Tuesday, January 16, 2007

How many species, and how many are threatened?

According to an Irish Times article on the threat to Ireland's wildlife, published 16 January 2007, Ireland's wildlife is thought to comprise:
  • 31 species of mammal (OnlyOneIreland reckons there's 34 mammal species)
  • 27 species of fish
  • 12,000 species of flowering plants and trees
  • 3,500 species of fungi
  • 12,000 species of insects.

It is estimated that up to 200 of these species are threatened with extinction or have undergone serious decline in recent years.

  • A total of 18 native bird species are on the red list of animals that have shown a 50 per cent decline in breeding numbers in the last 25 years. These include the corncrake, barn owl, black-necked grebe, hen harrier and grey partridge. Further still, around 20 bird species in Ireland are of conservation concern.
  • A further 77 species of native Irish birds have undergone a decline of between 25 per cent and 50 per cent throughout Europe.
  • Mammals on the endangered species list include the red squirrel, otter, mountain hare and all 10 bat species found in Ireland.
  • The natterjack toad, native only to a small part of Co Kerry, is also on Ireland's endangered list.
Ireland, along with the rest of the EU, is commited under international biodiversity agreements to halt the loss of its biodiversity by 2010. The Notice Nature campaign, launched in January 2007, contributes to Ireland's commitment.
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The island of ireland

Once upon a time, and for 15000 years, ice a mile high blanketed Ireland. When the lingering Ice Age finally released and the Irish ice departed it left a landscape scoured. Across land bridges linking Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe plants and animals arrived to colonise the new lowlands, mountains and valleys. The world’s ice continued to melt, the sea levels to rise, and some 8000 years ago Ireland became the island we now know, accounting for just 0.01% of the world's total land area and the most westerly point of Europe.

Though at Alaskan latitudes, the country's climate is tempered, due partly to the neighbouring waters of the Gulf Stream and partly the prevailing southwesterlies that veering and backing make landfall on our sodden coast. These offerings from the Atlantic mean it is never too hot, never too cold. But without doubt it is wet. Rain lingers year round, never far away, though is most frequent in winter, the western counties and, inevitably, on the day of your parade.