Allan, Donald

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268 Environmental ConservationIntroduction to the IUCN 'Conservation for Development Consultant Register'The Conservation for Development ConsultantRegister (CR) has been established by the InternationalUnion for Conservation of Nature and Natural Re-sources (IUCN) to ensure that world-wide demand forexperts in the many different aspects of conservation isefficiently matched with the wealth of available inter-national expertise, and that the shortage of suitablyqualified people ceases to be such an obstacle to achievingconservation goals. The Register's development andmanagement are the responsibilities of IUCN's Con-servation for Development Centre (CDC), and it is beingdeveloped and operated from both CDC/IUCN head-quarters and the IIED (International Institute for En-vironment and Development) Washington office.The Register has been developed for use throughoutthe world and is being promoted widely through multi-lateral and bilateral development assistance agencies,nongovernmental organizations, major multinationalcorporations, and governments especially of Third WorldCountries.IUCN has for many years been concerned with theidentification of consultants and experts—mainly for useon World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and IUCN projects, anddrawing largely on their own membership, including theCommissions and component Centres. The new Registeraims greatly to expand and modernize the former system.CDC/IUCN and JES*, Washington, are thereforehoping to hear from experts in the natural and socialsciences—in particular from specialists whose serviceswould be available for project work in the fields of naturalresources management, protected area management,environmental law, environmental education, publichealth, agriculture, range management, impact assess-ment, and other conservation- and development-relateddisciplines.Initial financial support for the Register has been madeavailable by the Swedish International DevelopmentAuthority (SIDA). As an example of the Register's use, amajor programme of work is being undertaken withUSAID, through the JES Washington office, to expandthe Register and provide short-term advisory services* The Joint Environment Service (JES) is a collaborativeprogramme between the International Institute for Environmentand Development (IIED) and the Conservation for Develop-ment Centre (CDC) of the International Union for Conservationof Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).on environment and conservation to USAID projectsthroughout the world.All nationalities are eligible for inclusion in theRegister, and we are making a special effort to locate aslarge a number of consultants from the Third World aspossible. Any help that can be given to us in this respectwould be greatly appreciated.Through the Register, consultants can be found andselected for both IUCN/JES/WWF projects and projectsof outside users. Data on consultants are being stored inthe form of a computerized list backed up by manual files.The preliminary process of finding possible consultants isto be carried out by means of the computerized list, andfinal selections will be made with reference to manualfiles.The Conservation for Development ConsultantRegister is to be run as a non-profit operation. However,in the case of identification of consultants for work on'outside' projects, i.e. those not financed or managed byIUCN/JES/WWF, certain charges may be levied to helpcover administrative and operational costs. Any suchcharges will, however, be kept to a minimum.A 'Biodata' form for completion with pertinent per-sonal details by prospective candidates for the Registermay be obtained by writing to either of the addressesgiven below. It should be noted that completion of theform neither guarantees insertion in the Register norconstitutes a promise of employment. The operatorsreserve the right to select those persons who appear mostsuited for the type of work in which they are engaged, andconsideration will generally be given only to individualswith at least three years' post-graduate (bachelor level)experience.Enquiries should be addressed to:EITHERConservation for Develop-ment ConsultantRegisterCDC/IUCNWorld Conservation CentreAvenue du Mont-Blanc1196 GlandSwitzerland.Tel: 022-64 71 81Tlx: 22618 iucn chORConservation for Develop-ment ConsultantRegisterJES/IIED1319 F Street NWSuite 800Washington DC 20004USA.Tel: 202-462 0900Tlx: 64414 iied washThe World's Endangered InvertebratesThe first attempt to list endangered species of in-vertebrate animals on a world-wide scale, and to relatethem to their role in Nature and usefulness to Man, isnow available as the latest in the IUCN Red Data Bookseries on threatened wildlife. There are ca 1.4 millionknown invertebrates, compared with 46,000 vertebratemammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fishes. Theremay be from two to ten millions more as yet undescribed,living in the depths of the ocean or in tropical forests.Their potential value to Man may never be discovered,according to the new IUCN Invertebrate Red Data Book,because many are disappearing rapidly as a result ofpollution, razing of forests, and other encroachments ofMan on their habitats.'Invertebrates are major components of food-chains,are of primary importance in the cycling of nutrients, andplay a significant role in the maintenance of soil structureand fertility,' the IUCN Authors point out. Theypollinate plants, exert a natural control on pests, are usedin the development of drugs, and create products asdiverse as silk, dyes, honey, the biblical manna, andbuttons. Some of the sample of 600-odd endangered,vulnerable, rare, or commercially threatened, specieslisted in the new volume are odd indeed. Thus one giantAustralian earthworm reaches a length of four metres andmoves through its burrow with 'a gurgly sucking sound',lubricating its passage with a milky fluid which is said tobe good for rheumatism, while a species of stonefly that ishttps:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900012777Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 12:42:00, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available atNotes, News & Comments 269found only in Lake Tahoe, California, spends all its lifeunderwater at depths of more than 60 metres.An innovation in this volume of the continuing RedData Book series is a section on Threatened Com-munities. Eleven examples are given of tropical forests,caves, wetlands, dry biomes, marine environments, andareas with unusual diversity of species. They illustratesituations in which human activities may endanger largebut unique invertebrate populations.The listings—of use to environmental planners, scien-tific research workers, teachers, and reference libraries—constitute a kind of 'Guinness Book of Records' forinvertebrates, and make fascinating reading. Thus thebook identifies the world's largest earwig (nearly 8 cmlong, found on St Helena Island), largest butterfly (up to25 cm across, found in Papua New Guinea), largest bee(39 mm long, found in Indonesia), largest landinvertebrate (a species of crab which weighs up to five kg),and the largest clam (the giant clam of southern waters,with a diameter up to 1.4 metre, a weight over 200 kg, anda life-span of more than a century).Many invertebrates which may be declining are import-ant in medical research. Of the 5,000 different kinds ofsponges, some have anti-inflammatory and anti-viralproperties, amongst 'an amazing diversity' of importantpossibilities, according to the Authors. The medicinalleech is the source of a compound that may be of value intreating heart-disease. The American Cancer Societysponsors research on a microscopic protozoan animal tostudy what causes cancerous cells to divide, whilst theblood of horseshoe crabs is used extensively in biomedicalresearch. Similar examples abound in the book.Every creature has its place in the grand scheme ofthings, whether or not this has yet been revealed to Man,the IUCN Invertebrate Red Data Book suggests. Man'sinvasion into marine and forest habitats and wholesalechemical assault on the invertebrate world is decimatingthe ranks of these neglected and intriguing creatures, withpotentially adverse effects on the balance of Nature onwhich Man hismself depends.The book, compiled jointly by Susan Wells, RobertPyle, & Mark Collins, with drawings by Sarah AnneHughes, is available at about US$ 2Q.QQplus postage fromthe Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219 (c) HuntingdonRoad, Cambridge, England, UK; from IUCN, Avenuedu Mont-Blanc, 1196 Gland, Switzerland, and fromUnipub, Box 433 Morray Hill Station, New York, NY10016, USA. The book was prepared with financialassistance from the World Wildlife Fund and the UnitedNations Environment Programme.DONALD ALLANIUCNAvenue du Mont-Blanc1196 GlandSwitzerland.Production of Rubber by Desert Plant Nearly Doubled in Greenhouse ExperimentsScientists have practically doubled the production ofrubber from Guayule (Parthenium argentatum,Compositae) by chemically treating that desert plant* ingreenhouse experiments—an accomplishment that couldbe a big step towards providing a domestic source ofrubber and freeing the United States from dependence onSoutheast Asian sources. The compound which thescientists used increases rubber production by regulatingthe metabolic reactions which lead to the formation ofrubber in the plant. They believe that the same techniquemight be applicable in other cases, including some food-crops.This important advance in plant biochemistry wasmade by a team headed by Dr Chauncey R. Benedict, ofTexas A&M University, and Dr Henry Yokoyama, of theUS Department of Agriculture in Pasadena, California.They reported their findings to the National ScienceFoundation's Division of Physiology, Cellular andMolecular Biology, which had funded the research.Several years ago, Dr Yokoyama discovered com-pounds that induced pertinent biological activity inplants. Doubling the synthesis of rubber in Guayule wasaccomplished by applying a bioregulator, dichloro-phenoxy-triethylamine (DCPTA), to the plant.Guayule is a hardy desert shrub that grows naturally inthe harsh climate of northern Mexico and southwesternTexas. The extremely drought-resistant plant has anextensive root system which gathers what little moisture* See, for example, the chapters on 'Botany of Parthenium'and 'Production of Rubber from Guayule (Parthenium)' in thelate LOREN G. POLHAMUS'S Rubber: Botany, Production, andUtilization. (World Crops Books series, Gen. Ed. NICHOLASPOLUNIN.) Leonard Hill, London, & Interscience Publishers,New York: xvii + 448 pp., 64 plates, 7 figs in text, andXX Tables, 1962.—Ed.there is in the soil. The plant is usually between two andthree feet high (61-91 cm), its silvery leaves giving it anornamental appearance.'The chemical stimulation of rubber synthesis inGuayule was apparent at 60 days following application ofthe bioregulator,' Dr Benedict reported to the NationalScience Foundation. 'Throughout the growth-period of60 to 120 days after the application of DCPTA, thetreated plants contained a higher total rubber content anda higher percentage of rubber than the control plants.After 120 days of growth, the control plants contained2.83% rubber and the DCPTA-treated plants contained5.23% rubber. There was about a twofold chemicalstimulation of rubber synthesis in the treated versus thecontrol plants throughout the 60 to 120-days' period.'Spraying the DCPTA on the foliage of Guayule plantsincreases rubber synthesis over a longer growth-periodthan normally, Dr Benedict reported, adding that, innatural stands, rubber is synthesized only during theautumn and winter months, when the plants experiencethe low night temperatures that are necessary to stimulaterubber formation.'A chemical treatment of Guayule with a bioregulator[such as] DCPTA,' Dr Benedict said, 'may make possiblethe production of rubber in Guayule plants commerciallygrown in regions where conditions are optimal for goodvegetative growth, but the night temperatures are not lowenough to induce rubber production. Such regionsinclude [parts of] California, Arizona, New Mexico, andTexas.' Details of this work are being published in thejournal Plant Physiology.RALPH KAZARIANNational Science Foundation1800 G StreetWashingtonDC 20550, USA.https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900012777Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 12:42:00, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at

The World's Endangered Invertebrates

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