Invertebrate endangerment
The Animal Kingdom has just over a million species, 94% of which are invertebrates. These invertebrates perform critical services, such as pollination, seed dispersal, and nutrient recycling. Although they are vitally important, invertebrates are often overlooked by land managers, scientists, and policy makers, who need to do more to promote the conservation of imperiled invertebrates.

Harvard biologist and Xerces Society Scientific Counselor E. O. Wilson believes that we are in the sixth great extinction spasm in the history of the world, and that 20 percent of animal and plant species worldwide are likely to be extinct by 2022 if the present rate of environmental destruction continues. One unappreciated and under-studied aspect of this mass extinction is its disproportionate impact on invertebrates. For example, according to a recent Nature Conservancy publication, 345 invertebrates are among the 539 extinct or missing species in the United States, just in the last 200 years.

Invertebrates are significantly underrepresented in both worldwide and United States endangered species programs (Black et al. 2001). In the United States, only 179 invertebrates are listed as Endangered or Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Destruction of habitat, displacement by introduced species, and degradation of habitat by chemical pollutants (such as pesticides) are all leading to a decline in invertebrate populations, some to the point of extinction. But, land managers, conservationists, the general public, and even many scientists often overlook "at-risk" invertebrates and do not act as advocates for those that are endangered species, thus compounding the problem. Also, there is limited funding for species conservation, most funding being directed toward the protection of more "charismatic" vertebrates.

Efforts of the Xerces Society
The Xerces Society's Endangered Species Program staff works with scientists, land managers, and conservationists to raise awareness about the plight of invertebrates and to gain protection for the most vulnerable species before they decline to a level at which recovery is impossible. To promote the conservation of endangered invertebrates, we:

• Protect threatened, endangered, and vulnerable species and their habitat;
• Increase public awareness of the threats invertebrates face; and
• Influence decision-makers and policy development to protect endangered invertebrates and their habitat.

Collaborating with scientists, conservation organizations, and government agency staff, we identify and gain protection for at-risk species and their habitats. We work with land managers to directly protect and manage habitat. We are also engaged in national and international coalitions. Recent achievements include:

• Protection of the Carson wandering skipper butterfly through the Endangered Species Act;
• Substantial improvements in the final recovery plan for the Bruneau hot springsnail, an important first step in recovering this species;
• Giving critical assistance to the Oregon Zoo, which allowed them to release hundreds of endangered Oregon silverspot butterflies into the wild;
• Stopping a massive pesticide spraying project in Idaho