Need for Understanding and Conservation

Practical insect conservation has two major levels of focus: the fine level of attention to individual species and the coarse filter of concentrating on wider diversity. Both are complex, and usually initiated with very incomplete biological knowledge. The contexts and approaches are discussed in this chapter, to increase understanding of how insect conservation ‘works’. For both levels, setting rational and justifiable priorities for deployment of limited support resources may be difficult. Adoption of a species or area focus leads to construction of some form of ‘action plan’ for conservation, based on the best available scientific knowledge and each tailored for the individual case: the desirable contents are outlined. Single-species conservation is often site-based, and site security (protection or reservation) is essential for long-term conservation. The insect faunas of most major protected areas such as national parks are incompletely documented, and insects rarely constitute priorities for management of such areas. More general conservation measures in other areas, such as the urban and agricultural environments, emphasise needs for a ‘landscape perspective’ in insect conservation and involving both habitat condition and connectivity.