“I arrived confused about this topic and I will leave as confused as ever.” This was the parting comment from the only MP in the room and not the outcome we were hoping for! The event was a scientific briefing about neonicotinoid pesticides and pollinators, organised by the Soil Association in a classy venue in Westminster. Unfortunately, such confusion seems typical of the political response to an issue that has generated passionate controversy in many other sections of society. Continue reading
Author: crjpollard
Call for applications – ICN Workshop 2016
Applications now being received for the 2016 Interdisciplinary Conservation Network (ICN) workshop!
Date of workshop: 26-28 June 2016
Application deadline: 31 March 2016
The Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICCS), Stirling Conservation Science (STI-CS) and the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science (CBCS) are pleased to invite PhD students and early-career researchers in the field of conservation science to apply to participate in a three-day workshop to be held at the University of Oxford, UK.
The aim of this workshop is to provide early-career researchers with an opportunity to collaborate with other researchers from around the world, including leading figures in their field, and to learn key skills for the development of their careers.
More information about the workshop and how to apply is available here.
Guest blog from Matt Gollock asking The Big Question….
Who migrates further, the eel or the person trying to conserve them?
Not that it’s a competition, of course, but I do think that I win.
European eel
The Sargasso Sea
The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) – the species of Anguillidae that has the longest migration; at a generous estimate, might travel up to 20,000km in its lifetime, if it visited Norway or Turkey during its lifetime before migrating back to the Sargasso Sea to breed.I did over that distance during a trip to the Philippines to visit a project aiming to conserve a number of these species. Continue reading
Piecing together catchment management
Our brains naturally compartmentalise things. Germans call this ‘Schubladendenken’ which translates as ‘drawer thinking’. We have drawers for different species, different people and different scientific disciplines. This may help us understand separate drawers and their differences, but it can also mean we lose the whole picture of how the drawers are connected and are being influenced by one another and other drivers.
A Steppe Towards Conservation
By Tom Bradfer-Lawrence
Lost in the steppe
The heat haze is intense. Not only is the sun burning in the sky, but an incessant desert wind is blowing straight out of the Gobi. And, if the sun and wind weren’t already enough, the radiator in our aged minibus is packing up. The only way to avoid the engine overheating is to have the fans on at full blast. Even then, every few miles we have to turn the van into the wind and open all of the doors in an attempt to reduce the engine temperature from incandescent to merely roasting. There isn’t a sign of another human. Every five minutes or so we pull up next to a barrel on top of a pole and I look inside. Between the heat, the emptiness, and the repetitive task, I feel like I’ve entered another world. Continue reading
Are the simplest solutions ever the right ones?
By Tom Mason.
I have recently returned from a conference in the foothills of the Austrian Alps where one presentation in particular resonated with me. It concerned the fate of the Bargy population of Alpine ibex living in the Haute-Savoie region of the France. In this population there is a high prevalence of brucellosis; a bacteria-borne disease which – unfortunately for ibex – 
can be transmitted to humans and livestock. The Haute-Savoie region is famed for its production of the cheese Reblochon, which contributes substantially to the area’s economy. Reblochon is a raw-milk cheese central to dishes such as fondue and tartiflette, but here it is the final ingredient in the recipe for conflict between conservation and human livelihoods (apologies, that was incredibly cheesy). Continue reading
Managing conservation conflict with a Pie and a Pint
Polling station. Credit: Paul Albertella
I’m sitting down to write this shortly after the UK General Election result, which has surprised many. Your surprise may be positive or negative but if you’re Nick Clegg you may well be pondering if your five years of cooperation with David Cameron’s Conservatives turned out so well after all. I don’t think the electorate thought so.
Continue reading