Biodiversity Network Coffee (and talk) mornings

Hilary Termcard

Jan 23rd: Lucy Smyth Passive acoustic monitoring of birds in East Africa

Over the last decade, bioacoustics has transitioned from an emerging scientific method to a mainstream methodology used for monitoring biodiversity. However, strong biases exist in the ease of applicability for various taxonomic groups and across geographic regions. Natural State is developing a complex web of passive acoustic monitoring capabilities in Kenya. We use AudioMoths, cheap inconspicuous acoustic recorders, to passively collect acoustic data. We then use an opensource neural network algorithm, BirdNET, to classify avian sounds to the species level. Working with a Kenyan ornithologist, we are actively correcting the bias in BirdNET against African species by rigorously validating species predictions and generating our own training datasets for species BirdNET has not previously been trained to recognize. We fit logistic regression models to the validated datasets for each species to identify thresholds for 99% precision, yielding near-certain observations. Following the first two rounds of this calibration process we can identify 133 bird species from the Kenyan rangelands. We are now in the process of investigating patterns of species richness and relative abundance across the landscape within a community occupancy model framework.

Jan 30th: Leah Gerber. From Research to Action: Producing Science for Decision-Making in Conservation

Join Leah Gerber in a dynamic discussion on how actionable science can bridge the gap between research and decision-making in conservation. Drawing from her extensive work in this area and insights from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Beyond the Academy report, Leah will explore how scientists can produce science that is not only relevant but also directly usable by policymakers. By understanding what types of science decision-makers need to drive effective conservation actions, Leah and her team are studying best practices to ensure that research leads to impactful, real-world outcomes. This conversation will provide valuable perspectives on creating science that supports sustainable biodiversity management and decision-making.

6th Feb: Lily Gilder. Nature, well-being and care-experienced young people

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork primarily conducted in Cornwall, UK, my D.Phil research has explored how care-experienced young people (those who have spent time in the foster care or residential care system) and those who work with them conceptualise and experience nature in relation to well-being. By centring care as an ethic, practice, and subject of inquiry, my findings highlight the temporal dimensions of well-being through examining how participants access nature during accelerated transitions to adulthood and the abrupt ‘care cliff’. I also reveal how trauma-informed approaches are reshaping outdoor education, moving beyond traditional emphases on independence, personal challenge and risk-taking to recognise nature as a care collaborator. Meanwhile, I examine how factors such as neurodivergence, trauma, and stigma fundamentally shape participants’ experiences of the more-than-human world and their therapeutic potential. The presentation will offer critical insights for both policy and practice while problematising exposure-based models of nature’s therapeutic benefits. These findings are particularly valuable for researchers interested in therapeutic landscapes, trauma-informed practices, and creating more inclusive approaches to nature-based interventions.

13th Feb: Meet researchers from the Humanities carrying out Nature-related research. How can we work together?

Venus Bivar will discuss pollution in Marseille from the 1940s-80s, public health crises, oil spills, the rise of petrochemical industries and their effect on the environment and urban landscape

Amanda Power is working on a monograph, Medieval Histories of the Anthropocene, which explores questions concerning the relations between religion, power and the construction of public rationality in the building of medieval states across Eurasia. I am interested in how these centralising processes consciously dislocated humans from local ecosystems and specific and sustainable practices, while creating powerful and enduring narratives about civilisation, barbarism, and the use of resources.

Nayanika Mathur will discuss her ongoing research on emergent climate governance in India. This new work brings together her longstanding ethnographic interests in the everyday state and human-animal relations in the Himalaya. Her recent research has been guided by the question of how the climate crisis requires the discipline of anthropology to set up more robust cross-disciplinary conversations.

Emily McLaughlin’s research explores how experimentation with poetic form can change the way we think. She works on twentieth- and twenty-first-century poetry in the French language (Bonnefoy, Guillevic, Gaspar, Bancquart) and investigates how these poets envisage formal play as a way of training ourselves to think ecologically.

 

20th Feb: Rosalie Wright. Pioneering seascape-scale restoration with the Solent Seascape Project.

Pioneering seascape-scale restoration with the Solent Seascape Project // Summary: The Solent Seascape Project is the UK’s first seascape-scale restoration initiative. The project aims to improve the condition, scale and connectivity of oyster reefs, seagrass meadows, saltmarsh and seabird nesting habitats using protection and restoration initiatives – creating a more resilient coastline, enhancing biodiversity and supporting the sustainable delivery of nature-based solutions. To achieve this, a partnership of ten organisations (including eNGOs, research institutions, private sector and government bodies) are working with local communities to reconnect the seascape and develop a long-term management plan.

27th Feb: Helen Newing & Anouska Perram Conservation and human rights

Despite decades of promises by conservation actors, a substantial amount of conservation still ignores human rights in practice – sometimes because of a lack of understanding of what human rights really require. In November 2024, we launched a major new guidance document on conservation and human rights at the UN CBD COP in Cali, Colombia. In this seminar we will introduce the guidance and discuss some key points of international law that have arisen from conflicts between indigenous peoples and protected areas, with recent examples from Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We will then summarise some practical tools and approaches for rights-based conservation.

13th March:  Klara Kaleb – details to follow

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