Small-scale wildlife surveys can reveal the health of entire ecosystems, new research shows.
Small-scale wildlife surveys can reveal the health of entire ecosystems, new research shows.
Monitoring wildlife is one of the most costly and difficult aspects of conservation, and often depends on long-term observations in individual species.
But the study reveals a new and effective method.
It focusses on “interactions” between species, such as insects pollinating flowers or birds feeding on plants.
The results show that a small snapshot of interactions is a reliable indicator of the health of an entire community of species. Specifically, the study looked at whether these communities are “persistent” or not – meaning whether all species are fine or if any are declining to extinction.
Read more at University of Exeter
Image: Researchers collecting data on plant-pollinator interaction networks in the Seychelles (Credit: Unviersity of Exeter)
