| An
invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. Invertebrates make up the great
majority of animal life, with 40,000 species in Britain and many millions on Earth.
For every one of us, there are 200 million of them. Nearly
all animals are invertebrates, and it is the same in the seas of Britain and the
rest of the world. Discussion of the invertebrates living in Lancashire and our
coastal waters would require a vast book but a simple overview here can be supplemented
by obtaining a copy of the Trust's book, 'The
Wildlife of Lancashire' or visiting one of the many excellent websites that
delve into invertebrates more deeply (see bottom of the page). From
the shallow seas of Morecambe Bay to the freshwater of the Rochdale Canal and
the oak woods of the West Pennine Moors, the environment is teaming with a wide
variety of invertebrates. People often think of animals like the large Emperor
Dragonfly, Anax imperator, with its 6 inch wingspan rather than animals such as
the tiny single cell protozoans which are scarcely visible without a microscope
but particularly common in damp soil. However, invertebrates include worms, slugs
and snails, grasshoppers, ants, fleas, hoverflies and wasps to name but a few. Many
invertebrates have very fascinating life cycles. For instance; think of a caterpillar
that, in a pupa, completely restructures itself to become a beautiful flying butterfly
- two completely different animals for the price of one. Evolution has developed
spectacular lifestyles including the orb web spider that is to be admired as an
engineer for its delicate structural web design. If we would but look, the world
of tiny creatures is full of beauty, fascination and wondrous happenings. Many
invertebrates in Britain are very numerous but some are rare. Indeed, Lancashire
is important for a number of species that for reasons of climate, geology and
habitat are near their most northerly or southerly distribution. Some of these
species are under threat through habitat loss and pollution and have become the
focus of local efforts to safeguard them for disappearing from our area. These
include the tiny Mountain Whorl Snail, Vertigo alpestris, with its northern England
and North Wales distribution. There are Biodiversity Action Plans that help to
structure the conservation effort by a number of landowners and agencies to safeguard
this species. The plans also cover other invertebrates such as the Belted Beauty
Moth, Lycia zonaria, which has recently been found on the Sefton coast and at
Sunderland point in Lancashire. You can read more about these Lancashire rarities
by visiting http://www.lbap.org.uk.htm If
there are so many species, does it matter if some are lost? Yes, it does. They
all have a special place in the web of life and they cannot be replaced once lost.
Invertebrates help to make our environment robust and able to cope with change.
Change such as global warming may have many consequences for our animals and plants
and the humans that depend upon them - we should act urgently to ensure that habitats
are protected and enhanced to ensure that our invertebrates survive these unpredictable
changes. A lot of them may yet be recognised as of benefit to man, in pest control,
pollination of crops or special chemicals for medicine. And most have incredible
life stories yet to be told. We literally don't know what we are on the brink
of missing. Further
information can be found here: http://www.buglife.org.uk/html/about_inverts.htm
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/insects-spiders/index.html
| 
Emperor
Dragonfly
(Peter Smith)
Orb
Web Spider
(Malcolm Edmunds)
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