Discovering a new species is always a great event. The cases that most jump to the media are usually those in which a new species of mammal, reptile or bird has been found in some hidden place on the planet. But that in Spain does not usually happen frequently. Here, the most common cases today are usually plants, insects, arachnids … species that are very small or that hide very well, and usually live in remote and inaccessible ecosystems, such as caves. Many subterranean ecosystems are little explored places where it is not uncommon that, from time to time, an animal unknown to science until then appears. But this time it is different. The species was not hiding, nor is it in an inaccessible and little explored area .
Doñana is a National Park, it heads the list of parks in Spain, its wetland is also the first on the long RAMSAR list. It is, perhaps, of the entire national territory, the most studied area by biologists and ecologists. It is also, and especially since Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente dedicated two chapters of his documentary El Hombre y la Tierra to it, probably the most popular natural environment in all of Spain. Who more and who less, has heard of Doñana, either because of its biodiversity or because of the problems it has to face. It is a well-known area of passage, nesting and wintering for more than 200 species of birds, and the largest known refuge for the Iberian lynx . And even so, with everything we know about Doñana, there are still species unknown to humans, hidden in its pine forests.
It has been in one of those pine forests of Aznalcázar , where a group of researchers has discovered the new species of bee. Its name, Andrena ramosa , refers to the only plant whose nectar and pollen it seems to feed on, the gamón or Asphodelus ramosus , as well as to the hairs it has on its third pair of legs. In the Andrena genus, to which it belongs, there are more than 1600 different species, and of these, 51 have been identified in Doñana . But what is exceptional about this new species is that it does not resemble the species with which it lives. According to the researcher Ignasi Bartomeus, from the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC) , it has more similarities with those that inhabit eastern regions of the Mediterranean. This opens new questions about what the distribution of these species will be like, and how many more remain to be discovered in the Mediterranean basin. In Spain there is a certain paradox in this regard. The entomologist Curro Molina, also from the Doñana Biological Station , points out that the Mediterranean climate is the one with the greatest diversity of wild bees, with more than 1,000 known, and it is curious that these areas are the least studied in this regard.
And the thing is, if, as we said before, Doñana is one of the most and best studied environments in Spain, how is it possible that a species hitherto unknown to science has been discovered? The answer lies in what type of studies are the most carried out. In Doñana, the Iberian lynx, the golden eagle, the bee-eater or the wetlands have been extensively studied, but very little effort and resources are dedicated to studying many other ecosystems in the park. “ There is an important bias due to the absence of samples; With all the size of the Doñana natural area, our samples are taken in fifteen transects of just 100 meters , ”says Curro Molina for Muy Interesante. With much more ambitious studies, covering much more territory and paying attention to plants and invertebrate populations, the researchers do not doubt that many new species of plants and insects hitherto unknown could be described before they become extinct.
As far as we can tell, this species is endemic to the area , that is, it does not appear anywhere else in the world. But that is not a surprise to anyone. The Doñana natural area has a large number of endemisms, and some activities put this rich and unique biodiversity at serious risk. The water masses of Doñana are today threatened , not only by human activities that, upstream, reduce the quality and quantity of water that reaches the park, but also by the presence of illegal wells in the region that was causing serious damage. Fires like the one that happened in 2017, or the pilgrimages of hundreds of thousands of people, if not more, that every year cross an area of the park with less respect than they should grant, further damage the situation.
The natural space of Doñana contains a great diversity of different habitats, and is, therefore, an example of the enormous wealth of ecosystems that we have in Spain. Today a new species has been discovered, but if we do not take care of our natural environments, the good news could be short-lived, and tomorrow we could be reading about the extinction of one of these species . Or not even realize it; many species become extinct before we even know they existed. Protecting our natural environments, and actually protecting them, and not just on paper, should be a priority.
After all, our lives depend on it.
This article has been reviewed and validated by the researcher Ignasi Bartomeus and the entomologist Curro Molina, from the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC).
References:
Paredes, I. (2020) ‘Anthropic pressures and eutrophication in the Doñana marsh and its watersheds.’ Available at: https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/210576 (Accessed: 4 February 2022).
Wood, T.J., Molina, F.P. and Bartomeus, I. (2022) ‘A new Andrena species (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) from the overlooked Doñana Protected Areas of southern Spain.’, Belgian Journal of Entomology, 126, pp. 1–13.
