The 22nd of May is the International Day for Biological Diversity, a day to increase our understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues around the world, with this year’s theme being ‘Our solutions are in nature’. Here at the School of Biological Sciences we aim to teach students about the impacts on, importance of, and the ways in which we can save biodiversity.
I am a first year PhD researcher within the University, and my research focusses on investigating how spatial patterns of fish biodiversity has changed in the North Sea over the last 30 years. We will then be investigating whether patterns in biodiversity can help us to predict areas of higher bycatch in fisheries around the North Sea, tying in with this year’s theme of solutions within nature.
Fellow first year PhD researcher Nathan Loustalot is working with the National Decommissioning Centre, and his research will assess biodiversity, invasive species and connectivity issues associated with the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas infrastructures using molecular approaches. The issue being that removal of these structures may actually have a negative impact on biodiversity if connectivity is reduced.
We also have Dr Ana Payo-Payo, a recently appointed research fellow in the school, whose research focuses on linking demographic theory and data to forecast the dynamics of spatially-structured seasonally-mobile populations. Ana then disseminates this information to biodiversity managers and policy makers, enabling them to better implement the management of biodiversity.
Whilst these are just a few projects going on at the University, much of the research within the School of Biological Sciences is interested in conserving and protecting the natural world, both at home and internationally, finding new solutions to tackle the problems which threaten biodiversity. Therefore, we hope you will join us in celebrating International Day for Biological Diversity!
Find out more, and join the conversation on Twitter @UNBiodiversity
Photo credit: Jean-Paul Schmit
