Robin's Nest from American Humane - Sergio Henriques, Invertebrate Conservation Coordinator at the Global Center for Species Survival

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

In this episode of Robin's Nest, Robin talks with Sergio Henriques, Invertebrate Conservation Coordinator at the Global Center for Species Survival, at the Indianapolis Zoo. Henriques shares his passion for fireflies, education, and conservation. He’s an expert on everything creepy and crawly and tells Robin all about the status of conservation efforts for invertebrates.  

Welcome to Robin's Nest. So many of us have a deep connection with the animals around us and want to protect them from the pets in our homes to endangered species in the wild. That's why I joined American Humane. As one of the oldest and most effective animal protection groups, we help billions of animals around the world. Join us as we explore how we can build a more humane world together. Hello and welcome to Robin's Nest. I'm Dr. Robin Ganzert and this is the official podcast of American Humane and Global Humane, the nation's first and most experienced humane organization focused on the protection of animals all over the world, including certifying zoos and aquariums, being the first boots on the protection of animals all over the world, including certifying

zoos and aquariums, being the first boots on the ground in crises and rescues, making sure animals are safe in the filming of movies on sets globally, protecting 1 billion animals and farms, and our military veteran and military dog programs. There's so much to talk about with American Humane's power to touch lives and keep animals safe and loved. And today we're focusing on something most of us across generations have a cherished memory of. Fireflies are also known as lightning bugs. I'll remember chasing them on dark summer nights and looking in amazement at the glowing light as one landed on your arm? Well, now, friends, are concerned that many of these populations are dimming, and there's great concern for this precious creature across the world.

Today, we are talking to a firefly expert, Sergio Enriquez, Invertebrate Conservation Coordinator at the Global Center for Species Survival. Invertebrate Conservation Coordinator at the Global Center for Species Survival. He's the chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Spider and Scorpion Specialist Group, and he uses more than 20 years of experience mobilizing resources to promote conservation. He regularly engages with a global network to tackle threats such as illegal wildlife trade, using the latest technological tools to reverse the ongoing decline of the most diverse group of organisms on Earth, invertebrates. We are so glad that you, our listeners, are taking the time to hear some remarkable stories, and we want to hear what you think after you've listened. Please make sure

to review Robin's Nest on your podcast platform. Well, here we are in Robin's Nest with fond memories of fireflies. When I grew up, all I saw in summers were fireflies everywhere. What a beautiful, beautiful memory. And today I'm so excited to introduce to you a firefly expert and truly the conservation coordinator at the Global Center for Species Survival, Sergio Enriquez. Sergio, I am one of your biggest fans because I've always loved fireflies. It takes me back to a moment when I was a little girl visiting my grandparents in Ashland, Kentucky and hanging out on the backyard and looking at the garden and we saw and enjoyed fireflies. Welcome to Robin's Nest. I'm so glad to have you here today.

Yeah, thank you for having me, Robin. Really nice to be here. Well, you are, I think, the consummate expert on fireflies, and we'd love to know more because when I look out now and take my kids in the backyard, we don't see fireflies anymore, or at least not to the numbers we had when I grew up. I won't tell you my age, but it was some time ago. Tell me what's going on with fireflies. And tell me truly, if we can back up for a minute, tell me about your important work at the Global Center for Species Survival. Sure. So I'll try and answer the first question.

So your observation, what you've experienced is sadly not unique. Many people of my generation our generation have reported that and they were children and it was summer and they were they walked barefooted on their lawns or their backyards they would witness the the magical viewing of the night settling that kind of warm nights and summer and just the forest the trees around your house just being lit lit up or the trees would become ablaze as some would say or the beauty of the display of the fireflies because their numbers can be truly, actually it's part of their behavior. They can flash synchronously or they can flash out of sync, but their numbers are so great

that they confuse predators. So their numbers are so hard that you can barely pick where one is and the other is. So it's just a daunting and magical experience for children and adults alike. So it's just a daunting and magical experience for children and adults alike. And as you were sadly saying, from your own empirical experience in everyday life, you now wanted to share that with your children, as many people do, and you sadly struggle. And there's many reasons why that's the case. It is known, experts have known.

I'm just one of many experts in a network of experts here in the US and around the world who noticed that decline. The insect decline is a well-known or well-documented phenomenon, sadly, and fireflies are insects and they have been declining as well. There are several reasons why they've declined, but it remains to be a sad fact that when you go out these days, you do see less and fewer than you would just a few years ago. So this is fascinating to me. And I know you're part of the IUCN. Can you share with our incredible listeners of Robin says, what is IUCN? And what is the work that you're doing at the Global Center for Species Survival? Because I think all of this firefly, the reduction number of fireflies and insects in general, that's part of that six mass extinction. And IUCN and your work at the Global Center for Species Survival is crucial in fighting this war on extinction.

Yeah, that's exactly it. That's part of our mission here. So the first one I'll answer the IUCN question. IUCN is an acronym. It stands for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. And it is exactly that. It's a union of experts from around the world that are combining their knowledge, their expertise in fighting extinction or biodiversity decline. One of the most famous products of the IUCN that people might have heard from your listeners is the Red list assessments or the red list which just basically measures the extinction risk of animals

plants and fungi around the world and it's like a metric it's a list and it's sadly we've noticed that a lot of the fireflies as well as many insects have been declining so their extinction risk really has increased the global center here the, the Global Center for Species Survival, is based at Indianapolis Zoo. It's a partnership, as you said, with the IUCN. And we support the SSC, which is the Species Survival Commission, which is the commission responsible for the Red List,

among other things. And it's basically, it informs the Red List where all these experts are divided in specialist groups. There is the Firefly specialist group, which is led brilliantly by Sarah and others. And there's, of course, the Spider and Scorpion specialist group, which I personally chair. And there's other specialist groups that share other invertebrates

and, of course, mammals, birds, amphibians, all sorts. And the network works with the Global Center to just, let's say, expand, accelerate that effort, just because extension is accelerating as well. And if we don't put effort into it, it will not stop on its own. So we are driven to support and just enhance action, conservation action. You know, we talk about the sixth mass extinction, and for people who aren't in the space of conservation, aren't familiar with IUCN or the Center for Species Survival,

or our good friend Dr. John Paul Rodriguez talks about this a lot too in his role. You know, the sixth mass extinction sounds so foreign. It sounds so distant, like, oh, it sounds like a dinosaur extinction. Can you share with everyone in Robin's Nest, what does the sixth mass extinction mean and why is it urgent? Yeah, so the sixth mass extinction is just a number of extinction phenomena throughout the eons, throughout Earth's life really, and what we call the sixth because five have happened in the past out of, you know, natural geological causes. The meteor being the most famous are the KT extinction, the one that led dinosaurs to extinction.

That's the most famous one. And we call it the sixth one because all the five ones recorded in history, this would be the sixth that we have measure detected. And what it really means when people say we're in the midst of a sixth mass extinction is that there is something called the background extinction rates which is basically species you know naturally out of evolution or phenomenons just going extinct if an island it erupts in a volcano some of the animals and plants might go extinct that's part of a natural extinction rate what's happening now it's not that we are many many times over accelerating that natural rate.

And that's happening for a lot of reasons. People need resources and food, and we tend sometimes to take more than we need or to take it unsustainably. And that has led habitat loss, pollution, and of course, species to go extinct. And that rate is so high that the extinction that's going on now, the extinction rate is comparable to extinctions in the past, like the one that extermin going on now, the extinction rate is comparable to extinctions in the past, like the one that exterminated dinosaurs. Wow. Now, I've read startling numbers, like 1 million planted animal species in our children's lifetime. Is that what you're finding

at the Global Center for Species Survival? Yeah, that's true. So in my own research as an academic, I did look at that one million number you said. And if you look at the IUCN red list, so the red list of species, species can fall into these categories, right? And there can be threatened or it can be not threatened, basically. And the estimate now is that over a million species of plants and animals, as you said, and some fungi are on the extinction pathway. What that means in practice is that from the academic side, we know they're declining, but from a practical side for your listeners and people like myself who care deeply about these theses and want to see them thriving, is that if we don't stop

this decline, if they continue going down this route, it's a matter of time until they're gone. And sometimes this is like an opportunity window. Either you intervene now when it's feasible and it's possible, or it might simply be too late and all the animals and species you might care or love for or you might not even know they existed

and were just there, they might be gone. By the time you look for them, they're now extinct. So we want to prevent that. That's the work we do here and that's the work we do with our partners

trying to accelerate that process. Accelerate the saving of species and that's really, really crucial. And we talk about the timetable. It's within a generation. We're not talking about a thousand years now.

This is really a very crunch time to have action. And we could talk about extinction forever, but we're going to talk a little bit more about one of our favorite childhood memories of fireflies. And I know this is one of your passionate areas of interest. But first of all, I want to thank you for what you do. I thank you for your academic work. You're in field work. It's very, very important to have experts like you on the front line saving species. Tell me a little bit about fireflies. And number one, you love them, clearly. And you can't protect what you don't love.

You can't love what you don't know, right? And you certainly know the incredible firefly. Introduce folks in Robin's Nest to the firefly. Yeah, so that's a great topic. They're amazing animals. People associate them with magic. They're not magical, but they do really feel like that. And so fireflies aren't flies at all.

They don't produce fire as well, but they do produce light. And they're not lightning bugs. They're not real bugs. And they don't produce lightning. So they're actually beetles. Fireflies are a group of beetles that have evolved this ability to just produce bioluminescence. So light in darkness. that have evolved this ability to just produce by women.

So light and darkness. And so when you're a child or if you're an adult and you're looking in these dark skies and if you're in your backyard or in a forest, if you're lucky enough, you see this quiet, very humble blink. And that phenomenon really, when you see it like that in light, it's usually the male trying to tell the female that he's fit, he's available, and he's looking for a partner. And often, if he's lucky, if he does the right song in the right way at the right tempo, rhythm is essential for fireflies. Maybe a female firefly will see that and in response will have her own flashing song, and they will sing together in a duet.

That's their love song. They sing with light. That's really unique in the terrestrial realm around us. So that's one of the few things we see that produces their own light, one of the few species. And they do it a lot in the US. There's a number of species here in Indiana

where we're based, within Indianapolis. The list is now at 43 species present in the state, but there's like 2000 species of fireflies around the world, and they're spread along continents. In my country of Portugal, I used to see fireflies as a kid as well, and they're beautiful as well, and they have their own display. Here in the U.S., you are lucky enough to have a synchronous firefly. So there's a number of species, and the way they flash, how they do it, the color of their flash, there's orange flash, blue flash, green flash,

that coloration, that rhythm is indicative of what species it might be. So it can tell someone with some knowledge and expertise that if you're curious enough to tell that flashing pattern in that top of that tree can only be that species. And so you can actually admire them and appreciate their presence and understand a little more about their biology just from looking at them I love

that and I love that we're talking about a little matchmaking process happened with these beetles and the light and the song it's beautiful I didn't know we'd be covering romantic topics in Robin's Nest today but it's magical I do love it and I know you said it's not magic but but it feels like it, doesn't it? It does feel. Yeah, absolutely. Well, but there's a good reason why it feels like magic is that, like I said, these are not, this is not a common phenomenon across the animal kingdom. If you look at the terrestrial realm, like you go around your yard, you don't see other animals blowing or producing life. It's quite a unique thing. So when we look at the mythology around fairies or leprechauns and elves or imps,

a lot of fireflies have those names as common names for a reason because people link those two phenomena to that. There's beauty and there's magical and that which you cannot easily perceive or is not common for you to see. And fireflies have very short windows of emergency, meaning that they only come out in summer. You've noticed that most species, flashing species, come out in summer. And even then, you'll have species that are only out for two weeks. And within those two weeks, if it's rainy, windy, if the weather isn't right or too cold, only like 50% of the time or 60% of the nights

is when they will be out and displaying. The other nights, they might just not have that chance, so they will miss that window. So males really need to shine and females really need to pick their partners so that the species can follow. And when we, out of safety or out of other concerns, produce a lot of light pollution, that really doesn't help that message, right?

The way I sometimes tell it to people is that if you're trying to talk to a partner or a friend at a concert or a heavy metal concert but you're whispering your message is not going to get through and that's what we're doing with light we're beaning a lot of light into the natural world it's going everywhere and animals are trying to sing with a whisper it's a very soft very humble song firefly song and it's very easy to be drowned. And we have ever more light pollution in our cities, even outside of our cities. So they struggle. That's one of the reasons why they struggle. I was going to ask you about their struggling. First of all, are they

considered vulnerable or endangered for extinction? Where are they on this famous IUCN red list? That's a great question. So it really depends. The first most honest answer to your question, we don't know all the species. We haven't looked at all the species of fireflies in the world and put them on that list because it's a time consuming effort

and just funding hasn't been yet invested. We do have some experts lacking expertise in some regions, but overall we just haven't really put. But in North America, where that effort has valiantly been led and has been done here, we do know, for example, here in Indiana, one of the most threatened fireflies is threatened. It's vulnerable. And that's what people call the Cypress Swamp Firefly, which northern range is Indiana. And even though that's its common name now, the Cypress swamp, its original name was probably Wawa Samwa.

That's the indigenous name for this species. And it was called that, I believe, by the Miyamiyaki people. Because when we say Wawa Samwa, that's how it flashes. Wa, wa, sam, wa. So flash, flash, dot, flash. And so the name of the indigenous people reflects its behavior its unique behavior and that's a threatened species of firefly and it's only found in two places in indiana for example so not doing well and as you might know people might know your listeners fresh water isn't

doing great we drained a lot of wetlands agriculture and other means and we haven't managed water that well or preserved wetlands. So when these species like fireflies who depend on wetlands, they feed on snails when they're larvae. So fireflies are predators and they feed on snails, which as most people know, they like humidity. And when we remove that component of the ecosystem, you also drive their numbers down. If you kill snails because they feed on your plants, you're also driving their numbers out. Wow. So we're really, I understand there's like so complicated in terms of damaging an ecosystem, but that's what we're really talking

about. So in the case of these fireflies, we're taking their ecosystem and making it uninhabitable for them. They either can't see or hear because of the noise pollution, light pollution. They can't hear the magical songs and mate. And importantly, there may not be a food source left, or we may be poisoning their area where their food source has always been provided. And the populations are now so threatened. It is very, very sad. It is. So you just highlighted exactly some of the three main threats. So light pollution, chemical pollution affects their food streams. So chemicals will go, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides will kill insects, will go into the watershed where they

thrive, where they live. So it kills them that way. And then of course, just habitat loss, just simply removal of natural habitat. So as you put all this pressure on them, they, of course, they have nowhere to go. People sometimes think fireflies are fragile, and they are in some ways, but they've been here for a long time. They've endured other threats before. We're just putting too much pressure too quickly all at once. And so we're really not giving them and other species any chance to thrive. We enjoy them, but we're not giving them a choice to live or a place to live. So what you said is so powerful. And, you know, it just takes a minute to sit back and say,

we're not giving these species even a chance. And now in this sixth mass extinction, which people don't fully understand or can comprehend. One million species, plant and animals, being gone within our children's lifetime. It's right upon us. We're witnessing extinctions every single day. Sometimes they're invisible extinctions, like in the situation of a giraffe and then a subspecies like a Rothschild's giraffe or whatever. But then you have something that is so small, like the firefly. And we never really think about fireflies going extinct in our own backyard. We think about extinctions in the continent of Africa with the megafauna, the big elephants, the giraffes, the rhinos that we

hear that we know are suffering so much. But we don't think about our own backyard in Indiana where we have vulnerable and threatened species at risk of extinction. And all because of what us humans are doing. We're not letting them have any nature at all left. That's absolutely correct. That's a good summary. But I wouldn't feel that listeners or anyone considering that shouldn't feel despair. There's an opportunity here as well. As you said, they're right in your backyard. So as you feel animals are declining, as you see their lights fade, don't go gently into the dark night. Fight. Fight against the dying of the light. If you see

them diminish, do something. In vertebrates, they do pose that challenge. They're too small. They're too small for us to see, but too important for us to lose. But they also have an opportunity that they're one of the few species that you can literally, in your own personal efforts, support their populations up because they can thrive in your backyard. You can support an entire healthy population in a good-sized backyard, or you can provide, you can become a bridge for them to go from one forest patch to you can become a bridge for them to go from one forest patch to the next wetland where they need to go to mate and just live. And as you think about climate resilience, as climate change takes an impact on species, animals will have to

move north in the northern hemisphere or perish. So that connectivity, allowing them to pass through your backyard, is crucial. So if you have a small backyard or a community garden or any action you can do with your local land trust, anything you can do protecting that habitat can really make a difference to the species because they can live in very small patches of

land comparatively to the large megafauna you were talking. So you can save the species in your own backyard if you're really motivated to have native species, reduce light pollution, reduce use of chemicals or pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, all of that. So you can make a difference in your own backyard. You should leave this podcast and any message that you listen for observation optimistic that you should be driven to change. You can change the fate of an entire species. And if that doesn't empower people,

You can change the faith of an entire species. And if that doesn't empower people, nothing will. I love what you just said. You gave everyone hope. One of my favorite words, you gave everyone a call to action for our own backyard, whether that's even a patio in an apartment complex. You can put a butterfly bush there, you know, on your own patio. If you have a backyard, you know what you just said. And let's remind us of the pesticides reduction, all those things.

Can you be very specific? If we have our own backyard, what should we avoid to save fireflies? That's a good question. Yeah, so I can be specific about fireflies because it is a topic that's quite easy to convey. And you can see the results by fireflies in your own backyard. You can see their lights coming back. Fireflies need darkness. So as, let's say, the day sets and twilight comes,

there are species of fireflies who actually live by day, and they don't flash, they're diurnal. And then there's a twilight species who like that kind of low light, and that's when they come out. The Big Dipper being the most common species in the US, that's the one when they come out. And then as darkness settles, if you provide them with darkness, they will come and find shelter. One of the ways is to have spice bush, butterfly bush, small shrubberies or areas that have darkness and small corners of darkness with some open areas in between, that will give them a space for males to sing and have that corner if you can

provide them. I know not everyone can, but having just a few native plants, so go for species that are native to your local area. I'm sure you can find the resources online these days on what species are unique to where you live. Have them in your balcony, support your neighbors to do it, a little backyard to have it. Insects will thrive. Just the fact that you have those leaves growing will attract other insects, which will in turn be, let's say, snails or worms, and then fireflies will feed on them. So providing that habitat is one way. If you have a bigger yard and you have like a water feature, that's great. A nature pond, great for amphibians, probably great for dragon flies. It will be great for fireflies as well. So trying to bring back nature, this rewild effort of bringing nature to you

and understanding that we are just as much part of nature as it is part of us. We breathe from it. We eat from it. So we need it as much as it needs us. We just have to learn how to work together. So if you can rewild your balcony, rewild any part of the area around you, work with land trusts, try to increase to magnify that effort. If you can, it will have an impact. Invertebrates will come back if we give them a chance. I love that. Giving these invertebrates

a chance and rewilding, rewilding. What a powerful, powerful term that puts conservation literally in our own backyard. That's wonderful. Sergio, I'm so grateful for your time today. We have learned so much in Robin's Nest about conservation and having our own voice in it. But most of all, thank you for being the voice for these precious creatures that bring us back to those childhood moments of such bliss and joy. Thank you for being the voice for Fireflies. And thank you for all you do on the front lines fighting for species survival. We're very grateful for heroes like you.

Thanks so much for having me. As you know, it's always a team effort. We are a community. I would not succeed without the help of your listeners, people like yourself and others. So just, yeah, as you listen to this, go out, enjoy these animals. It's a privilege that we live in a time when they are still here.

So enjoy them and do what you can to augment them. Everyone can be their own conservation hero, all the place where they live. You don't have to go far. You don't have to do a lot. Every little counts. We are desperate in need of just seeing good news. So please do go out and do what you can. I'm sure the animals around us will be appreciative and so will future generations because we are the stewards

of this land now. So it's upon us to be good ancestors for the future. Thank you. And on that note, we will say our farewell from Robins Nest. Sergio, thank you so much. Keep up the good fight. And our listeners in Robins Nest will be right alongside you. Thank you.