(Paris) His reappearance in France in 2009 after 133 years of absence was a small miracle. But since 2019, the precious Goddess, a rare and endangered dragonfly, has not given any sign of life, raising fears of a new disappearance, which this time could be final due to climate change and the degradation of wetlands.
Four years already that its slender silhouette, metallic green and spotted with blue marks, has not been seen in the peat bogs of the Jura, the only site where it was present in France, with a dozen or so individuals identified.
In 2019, the drought affected France “to the point that the water point that shelters the insect is reduced to nothing. Unsurprisingly, no emergence, no image are observed that year, ”indicated at the end of December the naturalist François Dehondt, at the origin of the rediscovery of the young lady, in a forum in Le Monde.
The trend continues in 2020, then in 2021 when the water nevertheless returns to the bog. And in 2022, the hottest year and one of the driest ever observed in France, still no trace of the Goddess.
Presumed disappearance
So lost sight of or completely disappeared?
“The most likely is that its rediscovery was only a phase of remission in a serious disease from which our biodiversity suffers: the collapse”, considers, annoyed, Mr. Dehondt.
The Office for Insects and their Environment (OPIE), in charge of monitoring the species, evokes for the moment a “supposed disappearance”.
But “given the state of degradation of the environment and the drought that we have known for years, it is really very compromised”, estimates to AFP Xavier Houard, coordinator of the Entomological Studies & Conservation pole of the OPIE.
“The lights are red. However, it is not yet possible to be completely positive”, he adds, specifying that “we dare to speak of ‘proven disappearance’ only after 25 years of ‘non-observation’ on the basis of detailed monitoring. and specific.
Especially since “for 120 years, the species has already demonstrated its ability to pass under the radar of observers…”, recalls Mr. Houard.
In 2009, the scientific community described the reappearance of this dragonfly, the smallest in Europe (24 to 26 millimeters in length), as an “entomological scoop”. The last time we could see it in our region dates back to 1876!
Discreet and often concealed in the sedges (small plants with sharp leaves) of peat environments, Nehalennia speciosa, by its Latin name, flies little and quite badly, and it is often necessary to shake the vegetation to flush it out.
It is one of the 11 endangered species of French dragonflies out of the 89 listed in the country.
Classified on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – like 16% of dragonflies – with the status of “vulnerable” at the global level, it is in “critical danger of extinction” in France.
Wetlands in danger
Main threats to it: global warming, destruction of its natural habitat, pollution and pesticides.
Like the other dragonflies, the precious Goddess is “a wonderful indicator to testify to the state of health of wetlands” and its probable disappearance “is a bit of an alarm signal”, underlines Mr. Houard.
“These ecosystems are disappearing three times faster than forests,” warned IUCN Director General Bruno Oberle at the end of 2021.
Since 1900, it is estimated that 64% of wetlands in the world – lakes, rivers, marshes, lagoons, peat bogs – have disappeared, including 35% in the last 50 years, according to a report by the Ramsar Convention. More than a quarter of the species that live there are in danger of extinction.
These areas play an essential role for the environment: a refuge for biodiversity, they store around 25% of the planet’s carbon and act as a water reservoir. But the threats that surround them are numerous: urbanization, intensification of agriculture, drainage, drought…
“There is an urgent need to restore wetlands! will thus hammer this Thursday the participants in the world day of the wetlands. The UN aims to restore 50% of destroyed peatlands by 2030.