FSC BioLinks: Biological Recording & Training Consultation

The FSC BioLinks Project was a £1.6 million biological recording and ID training project run by the Field Studies Council with a large number of project partners and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This blog is the first in a series by Keiron Brown (Biological Recording Company founder and former FSC BioLinks Project Manager) sharing the successes, challenges, lessons learned and legacies of the project.

A 10-month development phase preceded the 5-year delivery phase of the FSC BioLinks project, taking place from April 2016 to January 2017 and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It included a comprehensive consultation to determine which species groups would be included in the project and where the training would take place, gathering information from sector professionals and potential volunteers.

Consultation activities included:

  • 11 consultation workshops that engaged 85 individuals.
  • 56 stakeholder consultations with sector organisations and groups.
  • An online consultation survey that received 369 individual responses.
  • A site manager survey that received 49 responses.
Figure 1: FSC BioLinks consultation summary statistics.

A detailed summary of the consultation results was published in the FSC BioLinks Consultation Report.

Identifying focus species groups

The project remit was to identify species groups that were both:

  1. Data deficient
  2. Difficult to identify

The subject of which species groups should be prioritised was explored in the consultation workshops and the online survey.

It was established that there was a reasonable level of demand for all species groups, with most of the lowest demand groups being those that are already relatively well covered through existing training programmes (likely due to the consultee’s greater experience in recording these groups) (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Bar chart representations of the responses to the question ‘ Would you consider taking part in training to learn how to record the following groups?’. n = 369.

Workshop consultees suggested that prioritisation should be based on factors such as ecological importance, seasonality, current training provision and synergy with existing projects. 12 groups were referenced repeatedly that matched the project criteria. Online survey respondents were also asked to indicate which species groups they felt should be prioritised (see Figure 3), helping to refine the list to 10 groups.

Figure 3: Bar chart representations of the responses to the question ‘Which of the following groups do you believe should be prioritised by the BioLinks project?’. n = 326.

An analysis of current experience levels through the online survey confirmed that the groups with high priority also had fewer existing experienced recorders (see Figure 4).

Figure 5: Summary of biological recording experience of online survey respondents. n = 326.

To reduce the list of focus species groups to 8, it was decided that the project would have an invertebrate focus to reduce the cost of equipment and resources that would be needed to cover a more diverse range of focus species groups.

The following 8 focus species groups were identified for inclusion within the project:

  • Aculeate hymenoptera (bees, ants and wasps)
  • Arachnids (spiders, harvestmen and false scorpions)
  • Beetles
  • Freshwater invertebrates (riverflies and dragonflies/damselflies)
  • Non-marine molluscs (slugs and snails)
  • Soil invertebrates (earthworms, woodlice, centipedes and millipedes)
  • True bugs
  • True flies

Site managers confirmed that they were aware of protected invertebrate species on the sites that they managed, but found it difficult to to access invertebrate species records (see Figure 5). This evidenced the need for more recording of invertebrates on these sites.

Figure 5: Pie chart representations of responses to the Site Manager Survey. n = 49.

Although they were not included in the project training programme, the FSC BioLinks Consultation highlighted the need for future efforts to focus on:

  • Fungi
  • Lichens
  • Mosses
  • Grasses and Sedges

Identifying the locations

The BioLinks project would deliver training programmes within two regions (West Midlands and South East England) and aimed to facilitate identification training ‘hubs’ that would deliver two services to volunteers:

  1. Provision of a number of identification courses covering the focal taxa to allow the development of identification skills and knowledge.
  2. Support services for volunteers, such as access to microscopes, literature libraries, natural history collections and mentoring from experts or staff to build confidence and provide motivation.

The consultation identified that the project should support existing training hubs, create new training hubs and utilise residential training centres within each of the two project regions (see Table 1).

Hub typeWest Midlands regionSouth East England region
ExistingFSC Preston MontfordBENHS Dinton Pastures
EmergingFSC Bishops WoodFSC London: Bushy Park
ResidentialFSC Preston MontfordFSC Juniper Hall
Table 1: Training hubs identified for inclusion within the FSC BioLinks project.

There was interest from a wide range of external training facilities so it was also decided that these could act as outreach training facilities and host introductory courses to help recruit local volunteers and encourage them to travel to the main hubs for further training (see Figure 6 for an example of the predicted project area and hubs within the South East England region).

Figure 6: Map of South East England region illustrating the predicted influence of FSC BioLinks training locations.

Volunteer preferences

The consultation also informed who the training would be targeted at and how it would be delivered. An evidence need that was noticeably absent from the biodiversity training sector was information on learner preferences regarding the format and scheduling of training courses.

Online survey respondents showed a clear preference for training that allowed more time for knowledge and skill progression (see Figure 7), with a series of one-day courses being the most popular option and stand-alone one-day courses the least popular. This highlighted the need for a structured training programme that considered progression in a similar manner to professional CPD training programmes.

Figure 7: Bar chart representation of the responses to the question ‘What is your preferred length of training course? (select all that apply)’. n = 326.

Sector professionals often articulated an assumption that training opportunities should be delivered during the weekend in order to ensure good attendance. The online survey demonstrated that this assumption was not true (see Figure 8), with 77% displaying no preference, 15% only weekends and 4% only weekdays. This highlighted the need for a variety of scheduling options to account for differing availability between individuals.

For example, when considering individuals working full-time:

  • those working Monday to Friday may be attending as part of their CPD and may prefer weekday courses.
  • those working Monday to Friday may be attending in their own time and prefer weekends.
  • those working patterns other than Monday to Friday may prefer weekdays or weekends depending on their specific working pattern when the course is taking place and/or if they can attend as part of their CPD or not.
Figure 8: Pie chart representation of the responses to the question ‘When would you attend training courses?’. n = 326.
Download the FSC BioLinks Consultation Report

Structured training

Alongside the FSC BioLinks Consultation Report, the FSC BioLinks Development Plan For Training Provision was compiled. This plan incorporated both the preferences indicated by potential project participants and feedback from the relevant National Recording Schemes and Societies that were consulted.

A levels system for classifying the courses within the training programme was created based on the Field Identification Skills Certificate (a botanical assessment created by the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland).

Seven levels were identified: General Public (not relevant to project activities), Introductory, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Regional Expert and National Expert. Within ‘The FSC BioLinks Volunteer Learning Pathway’ these levels were described in relation to learner knowledge, skills, confidence and motivation.

Figure 9: FSC BioLinks Volunteer Learning Pathway summary.

For each of the focus species groups identified for inclusion within the project, draft structured ID training pathways were created, identifying the courses that could be included and which levels these would sit within (see Figure 10 for earthworm example). These structured training pathways were not designed to be comprehensive (particularly for large species groups such as beetles, true bugs or true flies) and it was expected that they would evolve throughout and beyond the project. Provision of the courses within the pathways was not restricted to project activities, and other training providers were welcome to incorporate these courses within their training programmes so that BioLinks could focus on filling gaps.

Figure 10: Earthworm ID Training Pathway.
Download the FSC BioLinks Development Plan For Training Provision

Project Activity Plan

The consultation findings and training plan were pulled together into a project plan for a 5-year £1.6 million project that aimed to:

  1. Record under-recorded invertebrate species throughout the project regions.
  2. Train new and existing biological recorders in the ID of difficult-to-identify invertebrate groups.
  3. Strengthen the biological recording network by:
    • producing publicly available resources.
    • recruiting new volunteers for biological recording.
    • working collaboratively and sharing lessons learned with the biodiversity sector.

The FSC BioLinks Project Activity Plan set out how this would be achieved through the delivery of a number of work packages arranged in 3 workstreams.

Download the FSC BioLinks Project Activity Plan

These would later be adapted (particularly in response to the Covid-19 pandemic) and organised into 8 workstreams (see figure 11) and will be explored in more detail in subsequent blog posts.

Figure 11: FSC BioLinks Project Workstreams

References

  1. Brown, K. D. (2018) FSC BioLinks Development Plan For Training Provision. Field Studies Council. https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/applied-ecology-resources/document/20230081529/
  2. Brown, K. D. (2017) FSC Biolinks Activity Plan. Field Studies Council. https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/applied-ecology-resources/document/20230030033/
  3. Brown, K. D. (2017) FSC BioLinks Consultation Report. Field Studies Council. https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/applied-ecology-resources/document/20203291194/

More on biological recording

Check out upcoming events on Eventbrite

Water Beetles: Recording & Atlases of Britain & Ireland

Water beetles have a long history of biological recording, with the first scheme starting in 1904 and the earliest recorders including Charles Darwin. Garth will provide a brief introduction to the history of water beetle recording, before discussing the recent publication of three volumes of the water beetle atlas for Britain and Ireland, illustrated by anecdotes about some recent records. We’ll end the talk with a call to action for the next generation of water beetle recorders and details about how to get involved.

Q&A with Prof Garth Foster

Prof Garth Foster has been studying water beetles for sixty years or more. He has co-authored books covering the atlas of water beetles in Britain and Ireland, based on over 600,000 records acquired as part of the recording schemes.

Has Riolus nitens ever been found in the Thames Estuary?

The Environment Agency has records for Oxfordshire. R. nitens likes fast-running pristine water. The site that I know best for this species is in the Wye at Symonds Yat. The water runs very fast on both sides of an island there and it is a fantastic site for this species as well as for canoeists.

Has Dytiscus circumflexus made it to north Scotland since 2000?

The northernmost record site that I’m aware of for this beetle is beside Holy Island in Northumberland. Our coverage is far from comprehensive, so it could be further north and we just don’t have records. Ivan Lang in an RSPB reserve in Wigtownshire (southwest Scotland) has been trapping it quite recently in the salt lagoons there.

Can you use pheromones to collect water beetles?

Beetles are more effectively attracted to food, such as sachets of fish-based catfood used in bottle traps. I’m not aware of pheromone traps being used for water beetles, so the answer (at least for now) is no. Konrad Dettner has pioneered to study of steroids and other complex molecules as pheromones and defensive substances in diving beetles, but I don’t think anyone has tried using them to lure water beetles.

Are there plans for a Part 3 to the RES water beetle ID series that would cover Elmidae etc.?

Yes there is. I’ve been working on this for some time, and even considered ditching it at one point. David Bilton has agreed to take it on using more photographs than drawings

Do you get records from the Moth Trap Intruders group and other iRecord activities?

I do try to keep up with iRecord, but the sheer number of records makes it difficult to keep up. There is a backlog of about 7,000 records. Kev Rowley is helping with iRecord verification. He’s told me there could be 110,000 records, which is quite significant considering we have around 800,000 records in the recording scheme in total. An issue with iRecord records is that there is a real mix of useful records and unusable records, so it takes a long time to sort through them. One of the biggest parts of the backlog is the Donacia as these are bright, metallic, pretty beetles so people assume that they are easily identified from a photograph when it’s not as simple as that.

How much evidence is there of species spreading north (possibly as a result of climate change)?

We certainly have evidence for this, but the coverage of water beetles is not as good as for popularly recorded groups such as butterflies. But we can propose something about the ways in which that northern spread is happening, for example Nartus grapii getting into the west of Scotland from Northern Ireland or the Isle of Man rather than from England. In an ideal world, we would have a set of fixed sampling points that are sampled annually in a structured manner. Unfortunately, we simply don’t have the resources to manage this. The more data that we have, the better… so please send your water beetles to the Aquatic Coleoptera Recording Scheme at latissimus@btinternet.com

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners.

More on freshwater biology

Check out the Freshwater Invertebrates collection on Eventbrite

Ant Navigation: How To Be A Champion Navigator With A Small Brain

Ant foragers are champion navigators capable of accurately repeating long journeys through complex cluttered terrain. While social cues, such as chemical trails, can help navigation in some species. Most ants are capable of individual navigation, where each forager has a remarkable sense of direction, allied to sophisticated landmark learning, such that they can navigate huge distances between their nest and foraging areas.

Q&A with Prof Paul Graham

Prof Paul Graham first became interested in Artificial Intelligence during a Psychology degree, specifically the prospect of capturing aspects of biological intelligence by mimicking insects. This led to a PhD at Sussex with Prof Tom Collett, where he studied spatial cognition in ants with the hope of understanding enough about ants to be able to build ant-inspired robots. 25 years later and he’s still studying ants and realising there is a lot to know before we can hope to build a robot half as smart as an ant. His ongoing research is interested in how neural and sensory mechanisms are tuned to an animal’s natural environment to produce their remarkable foraging behaviours.

  • Do ants have ocelli to sense light like bees?
    Some ants do, for example, the desert ants in these studies do. We don’t know for certain why these are needed as they perform similar functions to the compound eyes in ants. It’s always good to have a backup, so the information gathered via ocelli may be improving how robust the navigation system of an ant is by acting as a backup to the information gathered through the compound eye. For instance, if you cover up the compound eyes, ants can still do an approximate form of path integration (though it is much less accurate). It could be that these are a vestigial feature, or that they are still used by male ants when they fly during dispersal points in the life cycle.
  • Does the Earth’s magnetic field play a role in ant navigation?
    There is really exciting research (From Wurzberg) into how magnetic fields are used during learning walks. The sun is a better compass than the magnetic field, but an ant can’t know in advance where their nest is going to be so they need to learn about the movement of the sun for their particular location on the planet and also for the time of year when an ant becomes a forager. In the early stages of becoming a forager, ants use the magnetic field as a scaffold to try and learn how the sun moves throughout the day. So the magnetic field is important initially and is subsumed by sun compass information later.
  • Do ants use social cues, like the waggle dance in honeybees, to communicate to other members of the colony where fto go and forage?
    It is much less sophisticated than in honeybees. Ants will give social cues to go out and forage (such as sharing smells or actual food). This is more of a nudge to go out and forage, rather than giving information about which direction or location to visit.
  • If we are no better at navigation than a hamster or an ant, does this imply that, in evolutionary terms, a navigation system was optimised very early on and has not been improved much since?
    It’s important to remember that there are different types of navigation behaviour. Humans have other navigation abilities at their disposal – we can build large volumes of navigation memories and we’re good at linking other memories to places (using actions, events and emotions to a location). Path integration was probably optimised long ago, and we see it regressing and improving again in species over time according to their evolutionary needs.
  • How does light pollution impact ant navigation?
    Even nocturnal ants tend to be crepuscular, meaning they tend to need a bit of light and do most of the navigating at dawn or dusk and possibly some local foraging when it is dark. Light pollution is likely to increase the amount of time that these ants can navigate. We don’t know what the actual impact of this is though – it could benefit them as they get more foraging time or it could disadvantage them against their predators.

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners.

More on invertebrates

Check out upcoming events on Eventbrite

Autumn 2023: ID Training Courses in London

Over the spring and summer of 2023 we have been delivering a programme of Field Recorder Days to generate biological records and provide informal peer-to-peer learning opportunities for new and ‘improver’ biological recorders. This has involved building a network of specialists to help deliver some of our themed Field Recorder Days (such as our botany, earthworm and mollusc events).

We’re now partnering with the Natural History Museum, Selborne Society and Bexley Council to launch an autumn programme of 6 training courses across London that will focus on teaching species identification skills.

This trial programme will inform us if it is possible for us to plan an expanded programme in the future with our partners. We’ve tried to keep costs to an absolute minimum, and all of our courses are available for just £50 for a whole day of teaching with one our our specialist tutors.

Autumn 2023 ID Training Programme

Check out our ID training courses on Eventbrite

Meet the courses

Earthworm Identification is a 1-day microscope-based training course that teach learners with no previous experience how to use a microscope and the Key to the Earthworms of the UK & Ireland to identify preserved earthworm specimens. We don’t mess around with lengthy presentations – expect these courses to be mainly practical as you work through the specimens from our teaching collection. LAST FEW SPACES REMAINING

Beginner’s Fungi Field ID is a 1-day classroom and field-based course that introduces the identification features of fungi. Learners are taught how to find and observe fungi in the field, and how to use field guides to identify some of the more common and easier-to-identify species

Beginner’s Fern Field ID is a 1-day classroom and field-based course that will provide an introduction to the world of ferns, horsetails and clubmosses. Students will learn how to use standard botanical keys and hand lenses to develop basic fern identification skills.

Mining Bee Identification is a 1-day microscope-based training course that is aimed at those with some experience in bee identification. Students will briefly explore the ecology and biology of the genus Andrena, before using an ID key to work through a teaching collection of ‘mystery’ specimens. SOLD OUT – ADD YOUR NAME TO THE WAITING LIST

Botany 101: Using Botany Keys and Guides is a 1-day classroom and field-based course aimed at those struggling to get to grips with complex botanical guides. Learners are taught how these resources work, the terminology they need to get to know and are given some practice with botanical specimens.

Winter Plant Identification is a 1-day classroom and field-based course aimed at ‘improver’ botanists and early career ecological consultants who wish to develop their skills ‘off season’. Students will explore the vegetative characters of plant material using The Vegetative Key to the British Flora by John Poland and Eric Clement.

Check out our ID training courses on Eventbrite

Meet the tutors

Dr Abigail Lowe is a Community Science Officer at the Natural History Museum, where she leads the delivery of Nature Overheard. Her PhD research, undertaken at the National Botanic Garden of Wales and Bangor University used DNA metabarcoding to investigate pollinator foraging and led to a huge interest in biological recording and community science.

Dr Mark Spencer is an experienced and internationally respected botanist. His expertise covers many disciplines including forensic botany, the plants of North-west Europe, invasive species and the history of botanical science and fungi. He also works globally as a seasoned writer, public speaker and television presenter. As a forensic botanist, Mark has worked on various missing person enquiries, murders and other serious crimes.

Keiron Derek Brown has been involved with a range of invertebrate projects across the UK, including designing and managing the BioLinks project for the Field Studies Council. He set up the Biological Recording Company, where he highlights invertebrate research through the entoLIVE webinar/blog series and runs a wide range of invertebrate courses and events. In his spare time, he is an Entomology Chair of the London Natural History Society and is the National Recorder for Earthworms.

Check out our ID training courses on Eventbrite

Meet the partners

At the Biological Recording Company, we firmly believe in a collaborative approach to working. And it is only thanks to our training programme delivery partners that we are able to deliver the courses that have been planned and at the low cost that they are available for.

The Angela Marmont Centre for UK Nature is based at the Natural History Museum and has supported the work of the Biological Recording Company from the very beginning – hosting our invertebrate Study Days. This venue has a full complement of high-quality microscopes for students to use and will be our training hub for our microscope-based training courses.

The Selborne Society are kindly hosting field ID courses at their Perivale Wood site – a favourite London nature reserve of many naturalists due to the fact that it is relatively undisturbed and very well cared for.

Bexley Council are hosting us at their facilities at Lesenes Abbey Wood for more field ID courses. With a range of different habitats, this is a great site for seeing a range of different species within an urban environment.

Check out our ID training courses on Eventbrite

More on biological recording

Check out upcoming events on Eventbrite

The Tale of the Ivy Bee: A New British Species

This blog will provide an overview of the ecology and behaviour of one of Britain’s newest insects! The Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) is a species that was discovered in 1993 from specimens taken in Southern Europe. Since then, this charismatic and determined solitary bee has colonized the British Isles and established itself as an integral part of the UK’s fascinating pollinator fauna.

Q&A with Aaron Bhambra

Aaron Bhambra is an entomologist from the West Midlands with several years of experience as an invertebrate ecologist and environmental educator. Aaron is currently undertaking his PhD at the University of Birmingham, researching the effects of habitat fragmentation on pollinator populations.

  • Do you have any recommendations for books about the Ivy Bee or British bees in general?
    We don’t have any books specifically on the Ivy Bee that I’m aware of, though you may find information on it in books about European bees. For British bees, it really depends on what level you are wanting to go in at. The British Bees Wild ID guide by the FSC is a great starting point for absolute beginners. Bumblebees – An Introduction by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust take things a bit further. The Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain & Ireland by Steven Falk goes into more depth and has keys that can be used to reach a species identification. The Handbook of the Bees of the British Isles by George R. Else and Mike Edwards is a 2 volume set of books and is a must for those that are serious about bees and includes a lot of detail.
  • How do bee researchers investigate the nesting habits of bees?
    With great difficulty! I studied the nesting ecology of solitary bees and it required staring at sand for hours and hours! the study of behaviour is known as ethology and this includes setting up all sorts of sensors and cameras. It can get very technical.
  • Which insects were pollinating ivy before the Ivy Bee came to Britain?
    Ivy is a fantastic and important pollen source for many insects, including other bees and true flies. It would be (and still is) pollinated by many generalists. Now there is just a specialist bee that pollinates it too.
  • Are there any parasites that the Ivy Bee could spread to British species of bee, such as Varroa Mites?
    There are always risks of this occurring when a new species colonises an area. this is a natural colonisation so the risk is likely to be lower than if it had been imported by humans. There haven’t been any documented cases of this yet. A quarter of all bees in Britain are cuckoo bees that are kleptoparasites of other bee species, laying their eggs on the pollen stores of other bee species. Currently, the Ivy Bee does not have a cuckoo bee that acts as a kleptoparasite to it in Britain. What you tend to find is that as a host moves northwards, the kleptoparasites turn up later so we can expect to see any kleptoparasites of the Ivy Bee turning up over the next few decades. As for the Varroa Mite, this is a parasite of honey bees and won’t be associated with the Ivy Bee.
  • Do we think that the Ivy Bee colonised naturally by flying across the channel?
    Yes, we believe that it is a natural colonisation and that the Ivy Bee flew or was blown across the channel. It can be quite surprising how large the distances are that some insects can travel. Will Hawkes gave a fantastic entoLIVE webinar about fly migration that really puts this into perspective. With Britain, the Channel Islands can sometimes act as a stepping stone to colonisation.
  • Will the Ivy Bee wait for ivy to flower if it is late to flower because of annual differences in weather?
    If the bees have emerged and there is no ivy for them to flower, they will use other plants such as heather. The males usually emerge earlier and it can be seen feeding on other plants.

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners.

More on bees

Check out the Bees collection on Eventbrite

Camouflage in the Rockpools: How to Hide in a Variable World

For many animals camouflage is a matter of life or death. Successful concealment hinges on a close association between an animal’s appearance and the visual aspects of its surroundings. However, patches of microhabitat in nature are highly variable in terms of colour, shape, and texture. Furthermore, animals may need to move through multiple patches when seeking resources (e.g., food or mating opportunities) or the habitat itself may change around them (e.g., seasons or tidal cycles). This blog explores the strategies by which animals attempt to maximise camouflage in space and time in order to remain hidden in such a visually variable world with a focus on behaviours, colour change, and transparency in the chameleon prawn (Hippolyte varians). Additionally, Sam covers some more recent work looking at how anthropogenic changes to the natural world, such as pollution, may impact animal camouflage.

Dr Sam Green is an ecologist often found pottering around in the rockpools of Cornwall. His research interests focus on adaptive colouration, animal vision, and behaviour. In addition, he has a keen interest in restoration ecology and anthropogenic impacts on sensory ecology. He currently works in the Animal Perception and Behaviour Group at the University of Exeter (Penryn Campus) researching perceptual processing and visual acuity in freshwater fish.

Q&A with Dr Sam Green

  • What happens to the colour of the prawns at night when the threat from visual predators is likely to be diminished?
    This is actually the final chapter of my PhD and I had to leave it out of the talk due to time constraints. They take a couple of weeks to shift colour between green and red, but every night all of them turn blue within an hour. We don’t really understand why this happens, but it could be that they are more active at night and the bluey-transparent colour may give some kind of silhouette concealment. It’s important to remember that there are nocturnal predators with effective nocturnal colour vision, so colour can still be important at night.
  • What is the cue that causes a prawn to change colour?
    We haven’t figured this out yet. The colour change is quite complex and involves three different layers of chromatophores. We made plastic seaweeds that were the same colour as the real ones and the data suggested that the prawns did not change their colour to match these fake seaweeds and the behavioural choices showed no preference between the two. Therefore it doesn’t seem like colour is the cue and we think it could be something like diet. Hopefully, future research will answer this question…
  • How do the chemicals in sunscreen physiologically affect the prawns?
    My work was purely looking at the behavioural choices that the prawns made, rather than their ability to change colour. The colour change is regulated by hormones and chemicals such as oxybenzone are endocrine-disrupting chemicals, so we think it is likely that these chemicals will impact the colour change ability as well as the behavioural abilities (i.e. host seaweed preference).
  • How can people reduce our impact on the Chameleon Prawn?
    Based on my research, I think it is about considering the impact that we have when we directly interact with rockpools. So if you are covered in factor 50 sunscreen that contains oxybenzone and put your feet or hands in a rockpool, be aware that those chemicals will contaminate that habitat. Marine-friendly sunscreen does exist, but a simple solution is to cover up before entering the water and wear a long sleeve top or wetsuit!
  • Is there a reason that the green prawns are more likely to choose green seaweed than the red prawns are to choose red seaweed?
    Yes, I think so. We need to remember that animals see colour very differently. The visual systems for Pollock and Goby are sensitive to different wavelengths to us, meaning their world is a lot more brown than ours. So, the green prawns are very well camouflaged against the green background but would stand out on the red background. The red prawns would be well camouflaged against the red background (though not as strongly camouflaged as green on green) but would not stand out as much on a green background as a green prawn would on a red background. So, in summary, green prawns have the best camouflage against their matching background but stand out more on their non-matching background.

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners.

More on marine biology

Check out upcoming events on Eventbrite

Disguised By Difference: Phenotypic Polymorphism As A Means Of Camouflage

Camouflage in animals and plants is a two-way interaction: observer and observed, predator and prey. Indeed, it concerns psychology and perception as much as it does the visual characteristics of an environment. As well as simply resembling their background, organisms can deploy other perceptual tricks to avoid being noticed. This talk will explore camouflage, particularly in a group of British moths, and consider how, as well as employing straightforward background-matching colouration, a variety of different colour patterns can often evolve as a means of confounding the expectations of would-be predators. Sometimes being different is the best form of concealment.

Q&A with Dr Jamie Weir

Dr Jamie Weir is an entomologist and evolutionary biologist specialising in the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). His research interests range from taxonomy, behavioural ecology, and adaptive colouration, to phenology and dietary ecology. He recently completed his PhD thesis on phenological synchrony in spring-feeding caterpillars at the University of Edinburgh.

  • Has any research been done on how the search image concept may apply to entomologists recording insects in the field?
    As far as I’m aware there has been no research on this. It seems like a fascinating idea. I’ve noticed that when I take out friends and family looking at insects, they do start noticing things that they are surprised they have noticed previously. This includes really common species. For example, my dad was always out and about as a keen fisherman when he was younger and never noticed the common moth species that he’s started seeing since I have pointed them out to him in recent years.
  • Do we see that on the edge of species ranges, where a species is less common, there is less polymorphism?
    Again, this is another great research question that still needs to be addressed as I’m not aware of any research on this to date. When we are stating that predation is impacted by the search image concept, we’re stating that they can’t see these colour morphs when looking for prey, rather than that they are ignoring prey items. We also know that predators may avoid new (or rare) prey, and this is known as neophobia or dietary awareness. From computer model simulations, we’ve seen that polymorphism can evolve due to neophobia and a reluctance to eat novel prey so you have to find a way to disentangle these two concepts in your experimental design in order to figure out if the predator is avoiding the prey or not seeing it.
  • How would you distinguish between camouflage and mimicry?
    I think of mimicry as coming under the umbrella of camouflage and trying to resemble something. There is a big table at the end of The Colours of Animals where the author tries to categorise different kinds of colouration, for example, he lists mimicry and then breaks it down further into categories such as protective mimicry and aggressive mimicry. I think that Poulton refers to them as special protective resemblance (copying an object, such as a stick insect does with a twig – which we may also refer to as mimicry) and general protective resemblance (matching the colours or hues in the environment, such as a leopard and it’s colouration allowing it to blend into the background). I recommend a book called Dazzled and Deceived if you’re interested in learning more about the theory of camouflage.
  • Why are night-flying moths visually camouflaged if their predators, for example bats, are relying on sight to predate them?
    There are different selective pressures acting on the colouration at night and during the day. If we think about butterflies and moths, moths tend to be active at night and butterflies during the daytime. Visual predators tend to hunt during the daytime so butterflies often have active colouration defences on the upper surface of their wings (such as bright colours or startle colours that flash). Butterflies rest with their wings closed above their body and they often have duller camouflage colours on the underside of their wings. Moths tend to be active at night, so they are often remaining still during the day. To avoid being eaten during the day by visual predators, moths’ colour patterns tend to resemble the surface they rest on so that they are difficult to see. Therefore, the colour patterns in moths are often due to the selective pressures on them from daytime predation. Moths will have different defence mechanisms for dealing with nocturnal non-visual predators, for example hearing organs that enable them to hear bats.
  • If we see a species as camouflaged will another species see it clearly?
    One of the most common criticisms in the field of camouflage research is that most experiments are based on human vision, with human researchers deciding where things are placed etc. We know that birds have different vision from humans and are able to see parts of the spectrum that we can’t. Camouflage by prey and detection by visual predators is an evolutionary arms race and constantly adapting. With the search image concept, a predator is evolving to better find well-camouflaged prey. This then triggers selective pressure in the prey species for novelty to escape the search image. The novel colour morphs can’t be too different or the prey would be too distinctive, but they need to be different enough to avoid the search image abilities of the predator. So there are selective pressures on the prey to be both well camouflaged and polymorphism to avoid the predator search image ability.
  • Was there variation between the colour morphs in your study with the artificial moths?
    The different colour morphs all showed the same trend, with individuals becoming more prone to predation if their colour morph was more common. However, the steepness of the curve varied by colour morph, with those colour morphs that were least like their background gaining less of an advantage when rare – they were benefiting from not being picked up by the search image concept, but losing out by not being as well camouflaged against the background. There is a balance between being well camouflaged and evading the search image.

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners.

More on invertebrates

Check out upcoming events on Eventbrite

Mass Marine Die-offs: Searching for the Cause of These Events in North East England

A series of mass marine mortality events occurred along the northeast coast in late 2021, with populations of crabs and lobsters particularly badly affected. The cause of the deaths is highly contested, with the main explanations centred on harmful algal blooms or industrial pollutants. What is clear is that the ecosystem sustained enormous damage with some populations potentially facing localised extinctions. This talk will set out the background to the mass mortalities and will explore the science behind the investigation.

Dr Gary Caldwell is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Marine Biology at Newcastle University. His research interests include marine ecotoxicology and marine poisons, venoms and toxins.

Q&A with Dr Gary Caldwell

  • Is it possible to test the crab and lobster carcasses for contaminants?
    It is possible to test the carcasses for a lot of the pollutants, such as metals and organic pollutants (such as PCBs). The Environment Agency have tested for those and one of the things that I’ll be doing as part of this process is going back to the original EA data reports and looking at what concentrations were detected in the crabs and lobsters for the regional die-off and feeding this information into our machine learning model. We can use this to look at both the risk to the marine organism and also the potential impact on people as well. Pyridine is more problematic to work with as it disappears very quickly from the environment, so the longer it is before samples are tested the harder it is to detect it due to it breaking down. We are being sent the original marine samples by Cefas and they should be arriving in my lab next week, where we will analyse them. We’ll be looking for different pathogens as well.
  • Do we know what the impact is on people that may have consumed contaminated seafood?
    I haven’t heard of any reports of people being impacted from eating things. As with anything that is toxic, it depends on the levels consumed so eating one or two contaminated crab is unlikely to cause you any great amount of harm. However, these chemicals can accumulate in our body, particularly the fat tissue, so if somebody was consuming contaminated seafood as a large component of their diet on a regular basis our body would act as a battery soaking up these toxins and would be of particular concern – particularly those that are pregnant or trying to get pregnant. I have heard of cases from people that have been swimming or surfing in the area that have developed skin rashes and been contracting infections that they never had before. So we need to consider other risks and impacts on humans aside from just the consumption of contaminated seafood.
  • Has an impact been observed on any of the natural predators of the marine life that was killed in the die-off event?
    We have but getting the data is difficult. There is a seal colony local within the die-off zone and it has always been a colony under stress. Over the past few years, we have seen the reproductive fitness of this colony decline quite a lot. The adults are breeding, but the majority of the pups are badly malnourished and in very bad condition – with most of the pups needing to be put down for welfare reasons. There is a distinct loss in population fitness but there has been no toxicology report and nobody has measured the pollutants. Getting robust data is difficult as those tasked with collecting this data scientifically have connections to a lot of the industry on the river. It’s quite hard to get the data from them in a form that you can really trust. The anecdotal reports we are getting from those involved in seal rescue and care are that the pups are in really poor shape. Without more data, we can’t accurately comment on what is causing this, but it is likely a combination of both exposure to contaminants and reduced prey availability.
  • Are there any broad biodiversity surveys that also evidence the impact of the die-off events?
    Cefas do a little bit, but the most consistent dataset that we have is the MarClim Project work undertaken by Liverpool Univerity and Newcastle University mentioned in the talk. The North East is a bit of a forgotten part of the country – both in terms of biodiversity monitoring and the instrumentation that is put out to sea to monitor pollution events. There is a real lack of investment. Perhaps the high-profile nature of these events will incentivise more investment in the future as we need these long-term datasets to get a better understanding of our marine systems. There will be some big projects to restore habitat and reintroduce species (such as the lobsters) and it is vital that these are paired with monitoring the success and impact of these conservation initiatives.

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners.

More on marine biology

Check out upcoming events on Eventbrite

Streams To Spiders: How Aquatic Insects Interconnect Our Ecosystems

Freshwaters and forests might seem like definitively separate habitats, but they are in fact tightly interconnected by insects. These insects, such as mayflies, dragonflies and mosquitoes, develop in water but emerge onto land as winged adults, with a powerful impact on the surrounding landscape. Some feed birds, bats, lizards and spiders, others transfer microplastics and heavy metals out of rivers and others form swarms so large they are picked up by weather satellites. This talk delves into how these largely overlooked insects create an interconnected world in ways we don’t always expect.

Q&A with Liam Nash

Liam Nash is a 4th-year NERC PhD student primarily based at Queen Mary, University of London in collaboration with ZSL and the University of Campinas. He specialises in community and conservation ecology and has worked with all kinds of invertebrates in Brazil and across the UK.

  • Late and reduced emergences of mayflies have been observed in my area (northeast Wales) but caddisflies attracted to my light trap don’t show the same. Have you suggestions about why this might be?
    My research has looked at things from a broad perspective and looking at overall patterns, rather than focusing on individual species or groups. There could be a wide range of triggers that are impacting emergence times, and these will vary between groups (such as mayflies and caddisflies) and even between species. If we take changing climate as an example, and the impacts that this has on temperature – this could impact different species depending on the specific trigger for emergence for a given species. In some species, emergence may be triggered by the winter temperature, while others may be triggered by the spring temperature. In others still, it could be that reaching a specific temperature is a trigger or a sustained period above a temperature. Climate change affects each of these temperature variables in different ways. So, in summary, the only way to answer your question with confidence would be to study the species (or species groups) present in that area to better understand the triggers for emergence and how they might be changing over time.
  • Did you undertake canopy sampling within your research?
    Unfortunately, the answer is no. We focused on ground-level surveys of the vegetation and looked at the lateral movement/impact of freshwater insects from the stream into the forest. Insects do, obviously, also travel upwards too and it would have been great to include surveying at different heights within the forest, but we were limited by what could be achieved within the time frame and resources that were available. Canopy surveying can be complex and would have required more equipment, making it too expensive for us to undertake.
  • Do you think that humidity may have an influence on insect distance away from water?
    This is something that was simply out of scope for my research project. I’m aware that humidity can impact the flying ability of some insect groups so it is important, and humidity may factor into the emergence times of some species.
  • Did you notice if the spiders that you found were mostly from a particular group?
    We looked at the overall spider community, rather than breaking it down into families or species, so I can’t give you a definitive answer to this question. Again, it would have been great to look at this in more detail if we had more capacity. However, from my own personal observations, I can say anecdotally that some of the dominant groups in the tropics in our samples were sac spiders, tangle-web and jumping spiders. The long-jawed orb weavers are known to be specialists of aquatic prey so this was not necessarily what you’d expect so near water. In the UK, I was surprised at how spread out throughout the transects these specialist spiders were – rather than being concentrated near the water. I wonder if this could be to do with the fact that the UK forests were more open and managed.
  • Did you consider eutrophication and the oxygen levels within the streams?
    We didn’t measure oxygen levels within any of the streams, but we know that this can be important so we tried to standardise this variable by only using streams that were in some kind of protected area, in the hope that these would be less likely to suffer from eutrophication.

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners.

More on freshwater biology

Check out the Freshwater Invertebrates collection on Eventbrite

Rarities in Arachnology: Finding and Recording Rare Spiders in Britain

It’s easy to find and record common spiders in Britain. However, finding rare ones is obviously much harder. Richard takes us on a virtual mission to locate interesting species, highlighting tips and methods which may apply to other invertebrate groups too.

Richard Gallon is the Spider Recording Scheme Organiser for the British Arachnological Society. He has undertaken ecological surveys for many rare British spiders over the years and has been interested in them since childhood.

Q&A with Richard Gallon

  • How are you identifying these spiders in the field?
    Some ID can be done in the field and you start to notice if things look different from the species that you are used to seeing more regularly. Photographs can be helpful but microscopy is often needed to confirm the species so you need to take specimens as it can be tricky to see the very small morphological features that you need to identify them. Some spiders even require dissection to get an accurate species ID. Furthermore, some ID features are only really visible once they are preserved and are pretty much impossible to see on the live specimen.
  • Will taking specimens of spiders that are rare have any negative impact on the population?
    It’s difficult to explain rarity – what do we mean by rare? We have to judge how rare a species is based on the data that we have. Some of these “rare” spiders are really tricky to find at sites where they occur because the microhabitats that they inhabit are difficult to sample. When spiders are considered rare nationally, they often still have healthy populations locally at the sites they are present and taking a small number of specimens to identify them won’t have a significant impact on the population. You would not target the same site repeatedly or take lots of specimens of the things that look the same. Vacuum sampling is good for this as you sort through the catch live and only take the specimens you need to identify from the catch. Recording rare spiders is the only way to gather the data we need to get them protected. the real threat to spiders is habitat degradation – not spider recorders! Where we have gathered sufficient data to get a rare spider protected, such as with the Fen Raft Spider (Dolomedes plantarius) and the Ladybird Spider (Eresus sandaliatus), you would only be able to collect these if you were granted a licence.
  • Are rarities only rarities because the species are difficult to identify?
    Yes and no. Not all rare spiders are hard to identify. For example, Rhysodromus fallax is a decent size and its markings are fairly distinctive. Other “rare” species are really tricky to identify, so it may only be advanced spider recorders that are ever going to report them. There are one or two spiders that are frequently misidentified, for example where dissection is required, and common species have been misidentified as the rarity – making the rare species appear more common than it is. I’ve seen cases where 90% of the specimens for a species in museum collections have been misidentified.
  • How do you ensure that the ecological and behavioural notes that you’ve made are not lost and included in future guides?
    the surveys that I’ve conducted will all result in reports. The work on Rhysodromus fallax was published in a report by the Tanyptera Trust. The other reports will be publicly available through Natural Resources Wales in the future. They are not quite ready yet, but when they are ready we’ll add them to the list of links in this blog. The British Arachnological Society also has a wealth of information on our website for members, including species pages. We have a lot of species to cover but the pages will be updated in due course with any relevant information that I’ve picked up during my survey work.
  • Do you ever do sweep netting?
    I do but I don’t tend to find many rarities through this method. Sweep netting involves using a net to sweep vegetation to collect any spiders you would find living on the vegetation. When you are looking for spiders that inhabit more unusual habitats on the ground, you need a vacuum sampler to find them – and this is often where the rarities are as they are more difficult to survey for.
  • What sparked your interest in spiders?
    I’ve been fascinated by spiders since I was a kid. I grew up in South Africa and I’d see huge spiders wandering into the house. All kids start off with an interest in invertebrates, I just never grew up out of it!

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners.

More on biological recording

Check out upcoming events on Eventbrite