Residents can learn about the importance of invertebrates and the threats they face at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources tomorrow.

Danniella Sherwood, professor of zoology at the University of Pristina, in Kosovo, will lead the workshops and said most of the 65 living species of land invertebrates endemic to Bermuda were critically endangered.

Invertebrates, such as worms, insects and spiders, lack a backbone and make up more than 95 per cent of all animals on Earth.

Dr Sherwood explained: “We’re still doing exact mapping work for that, but I would say the vast majority of endemics here are under very, very serious threat.”

She believes pollution, habitat loss and invasive species pose the biggest threats to the creatures’ survival, and highlighted their importance on the island and worldwide.

Dr Sherwood said: “Invertebrates outnumber vertebrates by many, many orders of magnitude … so they are tremendously important, and endemic invertebrates, being that they only occur one place in the whole world, are even more important.

“If you lose that, not only is it screwing with the environment and will help bring more invasive species here and more imbalance in the ecosystem, it’s a loss of your heritage here as well — without bugs, the entire ecosystem of Bermuda would completely collapse.”

Dr Sherwood is also the senior conservation officer at the invertebrate conservation charity Buglife and her research in Bermuda is being funded through the British Government’s Darwin Plus grant.

She said: “Invertebrates in Bermuda have not been properly studied since the 1990s, so my project is the first for a very long time, working with the Government and Bermuda National Trust to actually redo the baseline and see what the situation is.

“Once we know that, which is basically the purpose of this trip, then we can start to think about, how do we save this bit of land or how do we control this invertebrate species?”

The free workshop tomorrow, which was organised by Dr Sherwood, the BNT and DENR, is open to everyone and will address which endemic invertebrates are the most endangered in Bermuda and how they can be protected.

Dr Sherwood said small steps, such as planting indigenous flora, leaving fallen leaves in gardens and placing creatures outside homes instead of killing them, can make a big difference.

She added: “It’s very difficult for members of the public to tell the difference between an endemic and an introduced spider, so I would say save any and all spiders.”

Resident Clare Russell captured the first-ever photograph of the Bermuda sac spider last year.

Dr Sherwood said at the time: “The Bermuda sac spider was only discovered in the 1980s and, until now, was known only from scientific illustrations.

“The fact that we now know what it looks like when alive is important information which will help us with our future research on the island.”

She encouraged Bermuda residents to upload photos of local invertebrates onto the iNaturalist website and report any particularly unusual finds to the Government or the Bermuda Natural History Museum.

The morning workshop is set to start at 9.30am tomorrow and the afternoon session will run from 1.30pm at DENR headquarters at the Botanical Gardens. Refreshments will be provided at lunch.

Dr Sherwood said: “It’s very much an opportunity for anyone in Bermuda, no matter if they have a scientific background or love nature.

“Everybody and everybody’s viewpoint are welcome.”

• E-mail Mark Outerbridge, from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, at mouterbridge@gov.bm for more information