Pollinators such as bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, birds, bats and bettles are needed for seed creation in 90% of all flowering plants and one third of human food crops. Without pollinators much of the plants we find in the forest, crops and those we see in our gardens would not make it through. Pollinators provide us food! But you know what? Our food may be compromised because of climate change.

Our recent study published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE shows that climate change will increase the chances of pollinators to disappear even inside protected areas in one of the most important, yet imperiled biodiversity reservoirs on Earth: the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil. This place is home for more 20,000 plant species and more than 2300 animals. Up to 40% and 30% of those plants and animals, respectively, happen to occur only there in the world. The forest also provides the cities along the coast with water and it sustains many rural communities whose livelihoods depend on the conservation of forest resources. However, today only 11% of its original surface still remains.

Even with only 11% of its original surface left, the Atlantic rainforest remains home to one of the most important biodiversity reservoirs on Earth.

Some portions of these remaining surfaces are legally protected as National and State Parks, sustainable use reserves, and environmental protection areas, composing a network of protected areas. You may think that inside those areas nature is safe, right? NO.

How is that so?

Well, it happens that climate change alters the habitats of species. Places that were good enough to live become inhabitable as the air heats up, rains become unpredictable, and vegetation changes. Facing those changes species may do one of three things:

(1) they can move to another place if they found one that is available and accessible for them. Take 30 seconds and picture yourself as a tiny little butterfly trying to fly over more than 6.2 miles (about 10km) of soybean crops before you can find another home in the forest. Feel tired? Yeah, me too.

(2) they can adapt to new local conditions. This is easier said than done! Species ability to adapt depends on a series of circumstances that ranges from its genetic variability to behavioral changes. Though adaptation is supposed to happen (check out this new interesting paper), scientists do not know for sure how species can do that to cope with the effects of climate change, and if they do, they [the scientists] only know the responses of some species and cannot generalize it to others;

(3) they can go extinct – ok, let’s face it: this is not a real option!

But all this happens with pollinators. What most people don’t get is that the loss of pollinators might imply in economic losses for agriculture, a reduction in food production, and an imbalance of nature. Most pollinators that help increase food production live in natural habitats, and some of these habitats are legally protected.

Butterflies and moths are exclusive pollinators of many plant species. In the Brazilian Atlantic Forest they play a critical role in the survival of forest trees.

But aren’t pollinators safe inside protected areas? This is not the major goal of these places?

Working with moths in the Brazilian Atlantic forest, we found that by 2080, currently established protected areas should become climatically inhabitable for these species. That means that the climate will change and it will not be good for moths. Around 4% of these pollinators should become extinct, some of them being unique to the region. In fact, only a few protected areas in the southern region of the forest would maintain or even increase the number of species they hold today; the majority of those parks would loose their pollinators due to expected climatic changes.

What is going on to fix this issue?

Ecologists and conservation scientists are working together to better understand the species' responses to climate change (our paper is just and example of that). This understanding could support and antecipe the decision-making process for conserving pollinators. More biological information can be included in studies that estimate economic losses arising from the extinction of pollinators, both in agricultural areas and natural places, like National Parks.

Ultimately, local people, scientists, NGOs and the government can sit together and come up with conservation policies that will safeguard pollinators inside and outside protected areas. This is already happening in Brazil under an initiative proposed by theFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

What you can do?

For the citzen there are many individual initiatives to prevent the extinction of pollinators. These initiatves go from cultivating gardens in urban areas with flowering plants that attract differet pollinators like bees, butterflies or birds, to building little hotels for insects to giving and attenting courses about pollination.

In Brazil you can register in the that runs from 8-20 December 2014.You can even buy a recent book publised in 2013 to learn more about the importance of pollination and pollinator to ecosystem and human health.

If you're a scientist, you can help a lot by inspiring other people with the results of your research and by divulgating them in social media and blogs. You can also make your data public so new analyses and partnership may take place.

If you're a government of NGO employee you can bring this agenda to your projects and discussions, helping to formulate public policy and to better inform decision makers.

As you see, there are plenty of opportunities to engage in. Let’s just hope pollinators are safe before it is too late for them, and for us.

Hi guys!

You all know we're collaborating with with the Brazilian National Center for the Conservation of Flora (CNCFlora) to produce a map and a book with recommendations of priority sites for investment in threatened plant conservation in Brazil. Rafael coordinates this project. See our post about it HERE!

We have now extended our partnership to two other big projects. One is called "Action and recovery planning for the conservation of threatened Flora". Recovery planning is a key component of government-funded initiatives to address declining populations of threatened species all over the world and in Brazil it is not different.

The other project is "Conservation of Critically Endangered plant species in the Brazilian Cerrado". The aim of this project is to define a series of conservation actions (some of them are spatially explict) that should help to safeguard populations of these species in this Biodiversity Hotspot.

Projects are funded by the Brazilian Ministriy of Environment via World Bank and Global Environament Facility resources. We are more than happy to collaborate with CNCFlora's team in these other two important projects!

This is a satellite image (dated 12 Aug 2007) depicting deforestation in the state of Rondônia, northwestern Brazil.

Things has changed onver the last 7 years and Brazil is now a global exception when it comes to forest change, with decreasing rates of deforestation in the last decade and a strong system of satellite monitoring for forest loss, especially in the Amazon.

However, in terms of national policy, the Brazilian government is consistently making decisions that go against the global policies it ratifies. Two papers we published (Dobrowolski & Rattis 2014 | Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 12:376; and Loyola 2014 | Diversity and Distributions, in press - coming online soon) discuss this particular topic.

Dobrovolski & Rattis (2014) argue that Brazil should transfer not just agricultural technology and innovation, but also its “know-how” of environmental monitoring programs and policies, which may help to identify and discourage leakage in other developing nations. This is because among initiatives to promote development and alleviate poverty, Brazil has fostered agricultural and infrastructural expansion in countries in Latin America and Africa. Hence, as the economic activities that Brazilians are promoting abroad are considered as drivers of tropical deforestation, decreases in forest loss in Brazil came along with increases in forest loss in other countries. This situation represents two sides of a “leakage” process in which deforestation that would otherwise occur in Brazil is being displaced elsewhere.

Loyola (2014) also presents some examples of inconsistent politics in Brazil. Brazilian governors have recently revised the Brazilian Forest Act – its main environmental legislation on private land, reduced the area covered by some protected areas and allowed the creation of new hydropower plants on undisturbed Amazonian rivers, and have plans to open indigenous reserves to mining. Among other consequences, these controversial actions made by national leaders may increase CO2 emissions and propel a massive loss of species, with irreversible consequences to the provision of ecosystem services and goods.

It's worth reading both letters and reflecting upon what authors are saying. What's you opinion on these topics? Please check our posts on it at Twitter (@loyola_cblab) and Facebook (facebook.com/cbiolab).

You may also check out our publications here.

Cheers!

Last Friday (Aug 8th) we had our first seminar on the art of stress-free productivity by mastering the GTD (Getting Things Done) workflow.

It was a tactically oriented, hands-on seminar on how to get your GTD system up and running. You learned the fundamental thinking process and the five phases of workflow mastery.

Led by Rafael Loyola, who have experience working with GTD for years, this one-day presentation was packed with practical recommendations and suggestions about how to put GTD to work for you at work, at home and in everything you do.

We're planning to offer another seminar this year... we'll keep you posted.

The Conservation Biogeography Lab has a logo!

Our logo represents what we hope to achieve: a blue planet full of biodiversity, and our strategic focus on South America.

It is simple, both in color and form, but reflects our concern with global issues that involve climate change and species distribution, and the science of effective decision-making to better conserve biodiversity.

As we continue to expand the scope and scale of our work, the logo will help a

broad spectrum of audiences identify the CB-Lab and our work.

In this interview to Rádio CBN, Rafael Loyola, explains how to reconcile agriculture expansion and biodiversity conservation.

Check it out here:

[In Portuguese]