Biodiversity Monitoring: The Challenge Ahead
By Biolit 2023
It’s an exciting time to be involved in the St Andrews Biodiversity Literacy Vertically Integrated Project (VIP) group! This summer, we’ll be carrying out biodiversity monitoring on land managed by the University of St Andrews. We’ll be surveying across species groups, from birds, mammals, and moths to trees and other vascular plants. The data we collect will then be used in the previously developed Key Performance Indicator (KPI) framework, allowing a baseline biodiversity score for the University (‘magic number’) to be calculated. This will then be used to influence the university’s biodiversity strategy, informing future development decisions and guiding schemes to improve biodiversity in future years. Long-term monitoring should allow comparison between years, enabling us to show if the management decisions taken by the university lead to improvements for biodiversity.
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A lot of the work we’ve been doing this semester has been in preparation for the summer monitoring scheme. Planning our surveys has been a daunting task but has been made more manageable through advice from external experts, including the Fife County Moth Recorder and the Fife and Kinross Bat Group. We have been working to improve our species identification skills to prepare for the surveys. To do this, we have appointed ‘group experts’ for each of the species groups we will be surveying. This approach should allow each of us to develop expertise in one area, and then transfer this knowledge between group members. This draws on one of the main strengths of VIP modules: the possibility to learn from and teach other students from across academic disciplines. Planning for the summer biodiversity monitoring has been unlike anything else I have experienced in my academic career so far, but has been invaluable in the development of numerous transferrable skills.
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I have taken on the role of ‘group expert’ for moths and have been immersing myself in the world of moth identification this semester. I must admit, this has been more challenging than I initially thought it would be. I already knew that there were many moth species, but I never knew that there were over 2500 species in Britain! To complicate matters further, moths are split between two categories: the macro-moths and micro-moths. Macro-moths are larger and generally easier to identify than micro-moths, with around 900 species across Britain. In the St Andrews area, there are over 200 macro-moth species that may be recorded. For a group of students starting out in moth identification, there is a steep learning curve ahead.
A Yellow Shell moth, a species frequently recorded in Fife during the summer, and one we’ll hope to record in St Andrews! Photo by John Anderson
Fortunately, there are some excellent resources available to help with moth identification during our surveys. The East Scotland branch of the Butterfly Conservation charity has a website detailing the macro-moth species which may be found in Fife in each month, as well as detailed information on the flight times and distribution of each species. Another excellent website generates a list of the most likely species to be encountered for any location UK-wide, at any time of year. These tools demonstrate how useful the internet can be for ecological research and fieldwork. Yet, discovering such resources also made me wonder why I had not encountered them previously. If they were more widely publicised, surely more people would be encouraged to begin recording moths?
The flight times of three moth species regularly recorded in Fife, the Hebrew Character (top), Poplar Hawk Moth (middle) and Winter Moth (bottom). The difference in flight times highlights the importance of surveying for moths year-round! Data from National Moth Recording Scheme.
Working in the VIP group to plan the summer biodiversity monitoring surveys has helped me to develop skills in teamwork, communication, and leadership. Furthermore, it has equipped me with basic skills in the use of QGIS mapping software. It has also allowed me to develop my species identification skills. Prior to joining the module, I already had a degree of expertise in bird identification, due to years of being an obsessive birdwatcher. However, I lacked identification skills in organisms other than birds. A desire to broaden my species identification skills was the main reason I initially applied to join the module. In my experience of university biology modules, there is a lack of emphasis on species identification as an important skill. Yet, species identification is listed by the British Ecological Society as an essential skill for employability in the ecological sector. As someone who intends to pursue a career in ecological science or the conservation sector after university, I feel fortunate to have had this opportunity to develop species identification skills.
Part of the QGIS map of St Andrews that we will be populating with biodiversity data this summer.
Besides developing transferrable skills and collecting data on the species present in St Andrews, an important part of this project is increasing engagement with nature among the student community in St Andrews. A study of the natural history knowledge of undergraduate biology students at Cambridge University found that only around 56% of participants could name five native bird species, while for native trees and butterflies the figures were 24.2% and 12.8% respectively. I can’t help but wonder what the figures would be for St Andrews students. The lack of natural history knowledge among young people is of great concern as knowledge of natural history is vitally important for conservation and the continued protection of biodiversity. Without understanding the richness of biodiversity on our doorstep, how will be able to protect it?
By monitoring biodiversity across the University this summer, we hope to engage with nature and deepen our natural history knowledge. In the long-term, we hope to foster a community of citizen scientists across the university to ensure that continued monitoring of biodiversity occurs. Really though, we hope to engage more students in nature and increase their natural history knowledge, because that’s a vital part of what Biodiversity Literacy is all about.