Quantifying the contribution of actions to reducing species extinction risk

Louise Mair, Newcastle University Academic Track Fellow in Global Biodiversity Conservation and Policy, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University

Wednesday 29th november, 1-2pm, Cottrell LTB3 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 may appeal to: My presentation will focus on approaches to quantifying the contribution of threats to species extinction risk, and conversely, how we can identify action to reduce species extinction risk. It will be of interest to those working within the Ecosystem Change theme, particularly around the topics of species conservation planning, land use change impacts and wildlife responses to anthropogenic pressures. My research has broad application to species conservation planning and policy, but also links to other areas where tools and techniques might be integrated into future work, for example, the use of remote sensing to quantify habitat change, degradation or restoration and the associated impact on species. Similarly, I hope that those working on evolving organisms might be interested in thinking about how our approach to understanding species extinction risk might be advanced by integrating knowledge on organism evolution.

Abstract: Meeting global species conservation targets, including those recently agreed within the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), requires tools and metrics that allow stakeholders to identify their potential contributions to species conservation, set science-based targets, and measure progress towards those targets. Ideally, such metrics should support engagement in conservation from all potential actors, ranging from governments, to NGOs, to businesses. To meet this need, I worked with IUCN and a large team of international scientists to develop the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) metric. STAR quantifies the contributions that abating threats and restoring habitat in specific places offer towards reducing species extinction risk. STAR is spatially explicit, scalable and comparable across sites, and is now available to businesses and policy makers for use in decision making. In this presentation, I will explain how STAR works, and provide diverse examples of how it has been applied in scientific and practical contexts. I will share current development of the metric as we work towards achieving uptake and impact, to ultimately support delivery of the KMGBF.

Bio: I am a Newcastle University Academic Track (NUAcT) Fellow researching global biodiversity conservation and policy, based in the Modelling Evidence and Policy research group. I obtained my PhD from the University of York, where I used citizen science data to quantify and understand changes in the distribution and abundance of British butterflies in response to climate change. I then worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala. There, I projected the responses of old-forest indicator species of fungi to scenarios of forest management and climate change in Sweden. I started at Newcastle University as a post-doctoral researcher working on international species conservation science and policy. My research involved close collaboration with colleagues from IUCN, and interaction with policy makers within the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity. I then obtained a position as NUAcT fellow, promptly took six months maternity leave, and I am now pursuing independent research in biodiversity conservation and policy. My research continues to involve collaboration with IUCN and international colleagues, and has a strong emphasis on delivering science to inform policy development and implementation.

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