Comprising the families Acanthosomatidae, Scutellaridae, Cydnidae, Thyreocoridae and Pentatomidae, shieldbugs comprise one of the most easily recognised groups of true bugs (Hemiptera, Heteroptera). About 43 species have been recorded for Britain and Ireland but a high proportion has a southern and eastern distribution. In common with several other insect groups responding to warming temperatures (Stewart...
The world is facing a biodiversity crisis. An estimated one million species are threatened with extinction¹, vertebrate populations decreased by 68% on average between 1970 and 2016² and globally agreed targets to reduce the pressures on biodiversity have not been met³. The trends of insects, which make up at least 60% of all species on...
Floristic data were collected each year from 2011 to 2022 on embryo dunes and an associated wetland that began to form on Ainsdale beach in 2008 as a southern extension of Birkdale Green Beach. Named the ‘Newest Green Beach’ and eventually covering 2.4 ha, this feature developed rapidly by accretion of blown sand, initially around Puccinellia maritima (Common Saltmarsh-grass), to form a dune ridge over 4 m in height, protecting a seasonally-flooded primary dune-slack. By 2022, 245 vascular taxa (species subspecies and hybrids) had been recorded for the feature. Annual totals initially showed an almost linear increase in the number of plants over time.