"A new Species every day"
The total number or insets that have flown or crawled into Neville’s traps in the canopy of five Sitka spruce trees and surrounding old-growth forest in the upper Carmanah over the past three years probably exceeds 750,000. Winchester" modest lab at university of Victoria is filled to the ceiling with them.
Not being an expert at classifying insect species (he's an ecologist not a taxonomist)Neville has sent select samples, about 25,000 specimens in total, from his collection to 62 insect identification experts around the world. These taxonomists are comparing each "bug with existing collection, separating the already known(previously identified and named species)from the new ones. It is slow going.
People skilled in classifying lifeforms are a dying breed. In Canada the federal government no longer trains taxonomists. But without their unique skills, the work the work that Neville would not be possible. No one could tell him precisely what he had found. To even get in a position to start to understand ecosystems we need more taxonomists to do the identifications of the millions of new insects being found around the world. The preliminary reports Neville is getting back from his 62 experts, who woke on a volunteer basis, are startling; it seems that nearly every day he receives word of yet another new species.
And just how many new lifeforms has he uncovered so far? Neville is reluctant to say, because he is more interested in understanding ecosystem processes, rather than just counting up new insect finds. And he points out that it is just as it is to tally up new species. Because both new and rare species will be lost if the ancient forest habitat is clearcut.
Nonetheless, when Neville finally sat down and reviewed his data, even he was amazed at the volume, variety and unique nature of what already has been identified. His team of experts has tentatively sorted out at least 60 new species of insects, while many more than that simply are unclassified because so little is known about them. Clearly Neville's "official" estimate that he will find 200 new species in total is much too low.
What follows is a progress report summarizing the insect findings to date from the upper Carmanah. In every case, the numbers are approximate, subject to further analysis.
It must be remembered that Neville has only identified a very small percentage of his entire collection. And 17 of the 32 orders of lifeforms he has found in the Carmanah have not yet been examined by experts.(the class, Order Family, Genus and Species).
The following is a progress report summarizing the insect findings to date from the upper Carmanah. All numbers are approximate, subject to change as more information is gathered.
It adds up to caution.
Neville's findings prove that the ancient temperate rainforest is saturated with insects of all kind; the numbers seem incalculable. But when you ask Neville to explain how significant all these insects are to the ecological stability of the ancient rainforest, he admits he simply doesn't know.
"But that's the whole point," he says. "Since we really have no understanding of the full range of species that inhabit the rainforest, and since we have absolutely no idea how the ancient temperate rainforest ecosystem works, the last thing we should be doing is liquidating our last large intact watersheds."
Continues Winchester, "If we log the last remaining ancient temperate rainforests, we will make extinct hundreds of species of lifeforms that are unique to that old-growth environment, many of which we haven't yet identified."
Orders
1.Mites (Acari-Oribatida)
In this one sub-order Neville’s study has identified 1008 specimens from more than 50.000
collected. Of a total of 26 families and 59 species of mites catalogued, he has discovered one new
genus and 26 new species, Neville won't project the total number of new species he might eventually
identify, but it could top 100.
2.Spiders (Araneae)
spiders are well-studied insect, so Neville doubts he will uncover a new species in the Carmanah
study. But he has found a variety of ground-dwelling tarantulas never before seen in Canada. And he
feels it is clearly dependent on the old-growth ecosystems. Seven other species of spiders have
only been documented in the forest canopy. Half of Neville's spider collection has been examined so
far, revealing 17 families and 52 species.
3.Springtails (Collembola)
These are tiny, soil-moss-dwelling insects that inhabit select microhabitats in the forest
ecosystem. With only two percent of the collection examined Neville's study has identified nine
families and 42 species. This includes one new genus and 12 new species. As with the mites. there
are scores of new genera and species still to be identified. nine families and 42 species. This
includes one new genus and 12 new species. As with the mites, there are scores of new genera and
species still to be identified.
5.Flies (Diptera)
Neville may have collected as many as 500,000 specimens of flies. Only two per cent already found a
new genus and 14 new species. Even more significant is the within just one already have identified
217 know species The total volume and variety of flies left to identify is staggering.
6.Wasps/bees/ants (Hymenoptera)
While the ancient temperate rainforest is filled with insects from this order, Neville has very
little solid information to report. Only one percent of the collection has been studied. Producing
15 families and 94 species. But 85 of those species can't be positively identified This is
uncharted territory.
7.Butterflies/moths (Lepidoptera)
Collected from branch clippings in the tree tops, the samples of butterflies and moths Neville
assembled are mainly canopy dwellers. Like spiders, this class of insects is well studied and
Neville found no new lifeforms among the five families and 19 species identified. For one species,
this was the first time it was ever recorded feeding in a Sitka spruce tree.
8.Crickets/grasshoppers (Orthoptera)
These are not major lifeform in the rainforest, and thus Neville has found a total of only three
families and seven species. One cricket species has been recorded in the tops of ancient trees.
9.Stoneflies (Plecoptera)
The stoneflies collected in this study breed mainly in the waters of Carnamah Creek, and
Neville's study did not include sampling aquatic insects. But so far he has catalogued five
families and nine genera trapped in the rainforest. The real question is, what are these aquatic
insects doing in the canopy? What is the connection of the creek to the tree tops?
10.Psocids (Psocoptera)
Formerly known as book lice of bark lice, these tiny insects feed on mould and other growths
on trees. Sampling them primarily in the canopy, Neville turned up nine families and 13 species. With 80 percent of all Psocids identified,
Neville can report one new species.
11.Caddisflies (Trichoptera)
Similar to stoneflies, caddisflies spend most of their life in water. But adults will stray
into the forest, and with 80 percent of his specimens identified, Neville has found five
families and 14 species.
12.Miscellaneous
Neville's research has turnedup three different orders of millipedes from the Class
Diplopoda, for a total of four families and five species. One of the milipede families
had never before been recorded in Canada. He also found one species of earwig in his traps.
