Cutting-edge tech guides nature restoration in the nation’s forests

Cutting-edge tech guides nature restoration in the nation’s forests

• Bioacoustic listening devices and environmental DNA samples give Forestry England the best ever data on wildlife species.

• ‘Weather stations’ for nature will provide continuous information on conservation activities in years ahead.

Monday 4 November 2024

Crucial information on the condition of nature and the variety of wildlife in the nation’s forests is being gathered at a speed and level of detail never before available thanks to innovative biodiversity monitoring techniques being rolled out.

Working with partners NatureMetrics and AgriSound, Forestry England is collecting eDNA samples of soil, water and air from across some of the 1,500 forests and woodlands in their care, and in March began installing 130 bioacoustic listening devices in four wild areas in the nation’s forests, to track the presence of winged insects.

Already these biodiversity monitoring techniques are giving Forestry England ecologists enormous amounts of data revealing previously unknown species and helping them plan their actions to restore nature. Across 21 forests, 656 eDNA soil samples taken over four months showed the presence of more than 5,000 unique species of fungi, more than have ever been discovered in the nation’s forests in the last hundred years using traditional sampling methods, alongside a further 1,000 species of invertebrates. The glistening waxcap is just one example of the thousands of fungi newly discovered. This endangered species is on the IUCN Red List and its presence indicates a species-rich grassland habitat which can support rare wildlife.

The detailed baseline is a new reference point for measuring how effective nature restoration activities are in the forests and woodlands Forestry England cares for. Biotechnology company NatureMetrics have converted the large species lists discovered through eDNA monitoring into accessible, robust data, giving Forestry England’s teams a new ability to track these biodiversity metrics over time and space.

As well as gathering data through eDNA, Forestry England is working with agriculture technology company, AgriSound, who have developed specific algorithms that will track and report on pollinator activity via its bioacoustic monitoring device ‘Polly’. 
These Polly monitoring devices are producing real-time data on the presence of the common bumblebee in four wild areas in the nation’s forests, Neroche in Somerset, Wareham in Dorset, Newtondale in North Yorkshire and Kielder Forest in Northumberland. AgriSound’s Polly monitoring devices’ algorithms enable them to track bees’ flight by recognising wingbeat sounds and vibration, showing when they are present and their activity levels.

Data so far from the four Forestry England wild areas suggests that while Polly devices have been present, Neroche has shown greatest levels of pollinator activity, followed closely by Kielder, Wareham and Newtondale.

Acoustic sensors are also being used to detect the presence and behaviour of bats across the wild areas, with 87 installed over the last two years in a survey partnership with the Bat Conservation Trust. Nine species of bat have been discovered across the four wild areas with AI being used to rapidly process and classify the sound data.

Forestry England is taking a new approach to forestry in these wild areas, putting landscape-scale nature restoration at the forefront. The eDNA information and bioacoustic data on the bumblebee and bat populations present in each is a valuable piece of the jigsaw the teams will use to plan, measure and change their activities. Landscape management changes which respond to the data findings may include bringing in naturalistic grazing with low density cattle herds to improve soil health, rewiggling streams to create larger wetland habitats, and changing the tree species diversity and structure in woodland areas.

Andrew Stringer, Forestry England Head of Environment and Nature Recovery, said:

The data we now have about the fungi and invertebrate species present in the nation’s forests is mind-blowing and these new techniques are a step-change in how we monitor biodiversity. Until now, directly monitoring species has been extremely difficult and time-consuming and like others working to restore nature, we’ve had to rely on proxies such as the condition of a habitat, or the presence of deadwood in a forest landscape to infer the presence of specific species.

With eDNA and bioacoustics, the guesswork and knowledge gaps are gone. We now know exactly which fungi and invertebrates are there in the nation’s forests which cover more than 250,000 hectares of land. And crucially, we know which of the many ecological functions they are performing, and which are absent. We have a baseline which will guide all our nature restoration work, and the future data will show what is working and what we need to change.

Given that since 1919 we’ve discovered a total of 18,000 species in the nation’s forests, I think these cutting-edge methods are going to discover many more and we’ll smash through this total very soon. These emerging technologies mean soon we’ll have ‘weather stations for nature’ throughout the nation’s forests telling us what is happening to nature at a detail we’ve never had before. And all of the data we collect will be available to everyone, for free.

Some of the eDNA soil samples were taken from sites where Forestry England is creating new woodlands as part of its work expanding the nation’s forests by planting at least 2,000 hectares of high quality, mixed broadleaf and conifer woodland by 2026. The eDNA data showed that important ectomycorrhizal fungi, which provide trees with nutrients and water and are vital for a thriving woodland, are missing. Teams planting new woodlands are now planning translocations, where they’ll take fungi from ancient woodland to new woodland sites where the hope is it will spread and thrive beneath the soil.

Dr Katie Cruickshanks, NatureMetrics Account Conservation Manager, said:

Working with Forestry England has been an incredible opportunity to showcase the power of eDNA in enhancing data-driven nature recovery at a national scale. Their innovative approach and willingness to embrace cutting-edge technologies like eDNA has set a new standard for biodiversity monitoring in forest ecosystems.

It's particularly rewarding to see how our comprehensive species data, translated into actionable metrics via the NatureMetrics platform, is directly informing on-the-ground decisions like soil translocation for fungal diversity and being used to track and report on the success of the forest wilding and woodland creation projects. Forestry England's commitment to large-scale, long-term monitoring demonstrates true foresight in understanding the pivotal role that biodiversity data plays in underpinning the recovery of nature across the nation's forests.

Casey Woodward, founder and CEO of AgriSound, said:

We’re proud to see our tech working hard in our precious forests across England, protecting and tracking pollinators. By enabling Forestry England to make sharp, informed interventions to enhance and protect biodiversity, we’re able to statistically demonstrate effective and efficient actions taken, based on the most accurate, real-time data, which will boost local nature for the better. As pollinators are responsible for 70 per cent of food production around the world, it can’t be understated how crucial this action is. Everyone has a part to play to protect biodiversity.

Our data will provide the key insights into where biodiversity is lacking and prove that interventions taken by Forestry England will significantly improve the wellbeing of pollinators in our forests.

The eDNA Forestry England has gathered is the largest environmental DNA data set collected in England and is free and open to anyone to look at and use. Academics are being encouraged to access it and join Forestry England and their partners in the work of analysing it to inform future nature restoration activities.

Forestry England’s biodiversity monitoring work is being supported through partnerships with Forest Holidays at Kielder Forest in Northumberland and Tesco at Neroche in Somerset.