Action for our invertebrates
Discover Ireland's invertebrates, the conservation challenges they face, and the current research, policy, and community work to help. Our focus will be on insects, but we will also consider Ireland's other invertebrates - like molluscs and our unseen marine.
Ireland, both north and south, is ranked poorly for biodiversity decline; both our invertebrates and the habitats they call home are in poor condition. Despite growing red lists emphasising our need for immediate conservation and policy reform, many of our invertebrates remain data deficient or under-recorded, thus we often do not fully understand the extent of their decline.
To compound, Ireland still has to tackle the same global, national and local challenges encountered around the world such as climate change, pollution, habitat fragmentation, intensive agriculture, and invasive non-native species.
However, we are in good hands! Here is the talk schedule:
Session 1: Introduction and Keynote
🪲 10:10-10:20 ~ Dr. Helen Barber-James (NMNI): Opening/Welcome and the work of the museum
🪲 10:20-10:30 ~ Joshua Clarke (Buglife): Accessibility to entomology in Ireland and Buglife’s role
🪲 10:30-11:05 ~ Dr. Roy Anderson Keynote: Saproxylic Coleoptera in Northern Ireland
Session 2: Threatened and Red Lists
🦋 11:25-11:45 ~ Rose Cremin (Butterfly Conservation): Bending the Curve of Northern Ireland’s threatened Lepidoptera
🦋 11:45-12:05 ~ Adam Mantell: Mapping Irish invertebrates and setting rarity and scarcity thresholds
🦋 12:05-12:25 ~ Dr. Brian Nelson (NPWS) Review of the All-Ireland Red Lists, process and outcomes
🦋 12:25-12:45 ~ Owen Beckett (National Biodiversity Data Centre): Towards a Red List of Ireland’s Wasps
Session 3: Freshwater Invertebrates & Habitats
🐌 13:30-13:50 ~ Dr. Helen Barber-James (NMNI): Freshwater insects of the Ballinderry River catchment - a preliminary survey, focusing on Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Tricoptera (EPT) taxa.
🐌 13:50-14:10 ~ Dr. Jan-Robert Baars (UCD): Recent survey results highlight the threat of invasive alien species on native invertebrates and the need to reduce their spread.
🐌 14:10-14:30 ~ Toby Edwards (National Trust): Ghost Ponds - breathing life into the landscape
Session 4: Ongoing PhD Research & Outreach
14:50-15:10 ~ Martha Fox (QUB): Hoverfly foraging behaviour and
pollination efficiency
15:10-15:30 ~ Will Hancock-Evans (QUB): Connectivity and Isolation of Urban Soils
15:30-15:50 ~ Stewart Rosell (AFBI): Training Citizen Scientists
Closing talks
16:00~16:20 ~ Hannah Fullerton (Buglife) Belfast’s Buzzing
16:20~16:40 ~ Joshua Clarke / Dr. Helen Barber-James (Buglife/NMNI): Closing