Preserving Biodiversity

The Wadden Sea is a very special patch of coastline. Situated on the North Sea, bordering on Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, it's the world's largest tidal wetlands area without mangroves. Altogether the Wadden Sea spans over more than 10,000 square kilometers (3,900 square miles), almost half of which is mudflat area. Two times a day these tidal plains fall dry.

When the tidal plains fall dry, they provide the perfect feeding ground for millions of migratory birds who stop at the Wadden Sea each year on their long journeys around the globe. While the Wadden Sea plays an important role for birds, it is also a unique and important habitat for many other life forms.

At the "Schutzstation Wattenmeer" at Westerhever Lighthouse at the Wadden Sea, Living Planet visits Dr. Hans-Ulrich Roesner and his colleagues who have been trying to get the Wadden Sea listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Einstein has been cited as saying, "If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, then man would have only four years of life left." The honey bee is one of the most important pollinators known to man. About one third of human nutrition is directly due to crops grown through bee pollination. In Germany they are responsible for 80 percent of all food pollination.

The recent dramatic and unexplained losses of the honey bee population have caused great alarm, especially in the United States. The disappearance of the bees is being attributed to Colony Collapse Disorder, when the bees leave the hive to gather pollen and don't return. But why, is the question scientists are now grappling with. Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, is a controversial subject. Some are calling it the AIDS of honey bees, a disease that attacks the bees' immune system which is already under great strain from exposure to pesticides, genetically modified crops, parasites, and global warming.

The threat posed to man with the potential loss of the honeybee illustrates how vulnerable the lack of biodiversity makes us. The bee issue has prompted some to ask the question, why are we so dependent on just one insect species for our pollination needs in the first place? Last year the US lost a quarter of its bee population, and this year similar losses are already being seen. Living Planet visits bee researchers in Berlin at the Free University zoological department to find out more about the mystery.

If we mentioned the phrase endangered species, which animals would you think of? Snow leopards? Elephants? Maybe even polar bears... But what if we told you that there are certain breeds of domestic animals which face an equal if not more critical threat of extinction?

This fact has potentially severe consequences for our global and domestic agriculture markets. The Tierpark Arche Warder in Northern Germany is trying to address this problem. It's an animal park near the city of Kiel which is seeking to preserve over 70 valuable species of domestic animals before it's too late. Living Planet's Laura Spurway went to find out more about this very special conservation effort.

Among the animals at the Tierpark Arche Warder is Querida, a Poitou donkey -- the rarest breed of donkey which exists in the world today. The visitors adore him.

The Black Grouse was almost extinct in the Lüneburg Heath in Northern Germany. After the landscape was made natural conservation area, however, populations have gained new strengths.

Peat extraction has a long tradition in Ireland, but it is seen by some conservationists as a threat to biodiversity. Large-scale peat removal threatens peat bogs, which take centuries to regenerate. Living Planet's Cheryl Northey visited the Irish midlands.

The Irish government has looked into peatland forestry as a potential use for the exhausted peatlands. But results have not been promising. It's also explored planting crops which could thrive in the acidic soil of a cutaway bog, such as blueberries. Some suggest wildlife corridors could be established in the cutaway areas, and most would agree the areas bear great potential for tourism.