Crucial information on the condition of nature and the variety of wildlife in UK’s forests is being gathered at a speed and level of detail never before available thanks to innovative biodiversity monitoring techniques being rolled out. Source: Timberbiz
Working with partners NatureMetrics and AgriSound, Forestry England is collecting eDNA samples of soil, water and air from across some of the 1,500 forests and woodlands in their care, and in March began installing 130 bioacoustic listening devices in four wild areas in the nation’s forests, to track the presence of winged insects.
Already these biodiversity monitoring techniques are giving Forestry England ecologists enormous amounts of data revealing previously unknown species and helping them plan their actions to restore nature.
Across 21 forests, 656 eDNA soil samples taken over four months showed the presence of more than 5,000 unique species of fungi, more than have ever been discovered in the nation’s forests in the last hundred years using traditional sampling methods, alongside a further 1,000 species of invertebrates.
Biotechnology company NatureMetrics has converted the large species lists discovered through eDNA monitoring into accessible, robust data, giving Forestry England’s teams a new ability to track these biodiversity metrics over time and space.
As well as gathering data through eDNA, Forestry England is working with agriculture technology company, AgriSound, that has developed specific algorithms that will track and report on pollinator activity via its bioacoustic monitoring device ‘Polly’.
These Polly monitoring devices are producing real-time data on the presence of the common bumblebee in four wild areas in the nation’s forests. AgriSound’s Polly monitoring devices’ algorithms enable them to track bees’ flight by recognising wingbeat sounds and vibration, showing when they are present and their activity levels.
Acoustic sensors are also being used to detect the presence and behaviour of bats across the wild areas, with 87 installed over the last two years in a survey partnership with the Bat Conservation Trust.
Forestry England is taking a new approach to forestry in these wild areas, putting landscape-scale nature restoration at the forefront. The eDNA information and bioacoustic data on the bumblebee and bat populations present in each is a valuable piece of the jigsaw the teams will use to plan, measure and change their activities.
Landscape management changes which respond to the data findings may include bringing in naturalistic grazing with low density cattle herds to improve soil health, rewiggling streams to create larger wetland habitats, and changing the tree species diversity and structure in woodland areas.
