Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/P013309/1
Desperately Seeking Space for Nature: a spatial analysis of biodiversity in changing landscape
Fellowship Award
- Fellow:
- Mr T Badura, University of East Anglia, Environmental Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of East Anglia, Environmental Sciences
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- Animal organisms
- Birds
- Conservation Ecology
- Land use change
- Economic effects of environmental policies
- Environmental externalities
- Environmental valuations
- Environmental economics
- Environmental public goods
- Abstract:
- In face of changing natural environment it is important to understand the impact of human activities on the environment and, in turn, the impact of changing environment on human well-being. Biodiversity - the diversity of living organisms, ecosystems and genes - is of a particular interest, as it plays a role in the way ecosystems can absorb external shocks and changes, such as the extremes associated with climate change, and continue their functioning despite these shocks. Biodiversity itself is of value to people visiting nature reserves in search of rare and unique species such as birds. It also plays some, yet not fully understood, role in ecosystems' ability to provide benefits to people - for example to support provision of food and timber or ecosystems' ability to purify water and regulate floods and air quality. The project undertaken as part of the NERC innovation internship will be conducted by the researcher at the British Trust of Ornithology (BTO). The project will focus on combining the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data with a detailed UK dataset to which the researcher has access from his home institutions. This comprise a large and comprehensible spatial UK dataset of environmental, atmospheric and land use and land cover data previously employed for UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA). Working with the BTO, the researcher will develop a new set of predictive models, aiming to provide an understanding of the drivers of change in bird abundance as results of changes in land use and other environmental and economic variables in a single modelling framework. In particular the project focuses on species comprising Woodland and Farmland bird indicators. These species and associated indicators are purposely chosen to provide indications of the impacts that land use change has on biodiversity in general. The UK government uses these indicators for reporting on its international and national commitments to conservation targets, such as UK Biodiversity 2020 plan or CBD's Strategic Plan for Biodiversity. The distinguishing factor from general BTO's work is the focus on integration of the bird modelling with economic analyses, providing a novel perspective on the BBS data. This integration will be of two types. Firstly, the bird models will be integrated with the researcher's PhD work on valuing preferences for land use change impacting on birds' diversity and abundance. The integration of the two analyses will allow an understanding of where limited public resources can be allocated for land use change interventions to provide greatest benefits in both environmental and economic terms. Secondly, the bird modelling will comprise a new biodiversity module for The Integrated Model (TIM) of a range of ecosystems services that was developed at researcher's home institution and was previously used to advise UK policy. The new module will expand on the previous work, which was done in the context of UK NEA, and will allow better understanding of the interplay of five sets of ecosystem services with biodiversity and/or allow restricting the TIM's outcomes with given biodiversity targets (e.g. no loss of local bird diversity). The research undertaken as part of the NERC innovation internship is aiming to have a high impact both in terms of policy and academia. Given the aim of integrating the ecological analyses with economic data, the research will contribute to existing policy advice and is of relevance to national policy. The research is likely to have a potential for publication in leading academic journals, such as PNAS or Science, given the interdisciplinary nature of the research and the previous track of records of the researchers involved. This work will be conducted predominantly at the BTO's offices in Thetford, under the supervision of Dr. Gavin Siriwardena at BTO, Dr. Silvia Ferrini at UEA and Prof. Bateman at the University of Exeter. The internship is projected to last 6 months.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/P013309/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Knowledge Exchange Fellowships
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Innovation Internships
This fellowship award has a total value of £18,957
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Staff | Exception - T&S |
|---|---|
| £16,659 | £2,298 |
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