Can protected areas and habitats preserve the vulnerable predatory bush cricket Saga pedo?

Abstract

Inconspicuous species challenge conservationists when it comes to delineate long-term conservation planning or assess their status, particularly when their actual distribution is poorly known. Invertebrates in particular feature among the less represented taxa in conservation assessments. Here we follow a multidisciplinary approach for assessing the conservation coverage and address future management of the threatened orthopteran Saga pedo across Europe, shedding light on its ecological preferences and associations with protected habitats at continental and regional scales. When assessing coverage by Natura2000 and Nationally Protected Areas, we found that ca. 30% of the known populations of the species are currently not protected across Europe. However, this value is likely to be an underestimate as our species distribution models showed that ca. 70% of the potential range is not protected. At regional scale, we disclose that the species is more likely to occur in legally protected dry grassland habitat types than in non-protected grassland, yet not all protected habitats seem to represent an effective tool for the species’ conservation.Implications for insect conservationTaken together, our results provide an effective framework for addressing knowledge gaps and evaluate the conservation coverage not only of our target species, but more in general of poorly investigated species, at the same time pointing at the urgent need of transnational, coordinated, and increased efforts in monitoring and conserving insects, particularly in the case of threatened species.