Ecology and Conservation Studies Society, Birkbeck Free Lecture series.
Autumn 2015: six Friday evenings, Oct 9th to Nov 13th, 18:30 to 20:00. Birkbeck, University of London, Lecture Theatre B36, downstairs at the Torrington Square entrance.
In Britain we have a long and proud tradition of monitoring the distribution and trend of birds, plants and butterflies, using volunteers from natural history and conservation societies. Recently, modern technology has led to a burgeoning number of these “citizen science” schemes using a wide pool of contributors, on everything from the parasites of the chestnut leaf miner to plants indicative of good habitat, from swifts to stag beetles. Schemes can collect haphazardly or according to a fixed protocol. Some schemes have been so successful that they are used as government indicators, but others may not deliver on expectations, and taxonomic coverage is patchy. In this series our lecturers look at what makes for success.
Oct 9th. The good, the bad and the ugly in UK Biodiversity monitoring. Richard Gregory, Head of Species Monitoring and Research, RSPB.
Oct 16th. Stories from London: the role of local records centres. Maria Longley and others, Greenspace Information for Greater London.
Oct 23rd. The State of Britain’s Moths. Richard Fox, Butterfly Conservation.
Oct 30th. The Biological Records Centre: valuing wildlife observations in a changing world. Helen Roy, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
Nov 6th. Citizen Science in Action at the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL). Dr David Slawson & Dr Poppy Lakeman Fraser, Opal, Imperial College London.
Nov 13th. Monitoring hoverflies with digital photographs. Roger Morris, consultant.
A reading list, will be available later. To receive this, please email
ecssoc@gmail.com, consult the website
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/geds/our-research/ecss/free-public-lectures, or pick up a copy at one of the lectures.
The free public lectures are in a series hosted by GEDS, Birkbeck University of London. They are suitable for those who may be considering, or undertaking, university courses in ecology, biological conservation or related subjects. They will interest environmental and ecological practitioners, natural historians, wildlife organisations and others with similar interests.
The lectures are supported by GEDS, Birkbeck University of London and would not be possible otherwise. They are organised and promoted by the Ecology and Conservation Studies Society.
