Species conservation profiles of cave-dwelling arthropods from Azores, Portugal

Abstract

Azorean volcanic cave biodiversity is under considerable pressure due to ongoing threats of pollution, land use change, touristic activities or climate change. In this contribution, we present the IUCN Red List profiles of 15 cave-adapted arthropod species, endemic to the Azorean archipelago, including species belonging to the speciose genus Trechus (Carabidae), which is represented in Azores by seven species. The objective of this paper is to assess all endemic Azorean cave-adapted species and advise on possible future research and conservation actions critical for the long-term survival of the most endangered species. Most species have a restricted distribution (i.e. occur in one or two caves), very small extent of occurrence (EOO) and a small area of occupancy (AOO). A continuing decline in the number of mature individuals is inferred from the ongoing cave habitat degradation. The two troglobitic species of the homopteran genus Cixius are in great danger of extinction due to major land-use changes in epigean habitats above their known localities. We suggest, as future measures of conservation, the regular monitoring of the species (every five years), the creation of additional protected caves, the limitation of several aggressive activities around the caves (e.g. decreasing pasture intensification) and in some cases the creation of fences in the entrance of the most important caves.

Conservation of terrestrial invertebrates: a review of IUCN and regional Red Lists for Myriapoda

“…Among the invertebrate experts, arachnological community is especially active in publishing species assessments at various scales in the form of academic papers (Seppälä et al 2018, Branco et al 2019, Fukushima et al 2019. Similar surveys have recently been published for moths, cave-dwelling arthropods (Borges et al 2018(Borges et al , 2019 and an endangered species of rattan palm from Africa (Cosiaux et al 2017) to name a few. Specific software has also been developed to ease the species assessments (Cardoso 2017).…”

Arthropod diversity in two Historic Gardens in the Azores, Portugal

“…Indeed, the nine Azorean islands sustain more than 2300 species and subspecies of terrestrial arthropods, being 42% introduced, 32% native non-endemic and only 12% endemic to the archipelago ( Rego et al 2015 ). Moreover, a large fraction of the 123 endemic arthropods recently assessed by IUCN were classified as Critically Endangered (32%), Endangered (27%) or Vulnerable (7%), with only 27% being classified in the lower conservation categories (NT, LC or DD) ( Borges et al 2017c , Borges et al 2018a , Borges et al 2019b , IUCN 2020 ).…”

Description of four new species of the subgenus Tachycines (Gymnaeta) Adelung, 1902 (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) from caves in China and additional notes on some previously known species

“…However, habitats of cave systems are easily destroyed and cannot be recovered and many undescribed species are in danger of extinction (Jaffé et al 2016;Borges et al 2019).…”