

Reptiles

All 7 species regularly reproducing in The Netherlands were assessed according to the criteria of the Dutch government. The 2007 Red List for Reptiles includes the following numbers of species per category (there are no species in the category Extinct in The Netherlands):

1 Critically endangered (Podarcis muralis)

1 Endangered (Coronella austriaca)

3 Vulnerable (Lacerta agilis, Natrix natrix, Vipera berus)

1 Susceptible (Zootoca vivipara)

The Red List comprises 6 species (86% of the assessed species). Only one species (Anguis fragilis) is Not threatened at present.The IUCN Regional Red List consists of two species of the category Vulnerable (Podarcis muralis, Coronella austriaca). The other 5 species belong to Least Concern.

 

The most important causes of threat for the Dutch reptile fauna are:

* Loss and fragmentation of habitats: almost all species are affected because of their low mobility. The surface of prime reptile habitats as heathlands and raised bogs has decreased by over 90%.

* (Shrub) encroachment of habitat: in combination with a lack of nature management is the cause of recent habitat loss and an increasing fragmentation. Between 1983 and 2000 still 8.000 hectares of heathland changed into forest!

* Unsuitable management: especially practices as sod cutting and grazing introduced on an intensive and large scale have had a tremendous negative effect on reptiles, particularly in the eighties and nineties.

 

The complete title of the report is: Delft, J.J.C.W. van, R.C.M. Creemers & A. Spitzen-van der Sluijs, 2007. Basisrapport Rode Lijsten Amfibieën en Reptielen volgens Nederlandse en IUCN-criteria. – Stichting RAVON, Nijmegen, in opdracht van Directie Kennis, Ministerie van LNV. The report (in Dutch with English summary) can be found here.

Last November RAVON also presented the last Atlas of the amphibians and reptiles of the Netherlands. The book is published in the renowned series “Nederlandse Fauna” (“Netherlands Fauna”), published by the National Museum of Natural History Naturalis and the European Invertebrate Survey-The Netherlands.

The Atlas consists of 480 pages with 420 color photos, 150 maps and many graphs, tables and drawings and it is based on over 450,000 records! It also includes a CD with the calls of all the Dutch frogs and toads. The book is in Dutch, with English summaries. Besides extensive species accounts of the 16 indigenous amphibians and 7 indigenous reptiles also species accounts of three exotic species (Triturus carnifex, Rana catesbeiana and Trachemys scripta elegans) are included as well as an extensive chapter on the stranded sea turtles (4 species). Ten chapters deal with subjects as taxonomy, amphibians and reptiles in cultural history, history of herpetology in The Netherlands, ecology and nature management. The Atlas costs 49.95 euros and it can be ordered here.

 

The complete title of the Atlas is: Creemers, R.C.M. & J.J.C.W. van Delft, (RAVON) (Eds), 2009. De amfibieën en reptielen van Nederland. – Nederlandse Fauna 9. Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis, European Invertebrate Survey – Nederland, Leiden.

We just had the last meeting of the Conservation Committee members. The meeting has been held at the Frankfurt Zoo, and numerous topics have been discussed. Stay tuned to know more about it. We will keep updating the website of the Conservation Committee and this blog regularly, so that any news about our work will be posted!

For its 25 years of existence, Raînne, the herpetological working group of Natagora, will held a one-day symposium on the 27th of February, 2010, in Nismes, South of Wallonia. The talks presented at the symposium will deal with the study and conservation of amphibians and reptiles in Wallonia and its neighbouring regions. You can download the whole program (in French, 1,4Mo) by clicking on the image below:

In French: À l'occasion des 25 ans du groupe Raînne, le groupe de travail herpétologique de Natagora, nos collègues herpétologistes wallons organisent une journée de rencontre sur l'étude et la conservation de l'herpétofaune de Wallonie et des régions voisines le 27 février 2010 à Nismes, au sud de la Wallonie. Le programme de cette manifestation est téléchargeable au format pdf en cliquant sur ce lien. Attention, le nombre de place est limité, et la participation nécessite une inscription préalable auprès des organisateurs (coordonnées dans le pdf de présentation). Cliquez sur l'image pour accéder directement au site de Raînne :