BSc Geography Insights: Conserving biodiversity in a changing world

For centuries, the conservation of threatened species and habitats was focused on often quite small protected areas set aside for that specific reason, while large parts of the remaining landscape were transformed into cultural landscapes used for intensive agriculture, forest plantations or human infrastructure. Even where protected areas were strictly shielded from human influences – an approach sometimes framed as ‘fortress conservation’ that regularly disregards traditions and established sustainable resource use of local populations, biodiversity outcomes have been mixed at best, with global biodiversity continuing on a steep decline. 

This decline is further exacerbated by anthropogenic climate change, with threatened species being effectively caught in protected areas that no longer provide ideal habitat conditions for these species. A much more holistic approach to conserve the global species pool is therefore urgently required, combining areas prioritised for species and habitat protection with land-use patterns across entire landscapes that balance the needs of humans and the other species on our planet.

Research conducted by UCL researchers in collaboration with colleagues from other UK and Chinese universities is establishing how agricultural practices and land-use patterns can be adapted to ensure a sustainable production of high quality food with harbouring a large number of species that in turn support a high level of ‘ecosystem services’, services that directly or indirectly benefit humans, like water retention, erosion control, crop pollination or biological pest control. Outcomes demonstrate that patches of specific semi-natural habitats like species-rich grassland play a crucial role in enhancing not only landscape connectivity, but also the size of the species pool in agricultural landscapes and the ecosystem services these species provide. 

In the second-year module Ecological Patterns and Processes, you will learn more about conservation approaches for our rapidly changing planet, including in response to climate and land-use change. You will also have the opportunity to become familiar with conservation techniques, and with ways to record especially the vegetation of threatened heathland habitats in lowland England during a field class to Thursley Common.