© пресс-служба ТГУ
TOMSK, Mar 11 – RIA Tomsk.
An employee of the Biological Institute of Tomsk State University (BI
TSU) Maria Orlova within a group of researchers of the International
Union for Conservation of Nature to study and protect ticks that are
threatened with extinction – by 2000 scientists recorded 15%
disappearance of these invertebrate species, the university’s press
service said.
According to the press service, the
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has
created the Mite Specialist Group organization, which will research and
protect groups of invertebrates, primarily ticks. The Mite Specialist
Group also includes the scientist of BI TSU Orlova. According to
scientists, by 2000, 15% of the world's tick species were extinct.
"The
extent of the extinction of ticks is still difficult to even roughly
characterize due to extremely poor knowledge. Even the total number of
tick species is unknown: their expected number is about one million
species, while only a little more than 60 thousand are described,"
Orlova is quoted.
© предоставлено пресс-службой Томского госуниверситета
The press service clarified that ticks
are an important component of many ecosystems, especially soil ones. Not
all of them are parasites, but their significance is great. The tick as
an individual is more or less harmful to its hosts, but as a species it
benefits its host species by stabilizing the ecosystems in which they
live.
It is added that there are no protected arachnids,
which include ticks, in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation. The
Red List contains about 350 species with 115 thousand described
arachnids, but there are only five ticks in it.
"Our
research will become an additional basis for the formation of a
specially protected natural area. But the main thing is that we hope to
make certain shifts in the consciousness of specialists, which will lead
to the recognition of the importance of protecting invertebrates,"
Orlova said.