Life on Land
UN Sustainable Development Goal (15)
Content
Findings from a recent study, by scientists from Manchester Metropolitan University and Lancaster University, and published in Nature Communications, (2023) shed new light on the evolution of bird song. The results may explain why birdsong in most species does not constantly change but instead shows some moderate variation – balancing the reliable signal of quality against the need to avoid the female losing interest.
Boosting roadside biodiversity (2022): Manchester Metropolitan is working with National Highways, the government-owned company responsible for motorways and major A roads in England, to develop a new mapping system which will make it easier to keep track of the ecosystems bordering the country’s 4,300 miles of road network. The innovative research and development programme uses more than 20 different sets of data to understand the habitat type and its condition of National Highways’ soft estate, roughly 28,258 hectares of green land close to the roads.
Sustainability concerns in the commercial trade of ranched Ball python snakes, identified by research from Manchester Metropolitan University, has informed a European Union (EU) stop (2022) on West African imports of the species.
Our research on the dramatic decline in populations of the African Grey parrot led to the approval by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to impose a worldwide ban on international trade of the species. Professor Marsden’s recent study on the African Grey Parrot discovered declines of 90-99% in the last 25 years – the first robust evidence that trade and habitat loss were pushing the species to the verge of extinction in Ghana. Such long-term evidence of multi-decadal declines in tropical wildlife is rare and cause for real concern.
In 2022, findings from a global review, published in the journal Annual Review of Environment and Resources and led by Dr Alexander Lees, revealed billions of birds are disappearing due to humanity’s impact on Earth. There are about 11,000 species of bird spanning the globe, but the populations of half of them are falling, while just 6% are increasing. Their flight and song make them easier to study than many animals, meaning they are the best studied large group.
Manchester Met research by Dr Lees has shown birds feeding in gardens have an unfair advantage to woodland species living in more remote locations. By boosting dominant species such as great tits, human-provided food can make life harder for many woodland birds. Dr Alexander Lees is also part of an expert Science Panel convened by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), to produce a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind scientific assessment of the state of the Amazon, current trends, and recommendations for the long-term well-being of the ecosystem and its people. If implemented, the Panel’s recommendations will promote conservation as well as sustainable development of the region, with a vision of a standing forest, flowing rivers bio-economy based on local and Indigenous knowledge, technology, and innovation.
Building capacity to monitor forest resource (2021): This project aimed to quantify forest resources and their use by local communities in two protected areas in Sierra Leone. Manchester Met researchers provided training to local scientists in monitoring and analysis, including students from the University of Sierra Leone. Focus groups were carried out with local communities to find out how they valued the forests, what resources they used and their perspectives of how the forests have changed
Developing electrochemical sensors for fungal pathogens (2021-2022): This research aimed to find cheap and easy to use methods for detecting Chytrid fungi - an essential part of efforts to protect threatened amphibian species around the world. Researchers are developing an improved electrochemical sensor to detect the pathogen.
Touch sensing in mammals (2018-2024): Most mammals have whiskers - specialised touch-sensitive hairs that guide orientation, movement and foraging - but numbers, arrangements, shapes and lengths differ across species. Our research explores the effect of whisker shape on whisker mechanics using novel mathematical algorithms. We test our theories of whisker shape and positioning on robot platforms and in behaving animals - allowing us to make recommendations for tactile robot sensor design and control. This has applications for robotic exploration in environments where visual information is either unreliable or restricted, such as marine archaeology, environmental monitoring, and search and rescue operations.
Care-Peat is an Interreg project (2019-2023) with nine partners working together to reduce carbon emissions and restore the carbon storage capacity of different types of peatlands in North-West Europe to support sustainable utilisation. For example, Winmarleigh Moss SSSI, Lancashire’s largest peatland is being restored as a haven for rare wildlife and an invaluable carbon store. We are collecting research data from the site to evidence the carbon storage capacity of this carbon farming approach, and also to develop business models to demonstrate the opportunities this alternative land management offers for other areas that have peat.
Protecting Java’s threatened montane wildlife: We are gathering evidence of the unprotected wildlife populations on the Indonesian island of Java to help local conservationists secure protection for threatened species. The results are feeding into efforts by our partner, Burung Indonesia, to push for new protected areas with the Indonesian Ministry of Environment
Located in an internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot in Ecuador that is under threat from deforestation, the Timburi Cocha Research Station, jointly managed by the University, works directly with local indigenous communities to plan for the maintenance of these ecosystems. Research on rates of carbon accumulation through Amazonian reforestation enabled the Brazilian State of Pará to commit to reforesting over 5 million hectares by 2030 – almost half of the target for all of Brazil under its Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.
The work of Dr Martin Sullivan quantifies variation in carbon stocks across the tropics and their sensitivity to climate change. This has been used directly by policy makers in Gabon to leverage international investment for tropical forest conservation. Dr Sullivan has also contributed to training courses for users in South America, including a session taught to SERNANP staff (Peru’s protected areas authority) to analyse forest inventory data and track the population dynamics of ecologically important trees. He has written a statistical package with free access to allow non-expert users to analyse forest inventory data.
The Fishing for Life project worked with coastal communities in Colombia to train them in assessing their biodiversity and health of their local coastal ecosystems to promote conservation and sustainable utilisation. Workshops with local high school students trained them in the basics of local natural history to inspire them into careers in ecotourism. The project worked with over 50 local communities between 2016 and 2018.