Experts are calling for urgent action to protect England’s ponds, ditches and streams, saying that small freshwater habitats contain an abundance of life, including rare amphibians, insects and plants, Nature News gathered.
A group of 20 scientists outlined their concerns in a letter to the government’s natural capital committee.
In the letter, they called for measures to monitor, manage and protect England’s smallest freshwater habitats.
The letter points out that small water bodies makeup 80% of England’s freshwaters and support over 70% of freshwater species but lack any formal monitoring in the UK.
Dr Jeremy Biggs of the charity, the Freshwater Habitats Trust, who organised the letter, said better protection of ponds and streams could help address the biodiversity crisis.
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“Small water bodies are at least as important as big water bodies because there are a lot more of them and they are very rich biologically,” he said.
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Freshwater lakes of 50 hectares and above, and about a third of large rivers and streams, are monitored under EU regulations.
But there is no obligation to monitor the richness of life in ditches, ponds and small streams.
These habitats support a large number of freshwater species, including crested newts, toads, fish, water beetles, dragonflies and wetland plants such as the water-violet.
BBC
