Treating gaps and biases in biodiversity data as a missing data problem

The value of data collected by volunteers is inestimable and they have been used in myriad ways to address many pressing conservation problems. One big benefit is that much more data can be collected than could ever be managed if only paid staff were relied upon. This means that the data gathered can cover much larger areas and be more representative of the country as a whole.

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Supplementary bird feeding as an overlooked contribution to local phosphorus cycles.

Putting out food for wild birds at garden feeding stations is a common practice, and one of a number of different forms of providing supplementary food to free-living birds. Another is the provision of grain and growers pellets by game managers to support Pheasants and other gamebirds post release. The act of putting out supplementary food may have wider effects on our ecosystems because of the nutrients present in the food, as this piece of research reveals.

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The value of seabird foraging ranges as a tool to investigate the impact of offshore wind farms

A study led by BTO uses data from GPS tracking and other research to identify the likelihood of seabirds of 27 species interacting with areas off sea earmarked for 41 new offshore wind farms around the UK.

Population and distribution change of Eurasian Woodcocks Scolopax rusticola breeding in the UK: results from the 2023 ‘Breeding Woodcock Survey’

Although the Woodcock is one of the world’s most abundant wading birds, Britain’s resident population has been declining since at least the end of the 1960s. Periodic Woodcock surveys began in 2003 and have been repeated in 2013 and 2023. This paper reports on the latest of these surveys.

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