The British Ecological Society and Amateur Entomologist’s Society organised a highly informative one day conference at the end of October. A 200+ audience of passionate entomologists, land managers, urban ecologists and scientists enjoyed presentations that packed as much scientific understanding as they did lively discussion and humour!
Of particular interest to ecology surveying, is the work being undertaken by Thom Dallimore (Edge Hill University), including the creation of a new methodology for the recording of meso-fauna (groups of tiny arthropods that live in the soil). Notably these species function on scales that are difficult to comprehend from general human perception, but are important for ecosystem heath and function (Soil has been coined –“the poor man’s rainforest”). As such the methodology being trialled attempts to change the recording process to provide land managers with information that is more relevant to conservation management practices.
Other highlights of the conference included: the unveiling of Bug Life’s ‘B-line for London’; Natural England’s ‘Mosaic Approach’ to invertebrate conservation and the important role un-surfaced path-ways provide to invertebrate life-cycles within semi-natural sites.
