![Amateur Entomologists' Society home page [Logo]](/images/aes-logo-wplant.gif){kind=logo}
Conservation
The Large Blue butterfly (Maculinea arion) became extinct in Britain during 1979. It is now the subject of a large-scale reintroduction programme.
The AES has an important role in insect conservation and policy making within the UK. We also publish three issues of Invertebrate Conservation News per year and published the extremely informative Habitat Conservation for Insects - a Neglected Green Issue - a new version is currently in preparation.
The conservation group of the AES is always very active at promoting the importance of insects and other invertebrates. Conservation issues are dealt with by the Society's conservation committee and we also have conservation representatives that monitor invertebrate conservation in their local area.
Why conserve insects?
There are important reasons why we should want to conserve the diversity of life on Earth, but why should anyone be concerned about insects? One simple reason is that they make up about four fifths of all the animal biodiversity on Earth, with other invertebrates making up a large proportion of the remaining fifth. We could hardly pretend to be conserving biodiversity if we were ignoring most of it.
In this section we explore insect and habitat conservation and the role of organisations such as the AES and Invertebrate Link:
- Insect Conservation - Why it's important to conserve insects.
- Habitat Conservation - The importance of habitats and how they can be protected.
- Invertebrate Link - its roles, responsibilities and identity.
- AES Conservation Project - Details of the AES Conservation Project at Bersted Brooks, West Sussex.
Why not do your bit too by making an insect-friendly garden?
The AES has regional conservation representatives who monitor invertebrate conservation in their area. The AES also produces a series of educational invertebrate conservation slide packs in collaboration with English Nature.