The newly formed Mite Specialist Group of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission and the conservation of global mite diversity

Abstract

The most serious environmental challenge facing humanity is the massive, widespread and continuing loss of biodiversity due to human activities. The commonly reported root causes of the decline and extinction of species are the degradation, destruction and fragmentation of habitat; pollution; pesticide use; invasive species; climate change; and over-exploitation; with co-extinction cascades accelerating the losses. The current alarming rate of loss of species across the biodiversity spectrum has ecological, economic, social, aesthetic, cultural and spiritual impacts that directly undermine the welfare of all humanity. This unprecedented crisis demands an urgent, science-based, comprehensive, coordinated, global response. Among the organizations responding to the multifaceted challenge of biodiversity loss is the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Its enormous pool of integrated expertise, technical capacity and policy experience makes the IUCN the global authority on the status of nature and the suite of measures needed to protect it. The largest of the IUCN’s six commissions is the Species Survival Commission, a science-based network of over 160 Specialist Groups, including 17 invertebrate groups; Red List Authorities; and Task Forces. Despite there being an estimated 500,000 – 1,500,000 mite species, and their ubiquity in global ecosystems and fundamental role in many ecological processes, mites have received minimal attention on the global conservation agenda. The role of the newly formed Mite Specialist Group, which gained official status in April 2021, is to redress that situation. The mission of the group, which currently includes 65 mite specialists, ecologists, botanists, environmentalists and conservation practitioners from 36 countries on five continents, is to contribute to a collaborative global effort to conserve mite diversity through research, education, advocacy, community engagement and specific conservation initiatives.