Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/N018958/1
Taxonomic skills and field techniques for freshwater ecology and quality
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr A Jungblut, The Natural History Museum, Life Sciences
- Grant held at:
- The Natural History Museum, Life Sciences
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Overall Classification:
- Freshwater
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Freshwater communities
- Community Ecology
- Freshwater populations
- Population Ecology
- Biodiversity
- Water quality
- Wetlands
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Biodiversity
- Ecosystem function
- Ecosystem management
- Ecosystem services
- Food webs
- Freshwater ecosystems
- Ecosystem Scale Processes
- Water Quality
- Abstract:
- We propose an Advanced Training Short Course on Taxonomic skills and field techniques for UK freshwater ecology and quality because accurate species identification is fundamental for bio-assessments, monitoring and conservation, research into food webs and ecosystem function, ecosystem services and climate change as well as to inform management and policy such as the Environmental Agency. Current undergraduate teaching, however, does not provide the necessary essential training for postgraduate research and professional careers in freshwater environmental management and policy makers, leading to a skills gap in taxonomy and systematics, fieldwork and freshwater sciences as highlighted by NERC. The lack of taxonomic training is also demonstrated by NERC-funded university-based research leaders recommending participation of PhD student at previous NERC courses on freshwater skills led by the same NHM team in 2014 and 2015. This is supported by the high demand of a total 41 applicants for 15 places for a similar NERC ATSC course led by the same group of NHM staff in 2014-2015, including 7 NERC students and 1 EPSRC-funded postgraduate student and earlycareer scientists from academic areas such as river ecology, freshwater restoration, climate change, drought, conservation, environmental sciences and management. NHM is ideally suited to deliver such a course because of its extensive expertise in freshwater taxonomy, biodiversity, fieldsampling and contract work. Advance training outcomes of NHM ATSC: Awareness of biological diversity of UK freshwater benthic and pelagic habitats; 1) Ability to competently identify freshwater macroinvertebrates, freshwater algae, cyanobacteria, protists, lichens, bryozoan and other invertebrate filter-feeders; 2) Ability to competently and accurately use the appropriate handbooks and keys for taxonomic identification; 3) Experience in the preservation of different freshwater groups for voucher specimens and long-term storage; 4) Understand and implement best practice in sampling techniques, recording protocols for species lists, community assessment, monitoring; 5) Understand how to adopt appropriate sampling techniques according to particular research questions and habitat characteristics; 6) Understand the process of integrating taxonomic data and physical and chemical properties of freshwater aquatic habitats. Our proposed ATSC training is unique because of its focus on taxonomic training covering both benthic and planktonic freshwater groups such as macroinvertebrates, algae, cyanobacteria, protists, lichens, and bryozoans. There is no comparable course currently offered. Training will be delivered by way of lectures, fieldwork and hands-on identification work in small groups with experts to ensure that participants will become confident in applying relevant sampling and identification techniques and terminology to be able to work independently using the appropriate identification keys and guides. NHM staff have extensive experience in postgraduate training through DTP, as well as MSc and MRes programs with University College London, Royal Holloway and Imperial College, and supervision of PhD students from UK and overseas universities. They are regularly involved in NHM education programs for school students, volunteers via citizen sciences programs (e.g. Riverfly Monitoring Initiative) at the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity. The NHM Life Sciences Department has excellent infrastructure to support the course including laboratory facilities for invertebrate sample sorting, specimen preparation and compound light microscopes and stereomicroscopes for identification work. For phycological and aquatic lichen training identification there are compound light microscopes with camera imaging systems. The NHM has lecturing facilities; libraries for references literature and extensive taxonomic type specimen reference collections.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/N018958/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Doctoral Training
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Advanced Training
This training grant award has a total value of £23,783
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Other Costs |
|---|
| £23,783 |
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