| Authors | Nicoletta Riccardi, Tiziano Bo, Arthur E Bogan, Karel Douda, Elsa Froufe, Duarte V Gon ç alves, Jasna Lajtner, Vanessa Modestoa, Giuseppe A Moro, Vincent Prié, Ronaldo Sousa, Spase Shumka, Amílcar Teixeira, Maria Urbanska, Simone Varandas, Manuel Lopes-Lima |
| Text | 461984 2021 10.1016/B978 0 12 821139 7.00180 X charismatic species conservation policies extinction risk freshwater mussels isolation restricted distribution understudied species Microcondylaea bonellii, a Testimonial for Neglected Endangered Species Nicoletta Riccardi, Tiziano Bo, Arthur E Bogan, Karel Douda, Elsa Froufe, Duarte V Gon ç alves, Jasna Lajtner, Vanessa Modestoa, Giuseppe A Moro, Vincent Prie, Ronaldo Sousa, Spase Shumka, Amilcar Teixeira, Maria Urbanska, Simone Varandas, Manuel Lopes Lima aCNR Water Research Institute, Verbania, Italy; bNaturaStaf Hydrobiologist, Via Lunga, AT, Italy; c North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC, United States; d Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; e CIIMAR/CIMAR Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Matosinhos, Portugal; f Faculty of Science, Division of Zoology, Department of Biology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia; g Environmental Biologist, Udine, Italy; h Institut de Systematique, Évolution, Biodiversite ISYEB Museum National d Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Universite, EPHE, Universite des Antilles, Paris, France; i Department of Biology, CBMA Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; j Faculty of Biotechnology and Food, Agricultural University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania; k Centro de Investiga ç ão de Montanha CIMO , Instituto Politecnico de Bragan ç a, Campus de Santa Apolonia, Bragan ç a, Portugal; l Department of Zoology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poznan , Poland; m Forestry Department, CITAB UTAD Centre for Research and Technology of Agro Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Tras os Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal; n CIBIO/InBIO Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto, Vairão, Portugal Although biodiversity is considered a value to be protected to avoid the degradation of ecosystem functions, conservation practices ignore the role of many species. Species are not protected according to their degree of risk, but according to their degree of attractiveness. The so called iconic species are used as flag species to convince the public of the need to protect all species to safeguard biodiversity. In reality, the iconic species gain protection, but it all ends there. The protection of biodiversity is a slogan that does not correspond to reality. In truth, species are protected by following the criteria underlying zoos, where the choice is based on emotional and economic components. Since we need safeguard biodiversity to prevent ecosystems degradation, it is crucial to identify, and possibly correct, the errors of the conservation system. Tracing the history that brought a species to the brink of extinction serves to identify the weaknesses. Microcondylaea bonellii was chosen as an example since its conservation status was incorrectly assessed and this resulted in a lack of adequate legislative protection. Ironically, the species is protected against the only threat that does not seem to have any importance at all exploitation , but it receives no protection against real threats habitat degradation, fragmentation, pollution . The European legislative instrument for the protection of species, the Habitats Directive, grants adequate protection only to a few priority species, the others are left to their fate. This is in contrast to the declared aims the ecological principles that promoted the formulation of the Habitats Directive are not translated into practice. There is a wide debate on this issue to avoid repeating these flaws/ errors in the new and ambitious EU s biodiversity strategy for 2030. The contribution of this chapter is to provide evidence of the current malfunction, because learning from past mistakes is necessary to progress. Imperiled The encyclopedia of conservation Published version Capitolo Microcondylaea bonellii, a Testimonial for Neglected Endangered Species pdf Microcondylaea_Imperiled.pdf Contributo in volume nicolettarita.riccardi RICCARDI NICOLETTA RITA |
