Less attractive species play key roles

Out on windswept White Mesa, the start of the flatlands on the road to Page, wildlife biologist Dave Smith is gathering bees.

He doesn't have to work hard. The bees - and more than a few flies and a spider or two - are stuck in traps, 30 yellow, blue and white plastic cups spread out over a quarter of an acre inside a fenced-in corner of a grazing pasture. He will later clean, dry and catalog what he finds at this site and four others and then repeat in a few weeks.

Smith is studying pollinators, the bees, flies, hummingbirds and even bats that move plant pollen around, and how they might react in a warming climate. It's not the sexiest study of native Arizona wildlife; people rarely are in awe of bees and flies the way they are of wolves and eagles.

Biologists and researchers working with species such as bats, bees and snakes often struggle for resources and attention. Once a species is listed under the Endangered Species Act, those resources are more readily available, but by then, the species is also in deeper trouble.

"It's understandable that people like big or furry critters," said Steve Spangle, who heads the Arizona ecological services office for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Nobody opposes conservation of the elephant or the panda, but when we put significant resources toward the Mount Graham red squirrel, we hear a lot of angst."

Squirrels, bees and other animals make up a sort of "D-list" of species. They fill a critical role in the wild but are less photogenic than their larger, furrier neighbors. Pollinators, in particular, maintain essential habitat for other species. "Wildlife habitat is very dependent on vegetation that needs to be pollinated by insects," Smith said.

Using the decidedly low-tech traps, Smith and his student assistant from Northern Arizona University, Jacob Burton, have logged 83 distinct bee species, which is not surprising. Arizona is home to hundreds of native bees, with upward of 1,500 species in the southern deserts.

Almost 300 miles south, in the town of Marana, bats are the subject of a home-based survey using hummingbird feeders. Working with federal and state wildlife researchers and the group Bat Conservation International, volunteers watch for bats and report their location, which helps track the animals' movement.

The focus of the study, part of Marana's work on a habitat conservation plan, is primarily the endangered lesser long-nosed bat, a migratory species that travels long distances. In all, 28 bat species are native to Arizona. The Endangered Species Act doesn't discriminate based on an animal's popularity or its place on the landscape, Spangle said.

"All creatures are part of the ecosystem on which they depend," he said. "By saving these species, we hope we can save some ecosystems."

More: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/07/11/20100711species-d-list.html#ixzz0tO1ppLu1