Recording nature where it matters
There has never been a more urgent need to build an accurate picture of the natural world around us.
The Dataset’s Dream is in part inspired by DECIDE, a new web tool developed by scientists at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in partnership with Butterfly Conservation and six other organisations in response to a pressing problem.
Existing butterfly and moth records typically come from nature reserves or areas near to where recorders live, leaving other parts of the country under-recorded. DECIDE ‘nudges’ citizen scientists to step off the beaten track and record in areas where we currently have very little data by highlighting the places where records are most needed.
Biodiversity is essential for human life and yet a recent report has set out a stark picture of the UK as one of the most biodiversity depleted countries in the world. Over the past fifty years, three-quarters of butterflies have declined and the abundance of the larger moths has declined by 33%, primarily due to habitat loss and changes in land use. Accurate data, recorded by volunteers, is crucial for decision-making, enabling us to identify locations that are particularly rich in biodiversity or are home to threatened species.
[Pictured below: Scientists Dr Michael Pocock and Dr Tom August with artist Bryony Benge-Abbott at The JASMIN project, UKRI STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, the UK's data analysis facility for environmental science]
About The DECIDE Project
The DECIDE Project is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation, through the Constructing a Digital Environment Strategic Priorities Fund. It is focused on generating high-quality, detailed information on biodiversity through citizen science.
The UK’s community of tens of thousands of volunteer wildlife recorders make irreplaceable, vital contributions to understanding the national state of biodiversity. But there are gaps in recording, at national and at local scales, and we need high-quality, fine-scale information to make good decisions for nature and the benefits that nature gives us. Where can people visit to make records that will be most informative?
The DECIDE Project aims to collect new data to improve biodiversity models for decision-making by putting recorders’ motivations at the heart of the process. Focusing initially on butterflies, moths and grasshoppers, this pioneering project aims to map 1,000 new species at fine-resolution and to improve these models through the records submitted by Recorders. Recorders will be guided where and when to make records in their region, so that their records can optimally improve the species maps - a process called ‘adaptive sampling’.
Ultimately, this information will feed into the development of an intuitive system that provides volunteer Recorders with automated, customised recommendations on when and where to look out for insect species, based on a combination of each person’s particular recording interests and local places where data is most needed.
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DECIDE is a multi-partner project led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology with University of York, Open University, University of Warwick, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Butterfly Conservation, North & East Yorkshire Environmental Records Centre and Greenspace Information for Greater London.
The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is an independent not-for-profit research institute, with a long history of investigating, monitoring and modelling environmental change. UKCEH scientists provide the data and insights that researchers, governments and businesses need to create a productive, resilient and healthy environment.
“For us, collaborating with artists was valuable to open new ways of engaging with people about our science, but the process of collaboration also gave us, as scientists on the project, new insights into our work. We’re excited to see the ways in which audiences will reflect on their relationship with nature and the value of digital biodiversity data by engaging with The Dataset’s Dream.”
