Current Threats
Species, sites and habitats are under threat from a variety of causes. These threats are often interconnected and reinforce each other. Habitat loss for example is harmful not only to a single species, but to whole communities and ecosystems, reducing resilience to climate change.
Climate change: Our climate is warming and extreme weather events are increasing. Habitats such as wetlands could dry out; our woodlands could support fewer trees and the risk of fire on our grassland and moorland would increase. The effect of species is less easy to predict; some species will gain as the climate warms, for example the little egret and marsh fritillary and lesser horseshoe bat but many will lose out, including black grouse, oblong woodsia - a rare plant favouring cool conditions and visits from winter waders and common scoters will decline.
Habitat destruction and degradation: Many flower-rich lowland meadows have been lost and hedgerows and woods have been cleared particularly since 1945. Our habitats are increasingly fragmented making it difficult for species to adapt to climate change. Poorly managed habitats quickly lose key species and genetic variability among the remaining population declines leaving them vulnerable to disease, predation and reproductive failure.
Pollution: Air pollution and excess nitrate and phosphate pollution is affecting our wildlife and habitats on land and in our rivers and seas.
Development: Industry, housing, ports, roads are often located in areas of importance for wildlife. Development destroys and fragments habitats, leaving species and habitats 'no room for manoeuvre’ in the face of climate change. We need to manage the dynamic between development and nature to get the best outcome for wildlife and for people.
Changes in farming practice: Intensive farming and the change to autumn-sown crops has removed a valuable source of food for farmland birds. Pressure to produce crops for biofuels could potentially impact Wales, if adopted; areas of set aside - important refuges for wildlife could be lost
Non-native invasive species: The threat to native insects is a big concern and is one of the rising threats for biological diversity. The harlequin ladybird for example is a particularly invasive species, out-competing our native ladybird and predating on native insects and their larvae. Other examples include mink, azolla fern, Japansese knotweed, slipper limpet and signal crayfish. Overlay the effects of climate change and more and more species are predicted to arrive and spread to our native ecosystems changing their character and costing our economy millions in eradication.
Links
MONARCH-Modelling Natural Resource Responses to Climate Change Report
Conserving Biodiversity in a changing climate: guidance on building capacity to adapt.
UK Climate Impacts Programme