Department of Biology, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Vodňany, Czech Republic.
Conserv Biol. 2022 Dec;36(6):e13959. doi: 10.1111/cobi.13959. Epub 2022 Aug 5.
Red wood ants (RWAs) are a group of keystone species widespread in temperate and boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere. Despite this, there is increasing evidence of local declines and extinctions. We reviewed the current protection status of RWAs throughout Europe and their International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat classification. Only some RWA species have been assessed at a global scale, and not all national red lists of the countries where RWAs are present include these species. Different assessment criteria, inventory approaches, and risk categories are used in different countries, and data deficiency is frequent. Legislative protection is even more complex, with some countries protecting RWAs implicitly together with the wildlife fauna and others explicitly protecting the whole group or particular species. This complexity often occurs within countries, for example, in Italy, where, outside of the Alps, only the introduced species are protected, whereas the native species, which are in decline, are not. Therefore, an international, coordinated framework is needed for the protection of RWAs. This first requires that the conservation target should be defined. Due to the similar morphology, complex taxonomy, and frequent hybridization, protecting the entire RWA group seems a more efficient strategy than protecting single species, although with a distinction between autochthonous and introduced species. Second, an update of the current distribution of RWA species is needed throughout Europe. Third, a protection law cannot be effective without the collaboration of forest managers, whose activity influences RWA habitat. Finally, RWA mounds offer a peculiar microhabitat, hosting a multitude of taxa, some of which are obligate myrmecophilous species on the IUCN Red List. Therefore, RWAs' role as umbrella species could facilitate their protection if they are considered not only as target species but also as providers of species-rich microhabitats.
红褐林蚁（RWAs）是北半球温带和北方森林中广泛存在的一组关键物种。尽管如此，越来越多的证据表明它们在当地的数量正在减少甚至灭绝。我们审查了欧洲范围内红褐林蚁的当前保护状况及其国际自然保护联盟（IUCN）的威胁分类。只有一些 RWA 物种在全球范围内进行了评估，而并非所有存在 RWA 的国家的国家红色名录都包括这些物种。不同的评估标准、清查方法和风险类别在不同的国家中使用，并且数据不足是常见的。立法保护更加复杂，有些国家隐含地保护 RWAs 与野生动物群一起，而有些国家则明确保护整个群体或特定物种。这种复杂性经常在一个国家内发生，例如在意大利，阿尔卑斯山以外，只有引入物种受到保护，而正在减少的本地物种则不受保护。因此，需要一个国际协调的框架来保护 RWAs。这首先需要定义保护目标。由于相似的形态、复杂的分类学和频繁的杂交，保护整个 RWA 群体似乎比保护单个物种更有效，尽管需要区分原生种和引入种。其次，需要在整个欧洲更新 RWA 物种的当前分布。第三，没有森林管理者的合作，保护法就无法有效实施，因为他们的活动会影响 RWA 的栖息地。最后，RWA 蚁冢提供了一个独特的小生境，容纳了许多分类群，其中一些在 IUCN 红色名录上是专性的拟寄生物种。因此，如果将 RWA 不仅视为目标物种，而且视为富物种微生境的提供者，那么它们作为伞物种的作用可以促进它们的保护。
