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Research on the population biology of the stag beetle at Royal Holloway has created impact on the environment (species conservation through an increase in available habitat and in known breeding sites), impact on public policy (production of a species action plan and an EU Directive and the management of woodland habitats), and impact on society (change in public understanding). Using a `Citizen Science' approach, over 250 volunteers have engaged with this research in population surveys and over 1,000 have helped to create breeding sites. The research has helped to implement conservation policy decisions in the UK and EU and has produced many public information guides. It also has resulted in a radically revised Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) national Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) for the species. Furthermore, the research has created impact on practitioners (through enhancement of teaching practices) and brought practical conservation biology into schools, improving the teaching of the National Curriculum at KS2 and 3.
Conservation of migratory bird species is an inherently international endeavour, because the fate of these species depends upon the actions of nations throughout their migratory ranges.
Research into migratory wading bird populations by Jennifer Gill and colleagues at UEA has had the following impacts:
Researchers at Ligatus have developed new methodologies for recording historical evidence in books and documents. These have altered the way conservators, historians and archivists work and improved the care of world cultural heritage. Their work has impacted on a range of public and private institutions and included cultural managers, museums and galleries, and libraries.
Dr Anne Goodenough and Professor Frank Chambers undertake applied ecological research with importance for conservation and management, nationally and internationally. Working with, or commissioned by, major national bodies including The Heather Trust, Natural England, Countryside Council for Wales, British Trust for Ornithology and RSPB, their research on rare species and habitats influences major national policy (e.g. species conservation priorities, and degraded habitat restoration and conservation). Furthermore, their research informs evidence-based changes in management for species (leading to conservation of internationally declining songbird, the pied flycatcher, at key sites throughout the UK) and landscapes (blanket bog and heather moorland restoration in Wales and England).
The Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management is the product of six years of international collaborative research and sector-based consultancy between Writtle College and Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (Germany). Activities at the Centre include developing a core body of internationally recognised research in the fields of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, complex systems science and adaptive management, and using the research to work with conservation organisations around the World to resolve significant environmental problems. Our sponsors include GIZ, Germany and WWF Germany, and our operations extend from Central America to the Ukraine, Russia, South Eastern Europe, China and Korea.
European Union (EU) law stipulates that governments must conserve listed species of conservation concern, necessitating the legal designation of Special Protection Areas (SPA) and the design and implementation of appropriate land management and other targeted conservation policies. Such policies should be underpinned by robust scientific understanding of population ecology, but this is rarely achieved for populations of immediate conservation concern.
A University of Aberdeen study of Scotland's remaining red-billed chough bird population provided the scientific understanding and evidence required to designate a new SPA, introduce new components to the Scottish government's agri-environment policy and underpin emergency management intervention.
The research thereby impacted statutory land designation and agricultural policy, and hence the management and conservation of a figurehead natural population in Scotland.
This case study describes how innovative new survey protocols for amphibians and reptiles in the UK are already changing conservation and planning practice in the UK. The new protocols, developed by a team led by Professor Richard Griffiths at the University of Kent, make surveys more effective and provide guidance for obtaining better data on trends for these species. Thanks to a series of engagement workshops held in 2011-12, the team's research has already informed best practice amongst ecologists, consultants and fieldworkers involved in professional practice and national recording schemes. Moreover, the revised and science-based survey protocols, published in March 2013, are in the process of being adopted within policy, best practice and statutory guidance in England, Wales and Scotland.
Prior to this research, survey protocols for amphibians and reptiles had changed little for some 20 years, and were not science-based. Consequently, the amount of survey effort required to reliably determine population status was controversial. With developers forced to spend up to £125 million per year to mitigate impacts on some species, this issue was particularly pressing within the commercial sector. Using statistical models, Griffiths' team derived recommendations that resolved how much effort was required to reliably detect whether a species was present or absent from a site. If it were not for this research, these important protocols would not have changed, and surveys would not have been as cost-effective or as reliable. Indeed, despite several decades of intensive recording activity, there were insufficient data to provide a meaningful statement on long- term trends of UK species for the recent National Ecosystem Assessment.
Since 2002, the highly-invasive horse-chestnut leaf-miner moth has caused significant damage to horse-chestnut trees as it spread rapidly across the whole of England and Wales. It is unclear how this species has spread so quickly and so successfully. This case study outlines `Conker Tree Science', a project that addressed this question and, in so doing, had impact of significance and genuine reach on the public's understanding of, and engagement with, our changing environment.
The impact of `Conker Tree Science' encompassed three main elements. First, it produced a cohort of citizen scientists undertaking useful field-observations for genuine, hypothesis-led science. Second, the success of this project was so notable that `Conker Tree Science' was used as evidence of best practice for `citizen science' by RCUK. By extension, this process will help to produce further citizen scientists. Third, the project was also celebrated widely in the national media and as such, the project's reach was substantial as it informed the public about environmental issues and challenges. In addition, the project's data also contributed to Forestry Research (the Forestry Commission research institute) in its understanding of the diffusion of this invasive species.
The Peoples-based Conservation Project (PBC) has challenged conventional heritage conservation practice by privileging a community's cultural systems over universalised concepts of heritage, through participatory practice. This transformed conservation practice by transferring the focus from material preservation to developing and preserving the connections between people, their cultural heritage, and each other. This new approach has developed a shared responsibility between the National Trust and Maori in the UK and New Zealand for the care of Hinemihi, an historic Maori meeting house which is no longer conserved as an object of built heritage, but as the living focus of a network of reciprocal social relationships.
The eradication of alien invasive species is a conservation priority, but is rarely attempted in mainland areas given the logistical and economic challenges of species control over large areas. Any effective control programme must be underpinned by robust scientific understanding of the population ecology of the target species to ensure control is appropriately focussed and directed, and that efforts are not swamped by compensatory dispersal from neighbouring regions.
A University of Aberdeen study of water vole population ecology recognised sharp declines in numbers and identified the invasive, predatory American mink as a primary driver of population extinction. The world's largest mainland species eradication programme was then put in place by Aberdeen, involving many hundreds of volunteers. It has successfully removed breeding mink from over 10,000 km2 of Scotland and secured the future of an iconic symbol of natural heritage. This conservation success story is now used as a template for the management of invasive mink in other eradication initiatives in Scotland and internationally.
The research thereby impacted the conservation of natural resources and policy and planning of management.