The science behind Nature Park habitat mapping
A-Level student Christopher Preston recently undertook a week of work experience at the Natural History Museum. He interviewed Victoria Burton, a post-doctoral researcher on the Nature Park programme in order to find more about the science behind habitat mapping.
The National Education Nature Park is a big community science project. What does that mean and what does that involve?
Community science is where community scientists (anyone at all, who doesn’t do science as their job) and scientists, like myself, work together to produce real scientific research. Community scientists can contribute to absolutely any part of the research process, by sharing local knowledge of their area, expertise about what are the important questions to ask, and how research findings could be actioned in day-to-day life. They also make it possible to collect large datasets, from huge geographic areas, because they account for so many more boots on the ground than scientists. In the Nature Park, children and young people are becoming community scientists by collecting data about habitats and biodiversity, making decisions about what changes could increase nature on their site, implementing those changes and then continuing to monitor the biodiversity to measure the impact. At the Museum, our role as scientists is to then analyse all the data and write scientific papers from it, to share the Nature Park’s findings with the wider world.
What is the purpose of the research? What are you trying to find out?
Well, there are big main questions, and some smaller ones too! But the key things we want to find out are where school boundaries are, what habitats are present and what types of things are living in these schools. We are also trying to find out about the environmental health of schools, by using this habitat and species information collected by children and young people. We could look at satellite images, but they can’t tell us detail about the biodiversity, like what trees are present. The only way we can get this information is by conducting research on the ground, through community science activities like the habitat mapping activities and surveys like the Pollinator Count, that Nature Park students are carrying out.
What do you hope to achieve through this research? What is the intended impact?
One of the key aims of the National Education Nature Park is to improve biodiversity. Using the data collected by children and young people we can find out what is living at schools, and what habitats (and therefore potential for wildlife) are present, to look for opportunities to boost nature.
We are also using data from a big Museum project called PREDICTS to help us. PREDICTS collects data from different scientific studies that compare biodiversity across different types of land, for example, what lives and grows in a concrete area compared to a field? Once we know what different habitat types are present at schools, we can use PREDICTS data to estimate how much biodiversity there is at individual schools, colleges and nurseries and across the whole Nature Park.
The intended impact is that schools can then change some aspects of their school grounds, to improve the habitats they have, and hopefully boost biodiversity!
Once all the data has been collected and sent in, what happens next?
Before all the data has even been collected, we can start an analysis using PREDICTS data to give an estimate of the biodiversity at schools. Later, we can check if these estimates are correct using the wildlife data collected by the schools, in activities such as the Pollinator Count. We can also compare biodiversity data collected in habitats before and after a school makes a change, such as adding more bushes or wildflowers, to determine the impact of the enhancement. We are also using satellite data to look at other aspects of school grounds, such as the amount of green space available.
How do you account for geographical differences in the data, and ensure that a fair test has been carried out?
This is quite a large challenge we face. To solve geographic imbalances in where we get results from, we can weight the data using statistics, so that a fair comparison can be made. The solution to ensuring a fair test relies on how the methods of the research are designed: we need to measure the effort community scientists make in collecting the data by recording the time spent making observations, the amount of area surveyed and other variables. Ultimately, if the methods are correctly followed, a fair test will have been conducted.
How do you identify and deal with anomalies?
The best way for us to identify anomalies is to plot all the data on a graph, looking for points that don’t line up with the general trends. These anomalies must then be investigated, to understand why this data is different; is it because of human error, or a genuine piece of data that doesn't fit the trend? It's important not to remove anomalous data just because it is odd – you must understand the reasons behind it. Then, the analysis can be tested with and without the anomalous data, and if they both give similar results meaning the anomalies don't affect the analysis, then they are kept in.
What can teachers do to ensure data collected is of high quality?
All of our resources are designed to make sure that everyone can have a go at this, and that their results will contribute to the research! Some top tips for teachers are to make sure to read the methods through before the lesson, to help familiarise and be confident with what the procedure is. When you carry out the research, try to stick to the protocol as much as possible, as the method is specifically designed to account for variability in community data and ensure data collected is useful and high quality. Even if teachers feel that their data might be of poor quality, we want them to send it in, as we can account for any error. Also, even if there are no species or habitats present that you were looking for, send it in – this data is just as important!
Get started with collecting data from your site
Start mapping out the habitats on your school, nursery or college site. Doing this means you’ll be able to track the gains you achieve for nature as you progress through the Nature Park programme, and allows you to collaborate with Nature Park scientists like Victoria on groundbreaking research into nature recovery!