Ever wondered who plants the wildflowers on campus? Or how many species you might spot on a walk around Glasgow? In this episode, Naturally Speaking’s Emma Plant and Alexa Roditi interview not one, but three guests in a roundtable discussion about wildlife on campus. Agnes Berner, the biodiversity coordinator of Glasgow University’s Environmental Sustainability Team (GUEST), and Dr Lydia Bach tell us all about the different initiatives going on across the university to promote biodiversity, and how staff and students can do their own bit to help out. Dr Stewart White, Chair of the Biodiversity Working Group, also joins us to discuss why these initiatives are so important from a research perspective. It turns out there are lots of interesting creatures and critters to be found if you know where to look – check out some of the projects and links below if you want to add your own sightings to the effort and help promote biodiversity on campus.
GUEST is a team of 12 students striving to improve the sustainability of the University by focusing on 8 different aspects, including biodiversity. GUEST continually have exciting new projects which are all posted on their Facebook page, alternatively you can email Agnes for more information.
iNaturalist is an app that can be used to record species you see when out and about. GUEST have two projects on iNaturalist which challenge you to record as many species on the University campus as possible. Projects have been set up for the separate campuses:
The Species storymaps is an interactive map that tells the histories of species that can be found on campus. The interactive map is a great way to find out more about the biodiversity on campus and how it has changed over time!
The Biodiversity Working Group, chaired by Dr Stewart White, meets on a monthly basis and anyone with a passion for biodiversity is encouraged to join.
Credits
Feature image: Original artwork courtesy of Eleni Christoforou, 2021©
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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod[CC BY 3.0]