Landscape-scale Habitat Functioning and Condition: Monitoring for Adaptive Management

Ewan McHenry, Conservation Adviser Landscape Ecology, Woodland Trust

Wednesday 2nd April, 1-2pm, Cottrell 2V1 and streamed on Teams (contact the seminar organiser for the Teams link).

This seminar is open to all staff, students and affiliates of the University of Stirling. The seminar is hosted by Biological and Environmental Sciences (BES).

Who this might appeal to: This about a practitioner’s attempt to wield state-of-the-art scientific thinking, analytical tools and datasets in the hope of influencing and guiding a large Environmental NGO in delivering landscape scale nature recovery. The topics covered will likely be of particular interest to folk working in: Earth and Planetary Observation, Ecosystem Change, Healthy Environments: Sustainable Societies, and Quaternary Science and Landscape Change. A scientific practitioner’s perspective may also be of particular interest to graduate students, or any others potentially considering work outside academia, or in partnership with practitioner organisations.

Abstract: Lofty goals for increased area of protected habitat abound, stemming from international treaties, government legislation, organizational policy and the aspirations of individual people. Woods and trees are oft touted as key in combating the twin nature-climate crises, but to be most effective they must contribute to well-functioning and structurally complex ecosystems. To this end, Bigger, Better and More Joined “Nature Networks” are widely cited in the nature conservation sector as the ultimate goal for habitat creation and restoration, and yet little concerted attempt is made to reliably measure contribution towards that aim. The concept of functional connectivity combines elements of habitat area, quality and connectedness (and debate continues RE the role of fragmentation per say). Here I lean on developments in these fields, and present an attempt at operationalising them for action: a metric to measure landscape-scale change in habitat functioning, and discuss how it can be used to track progress and guide decision making at different levels, from site management to organisational reform. The contribution of local habitat-quality, or “condition” is a key determinant of its value for wildlife populations, at scales from local-to-landscape. But measuring, or even defining, “condition” in such a way that it can be included it in metrics to drive change remains a challenge. In my second amble I will present our evolving approach to improving the rigor of woodland ecological condition quantification, based on expert opinion elicitation and a nod towards occult mysticism.

Bio: I’m a quantitative ecologist working on the interface between applied research and management. I’m most interested in squeezing useful insight for action and policy from complex data. I Enjoy telling engaging stories with data and evidence to inspire and guide effective conservation decision making and action in systems that are far from perfect. I’m a big advocate for adaptive management and structured decision making. PhD from Aberdeen focusing on applied quantitative population ecology for adaptive management in conservation and invasive species management. Lot of work on various mammalian populations. Honorary Research Fellow at University of Manchester focusing on riparian woodland landscape ecology. Joined The Woodland Trust in 2019 where I advise on landscape-scale conservation decisions for habitats and species, with a particular focus on ecological functional connectivity. I also do a lot of other stats/analysis to guide decisions big and small.