- This didactic resource complements the interpretative equipment for education and public use in The Odiel Marshes and other environmental awareness programs.
The province of Huelva is an outright mosaic of unique landscapes—each one of them, a world to visit as it hoards an exceptional natural wealth. To serve visitors, to let them know the heritage that it contains, Cepsa Foundation and the Junta de Andalucía have published the Guide to the Pollinating Insects of the Coast of Huelva, directed by Javier Camacho with texts by Estela Gil Costa and Manolo Huertas, and illustrations by Estela Gil and Francisco Hernández.
The hero of this natural process so important for the biodiversity of our planet—pollination—is a "small critter" that, in spite of living with us, goes mostly unnoticed or does not enjoy a very good reputation. Despite this, its conservation is vital. That is why this guide wants to raise awareness of the relevance of pollinating insects and how we can contribute to their survival.
Insects (dragonflies, grasshoppers, butterflies, beetles, bees, flies, wasps, cockroaches, ants or mosquitoes) are the most diverse and important group on the planet, with almost a million described species, which would probably be multiplied by 30 of those yet to be discovered. They are arthropods, invertebrate animals with an external skeleton and jointed appendages. Throughout their lives, they have very different forms: egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa or chrysalis and adults or imagos.
Pollination is the process through which pollen goes from the stamens (male organs) to the stigma (female organ) enabling fertilization for the subsequent creation of seeds and fruits and with them, new generations of plants. Among the ecosystemic benefits, pollinating insects are responsible for the pollination of more than 80 percent of flowering plants, these accounting for 90 percent of the total number of existing plants, i.e., enabling the formation of fruits and plant reproduction. The groups of insects involved in pollination are coleoptera (ladybugs, weevils or fireflies), lepidoptera (butterflies or moths), diptera (flies, horseflies or mosquitoes) and hymenoptera (bees, ants and wasps).
The Huelva coastline includes areas of dunes, coastal cliffs of the Asperillo dune, coastal forests and coastal wetlands such as marshes and peridune lagoons. Our Huelva coastline has a large number of endemic species, such as the Malocosoma moth and the beetle Akis saltsiana, endemic and emblematic of The Odiel Marshes; the grasshopper Steropleurus recticarinatus, which is only known in Doñana or the aquatic beetle Acilus Duvergeri, present in the lagoons of Moguer.
In addition to providing information, which is fundamental, the guide invites you to help in the conservation of these species. And how can you take action? Even if it’s on a small scale, through our gardens or windows to improve their habitat, with the planting of flowering plants and the creation of places that facilitate their breeding and/or hibernation, in an easy and economical way by creating "insect hotels."
Thanks to the information in this guide, we will change people’s perspective to one of interest in order to contribute to one of the most important natural processes for the biodiversity of our planet.
