Beniston, Martin

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360 Environmental Conservationmanagers in WWF's regional teams — to ensure thataccountability on the use of funds is provided regularlyby WWF to its donor public.While the bulk of WWF money may still be raisedthrough appeals to the public's generosity in the form ofsubscriptions, donations, and legacies, additional supportwill be sought from commerce and industry, from bilate-ral and multilateral aid agencies, and through licensingWWF's Panda symbol. Every cent or penny that is dona-ted to WWF International for conservation will continueto be used for that purpose, fund-raising and basic admi-nistration costs being already covered by income fromcapital funds such as the 1001 Club, A Nature Trust, andvarious commercial activities.CommunicationsUnder WWF's new strategy, communication of infor-mation will be a major support-tool in all phases ofaccomplishing its mission, including building environ-mental awareness and increasing understanding of WWFactivities. One of the major areas of growth at the interna-tional headquarters, this Division will step up its experti-se in advertising and public relations, establish a broad-casting unit, and position itself as a media centre servi-cing the WWF family on a rapid-fire and accurate basis.This unit will increase public awareness at all levelsof society, ranging from the village centre (where, for ins-tance, tribal and local people glean information) to majorcities of the world (where key decisions are made bygovernment leaders). Through various media and perso-nal contacts, WWF will transmit its message to decision-makers, major organizations, and the general public.WWF's revised mission and new strategy, which arethe result of a year of intensive consultation within theworld-wide WWF family and with outsiders, now guidethe organization and its growing number of regular sup-porters — almost 4 millions — around the globe on a cri-tically important course. The mission must succeed.ELIZABETH KEMF, EditorWWF NewsWorld Conservation CentreAvenue du Mont-Blanc1196 Gland, Switzerland.The Swiss National Climate Programme (ProClim): Objectives and ProspectsIntroductionProClim (Programme C///natologique), the SwissNational Climate Programme, was set up in 1987 on theinitiative of the Swiss Academy of Sciences, followingthe recognition that Switzerland should participate in glo-bal efforts in climate research as a result of world-widepreoccupation with climate change. Indeed, as a highly-developed country, Switzerland contributes its share,albeit small, to 'greenhouse' gas concentrations in theatmosphere, and therefore has a responsibility to providescientific and policy responses to the problem of globalwarming.The objectives of the Swiss National ClimateProgramme are multidisciplinary of necessity, as may beseen from this overview of its scientific objectives.Furthermore, recognizing the fact that information isoften poorly broadcast to the general public, a majoreffort is being made to transfer research results in a com-prehensible manner to the press and general public. Clearpublic information is essential if one is to raise the aware-ness of the nonscientific community, the press, and politi-cians, to the acute consequences of global climate changeand the urgent steps which need to be taken forthwith tolimit global warming and concomitant changes. ProClimpublishes an information brochure (ProClim News) on aregular basis, and has edited a book for the general publicon the subject of global change (Schotterer & Andermatt,Climate-Our Future?, Bern, 1990).Advanced education, through short courses on veryspecific climate topics, is a further aim of the SwissNational Climate Programme, and yet another is theorganization of workshops and conferences. Regularevents of this nature in Switzerland would allow oursmall country to play an important role in the internatio-nal climate community, which has come to occupy a par-ticularly prominent position of late with active renewal ofthe debate on global climatic change.Fourfold Scientific Objectives of ProClim1. Process Understanding:— If we are to gain insightinto the possible future trends of global change, it isessential to understand the mechanisms of the climatesystem itself. Of special interest to Switzerland are thelinks between small- or regional-scale atmospheric pro-cesses and global climate. For example, mountain bar-riers such as the Alps have a significant dynamic effecton the general circulation of the atmosphere, but arepoorly represented in General Circulation Models(GCMs). The study of the dynamic effects of mountains,land-surface processes, cloud-radiation interactions, andthe Earth's radiation budget, either through observationor through detailed numerical model studies, will ultima-tely lead to an improved understanding of climaticallyrelevant small-scale processes. As a consequence, theseprocesses could then be more adequately represented inGCMs, leading to improved predictability of climate andits evolution.Detailed model studies can also be envisaged to inves-tigate the impacts of climate change on The Biosphere(such as ecological sensitivity of the Alpine world) andthe included hydrosphere (such as hydrological balancefor water-supply and energy resources) and cryosphere(such as glacier and snowline advance or retreat). Thevarious interactions and feedbacks between the generalfree atmosphere and what may be called the 'central bios-phere', including The Biosphere's component hydros-phere and cryosphere, are summarized in Fig. 1.2. Past Climate Reconstruction:— The use of so-cal-led climate archives as an indicator of climates of the pastand their natural fluctuations, is one area where Swissscience has excelled. Climatic indicators can be found inmany types of records, such as glacial cores, marine andlake sediments, coral reefs, tree rings, and dust depositsin caves. The analysis of stratified sediments, gas contenthttps:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900032835Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 13:41:51, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available atBeniston: The Swiss National Climate Programme (ProClim): Objectives and Prospects 361FIG. 1. Interactive processes between the general, free atmosphereand other Earth systems. For 'biosphere' (sic) read 'centralbiosphere (undefined)'.of air bubbles trapped in ice, or the radioactivity of ancientorganic material, has led to major insights into the instabi-lities inherent in the climate system and also into the tran-sient fluctuations which characterized temperature andmoisture trends of the past. Further information on morerecent climates can be deduced from historical texts;indeed, a computerized data-bank is being set up in Bernon the basis of written records. The understanding of thebehaviour of past climates allows us to equate the magnitu-de of natural climate variability and to quantify, for comingdecades, to what extent anthropogenic activity can enhanceclimatic fluctuations. Furthermore, climatic archives pro-vide a means to test GCM capability in simulating and ana-lysing colder or warmer climates of the past.3. Alpine Transect Study:— A study of the local cli-mates of different regions within and on either side of theAlpine chain, is being envisaged in the framework of theSwiss National Climate Programme. Due to considerabledifferences in altitude, the Alpine world reproduces to alarge extent the latitudinal climatic differences observedin the Northern Hemisphere. The Alpine Transect experi-ment plans to bring together specialists from a large num-ber of backgrounds to look into present-day and pastregional climates, climatic fluctuations and extremes, thecryosphere of high-Alpine regions, the hydrologicalbalance of Swiss regions, ecological sensitivity to pastand present climates, and the socio-economic problemswhich these regions may face as a result of abrupt climatechange. Fig. 2 illustrates a possible network of test areasin Switzerland, each characteristic of a particular climaticregime. The multidisciplinary nature of this study will bepossibly unique, and should allow a more global unders-tanding than hitherto of the multiple facets of climate andclimate change. Furthermore, analogies may be foundbetween altitudinal variations of fauna and flora and lati-tudinal variations in vegetation and wildlife in both'equilibrium' and transient climatic situations.4. Socio-economic Aspects of Climate Change:—While the physical magnitude of climate change is draw-ing much attention in the scientific community, it is clearthat the societal impacts of global warming could be soextreme that they should be addressed now in order toprepare for the sometimes profound changes which arebeing variously projected. In a country such asSwitzerland, global change would undoubtedly affect/ ^ ^ ^ k •BernLaiAanne^^^ yMiddlelands£*Geneva L Valais/Wr J\p*y Zone JZOrleh ' N\ 'Gotthard/Central ^ ^^ ^ P " Waffona/ Part//^ - T \ eastern ,4/ps (_\ \ / ^ ^V i f t g /Tidno/l ^ a i - Southern Alps» ^ i01??> NI130 kmFIG. 2. Possible network of test-sites for the Alpine Transectexperiments.agriculture, tourism, and energy supply, through hydrolo-gical imbalances resulting from any serious temperature-rise. While a highly developed society such asSwitzerland's may be able to cope with such problems,much of the less-developed world would be facing econo-mic and social catastrophe; in this context, Swiss effortsshould be focused on affordable technological transfers todeveloping countries. Such new technologies, adapted tolocal conditions, could help mitigate certain effects of glo-bal warming in the less-developed world.The socio-economic aspect of ProClim activities isthus concerned not only with society's response to clima-te change within Switzerland, but also with the necessityof cooperation with the less-developed world. The SwissNational Climate Programme has, for the moment, cho-sen to seek to attain its research objectives through aninteractive network of scientists, rather than through esta-blishing a centralized research institute. Workshops ontopics related to the above-mentioned fields are organizedat regular intervals, and attempt to be openly interdisci-plinary in nature. Experience has shown that this approa-ch has been successful in allowing scientists from diffe-rent backgrounds to meet, discuss, and plan future colla-borative research.ConclusionProClim has an ambitious research programme whichit can fulfil only if certain conditions are met. A majorprerequisite is to find the qualified personnel who will becapable of successfully achieving scientific aims. This isa crucial problem in a country whose total population issmaller than that of some of the larger European citiessuch as Paris or London. Scientists need to be motivatedto remain in Switzerland to work on climate research,rather than to expatriate themselves to the larger researchteams in some other parts of Europe or in North America.This could be achieved by offering medium- to long-termpositions within institutes which can claim to have apotential for undertaking climate-related research.ProClim also suffers from its new status within a long-established structure in Switzerland. While ProClim isgenerally recognized by foreign groups to be the focus forclimate research and coordination in Switzerland, this isperhaps not so well perceived in administrative circleswithin Switzerland, for various institutional reasons. Thishttps:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900032835Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 13:41:51, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at362 Environmental Conservationsituation can lead to what might be considered as 'unheal-thy competition' for funding and duplication of efforts,which can only be damaging to the long-term interests ofclimate research as a whole. It is hoped that this situationwill improve in time, in order to allow ProClim to playfully its role of stimulation, coordination, and dissemina-tion of the results, of climate research in Switzerland.For further information on ProClim, readers shouldcontact the undersigned:MARTIN BENISTON, Programme DirectorProClim—The Swiss National Climate ProgrammeHirschengraben 11, PO Box 7613CH-3001 Bern, Switzerland.Tel. +41-(0)31 21 21 14Fax+41-(0)3122 9164Assessing Insect Species-richness at a Single SiteIntroductionA recurrent problem that is apt to be encountered byanyone trying to decide whether a site is rich in species, ishow much time and what type and degree of sampling areneeded before a valid assessment can be made. The pro-blem is particularly acute with insects, as it is usually diffi-cult to know if sampling over a period of just one or twoyears can provide an accurate picture of the number ofspecies present or apt to invade the site. There is an intuiti-ve feeling that long-term sampling is necessary, especiallyas so many species are known to fluctuate in abundancefrom year to year. Thus it might be that at the beginning ofa sampling programme a 'bad' year is chosen by chance,or perhaps an exceptionally 'good' year: either could givea false impression of the richness of a site.Results of monitoring insect diversity and abundancein a garden at Leicester, England, UK, demonstrate thatshort-term sampling can provide information about thespecies-richness of a site which could be used in deci-sions about conservation.* However, this conclusion waspossible only after a period of long-term monitoringduring which the rate of accumulation of additional spe-cies was determined.The Site and its Diversity of Insect FaunaA description of the garden is given in Owen (1983).In summer it has been regularly monitored for insectssince 1972, and the results of this monitoring have appea-red in some 54 publications, one of the earliest of whichsuggested that gardens might well constitute England'smost important Nature reserve (Owen & Owen, 1975). Inaddition there exists a complete catalogue of all speciesof flowering plants (wild and cultivated), records of year-to-year changes in vegetation, lists of all vertebrates,annelids, and molluscs, and lists of selected groups ofnon-insect arthropods (spiders, harvestmen, isopods, andmyriapods). The site must indeed be quite one of thebest-catalogued in Britain. A detailed analysis of itsfauna and flora, including a list of publications, willappear in a forthcoming book (J. Owen, in press).The site's overall species-richness can be assessed bycalculating the proportion of the known British insectfauna which is represented in those groups that have beenwell-studied: grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera),earwigs (Dermaptera), lacewings and their relatives(Neuroptera), butterflies and macro-moths(Lepidoptera), hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae), sawflies(Hymenoptera: Symphyta), ichneumons (Hymenoptera:Ichneumonidae), ants (Hymenoptera: Formicoidea),wasps (Hymenoptera: five superfamilies), bees(Hymenoptera: Apoidea), ground-beetles (Coleoptera:Caraebidae), and ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae).Each of those groups has been intensively sampled andmonitored for 3-18 years, depending on the group, and itis thought that most {i.e. more than 80%) of the specieswhich are likely to occur have been recorded.The combined total species in these groups recordedas occurring in the garden is 1,143 out of a possible 4,764known from the British Isles, which is 24%; but of coursemany of the British species are geographically or ecolo-gically restricted and so would not be expected in thevicinity of Leicester. There is no comprehensive list ofspecies in these groups for the Leicester area and, moreo-ver, a remarkable number of the species recorded in thegarden had hitherto remained unrecorded in the region. Itis thus not possible to make a more local comparison.There are estimated to be 22,500 species of insects inthe British Isles and using the figure of 24% it can be pre-dicted that about 5,400 species would be likely to berecorded in the garden if all groups were to be intensivelysampled. This, however, is a minimum figure becauseeven in the well-studied groups there are undoubtedlymore species still to be found, especially in such familiesas the Ichneumonidae in which 533 of the 2,028 Britishspecies were recorded in only three years of sampling(Owen et al., 1981). Taking all insect groups together(i.e. the well-studied and the less well-studied), 1,671species had been recorded by the end of 1989, which is30.9% of the predicted 5,400 present.Monitoring the Hoverflies (Syrphidae)In 18 consecutive years a Malaise trap,* positioned inexactly the same place for the same period of each year (1TABLE INumbers of Individuals (N) and of Species (S) of Syrphidaecaught in a Malaise Trap in 18 Consecutive Years in aSuburban Garden in Leicester, England.* A referee comments that 'insects are particularly good for estima-ting species diversity because they belong to several levels in thefood-web and therefore could bring more [varied data] than other,rather restricted groups of animals.' — Ed.1972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987N1,3393,1642,5056,3633,4112,5866,0683,4881,3278854,2561,2832,0643,5531,4572,867S47625354533750515344524748514341species added23233122411__111* Well figured in the only illustration in Owen & Owen (1975). — Ed.https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900032835Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. 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The Swiss National Climate Programme (ProClim): Objectives and Prospects

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