Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
2020 vision – emerging needs and priorities
Ed Mackey
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Scottish Natural Heritage
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
- 2010 biodiversity target has not been met
- pressures on biodiversity continue to increase
- biodiversity continues to decline
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
threatened species in the EU
%
- marine mammals
- amphibians
- reptiles
- dragonflies
- terrestrial mammals
- birds
- butterflies
25
22
21
16
15
12
7
- most ecosystem services are degraded
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
CONCLUSION 1
Think global – act local
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
what is the evidence?
is it accessible to those who need it?
what influence does it have?
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
what is the evidence?
is it accessible to those who need it?
what influence does it have?
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
Habitats Directive
condition (%)
- species
- habitat
favourable
unfavourable
unknown
17
17
52
65
31
18
- extent / abundance
- range
CONCLUSION 2
- condition
Directives - TOP PRIORITY
- Habitats
- threat
- Birds
- prospects
- Water Framework
- Marine Strategy Framework
- INSPIRE
89 species
77 habitats
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
CONCLUSION 3
- iRecord
- EPS incidental capture & kill
- INNS
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
CONCLUSION 4
open & transparent
all species data should be made
accessible through NBN
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
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Great Crested Newt
CONCLUSION 5
excellent mapping
more intuitive access
Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
Great Crested Newt
edge of range
poorly represented
by survey
environmental DNA
Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
- rapidly developing area of survey work for freshwater organisms
- detection of cryptic or hard to survey groups
- proven for amphibians, fish, invertebrates and plants
Great Crested Newt
- European protected species … licencing
- edge of range in Scotland – poorly represented by traditional survey
Spygen,
Amphibian and Reptile
Conservation
Durrell Institute of
Conservation and Ecology
- first project to assess eDNA throughout the national range of a species
- eDNA more effective than traditional survey methods
- faster, requires less skill & low error rate
- national surveillance survey feasible
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- but … volunteers do pond surveys because they enjoy seeing amphibians!
Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
DNA fingerprinting
- compare with reference populations from Central Scotland
- great crested newt is native to the Scottish Highlands
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
what is the evidence?
is it accessible to those who need it?
what influence does it have?
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
CONCLUSION 6
Filtering
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
Scottish Natural Heritage
1 Taxonomy
2 Designation – inc EPS incidental capture & kill
3 Date - period and trends (BRC BRAIn)
4 Dataset
* RDP targeting & HNV
* ecosystem health / services / pollinators / INNS
* indicator categories
* recognition of natural heritage importance
5 Geography
* country
* local authority – current & historic
* economic / cultural zones (LFA / Crofting Counties)
* WFD River Basin MPA & catchment
* upland / marginal upland / lowland
* natural heritage futures / landscape character zones
* protected area & project area (e.g. CSGN / LUS pilot)
* SIACS
* habitat / ecosystem
* user specified
6 Analysis – e.g. SpotFire
* statistical profile - summary stats & graphics
Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
64% of land
13% secured by tenure
18% designated for nature
24% +’ve management agreement
43% planning policy
CONCLUSION 7
integrated spatial analysis
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
what is the evidence?
is it accessible to those who need it?
what influence does it have?
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
Treats to the UK’s wildlife are many and
varied …
Our ability to monitor the state of nature,
and respond with appropriate
conservation action, is hampered by a
lack of knowledge on the trends of most
of the UK’s plant and animal species
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
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Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
CONCLUSION 8
BRC Biological Recording, Analysis and
Interpretation BRAIn
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HedgerowDualchas
– landscape
Nàdair na h-Alba character
Scottish Natural Heritage
CONCLUSION 9
mapping of structural features in the landscape – HNV Type II
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EUNIS
– Natural
Annex
I mapping
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
Scottish
Heritage
CONCLUSION 10
open access for pan-European interoperability (INSPIRE)
EUNIS – Annex I mapping
species records
NVC
upland habitat survey
upland extent
arable
coniferous woodland
sub-urban
urban
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
Summing-up
what is the evidence?
is it accessible to those who need it?
what influence does it have?
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Scottish Natural Heritage
Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba
CONCLUSIONS
1 Global – local
2 Directives
3 EPS incidental capture & kill / INNS
4 All species data on NBN
5 Intuitive access to NBN map
6 Filtering – functionality
7 Integrated spatial analysis
8 BRC Biological Recording, Analysis & Interpretation
9 Mapping – structural features
10 Mapping EUNIS – Annex I
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Scotland’s Biodiversity Information Forum
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the end