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Research Title
Ecological baselines, biodiversity conservation and human-wildlife co-existence 鈥� opportunities and insights from natural history collections
- Research Interests
Anthropogenic pressures are causing a global biodiversity crisis, with 75% of the planet鈥檚 terrestrial and 66% of its marine environments 鈥渟everely altered鈥� by human activity (IPBES, 2019), and with humanity鈥檚 extraction of environmental resources outweighing nature鈥檚 capacity to provide them (Dasgupta, 2021). Biodiversity is critical for humanity鈥檚 survival, but we are squeezing it out 鈥� at our peril (Whitmee et al., 2015; Pievani, 2014). We need to urgently transform our relationships and interactions with the natural world that supports us (D铆az et al., 2019), moving towards a sustainable co-existence that enables us all to thrive.听
We also face the challenge of 鈥榮hifting baseline鈥�- syndrome 鈥� shifting perceptions of what constitutes 鈥榩ristine鈥� environmental conditions linked to short human life expectancies and historic knowledge gaps (Pauly, 1995; Papworth et al., 2009). We need long-term information on species, ecological settings and human-wildlife interactions as context and reference to assess change, and to understand and support effective conservation and co-existence. 听Natural history collections offer an unparalleled yet under-utilised archive of biological data, with opportunities to provide insights into biodiversity, ecology, conservation and human-wildlife coexistence, potentially before the acceleration of human impacts (Johnson et al., 2011; Brummitt et al., 2015; Bartomeus et al., 2019; Lughadha et al., 2019; Meineke et al., 2019; Ewers-Saucedo et al., 2021). 听This project will investigate the opportunities and challenges of natural history collections to provide insights into historical information and timelines on biodiversity and human-wildlife interactions and coexistence, focusing on marine vertebrates. Collection data will then be combined with additional, modern and historical sources (e.g. local ecological knowledge) for a holistic approach to generating knowledge. Finally, the project will explore links between these results and human and environmental factors to inform biodiversity conservation and restoration aims and approaches. 听The context and reliability of this approach will also be considered.听
- Funding
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