The contribution of UK citizen science to biodiversity research

Speaker

David Roy, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK

Abstract:

People have been recording wildlife for centuries and the resulting datasets lead to important scientific research. This form of citizen science represents a diverse range of activities, involving an estimated 70 000 people annually in the UK, from expert volunteers undertaking systematic monitoring to mass participation recording. It is an invaluable monitoring tool because the datasets are long term, have large geographic extent and are taxonomically diverse (85 active taxonomic groups). In this talk I will give an overview of major activities in the UK and how datasets have been applied to research questions that cover a range of important environmental issues.  I will describe case studies such as changes in species’ distributions through climate change, responses of populations to extreme weather events, links between pesticide pollution and loss of pollinating insects, tracking invasive non-native species and their impact.  I will outline some future priorities for ensuring that biological recording has a bright future with benefits for people, science, and nature.

About the speaker:

I have been a researcher at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology for almost 25 years, and have been the Head of the UK Biological Records Centre since 2011.  My main area of expertise is environmental monitoring and assessment.  I have particular expertise in Citizen Science approaches, leading national programmes for citizen science biodiversity monitoring in the UK.  My research has spanned a number of high impact themes that have been based on data from these schemes – I have worked on urban ecology, genetically-modified crops, climate change, invasive species and ecosystem services for example.  I have authored over 130 refereed journal publications and almost 40 books, book chapters and published reports.