Course impact assessment

This blog is a round up of what I learned during the course of this module and may or may not benefit my future plans, it may be lengthy and not the most interesting piece of writing but I hope you enjoy the read ….. 

Careers Cafe 

I was looking forward to this talk as throughout my degree I have struggled to come up with a clear idea of what I would like to do with my future in terms of career prospects, and I hope some of the speakers on show may help inspire me with the ideas ! the talk consisted of past Bangor students who have led interesting careers within and around the field of biology, they discussed how they went about getting where they are wand what opportunities enabled them to reach the level they were at. the speaker who should out for me the most was Ross piper, he featured on BBC’s “wild burma”, a programme I watched religiously ! however the factor that inspired me most was the main message he wanted us to take home, which was “take whatever opportunities you can get your hands on” and told us hard work and passion are the best chances of getting yourself the job you want ! 

Constructing a CV

When I first heard about this assignment I thought to myself “hmmm…. easy marks” as I have applied for many jobs and used the same CV throughout and in most cases got myself a job, however this task wanted us to find a job/career in the biological world and not some weekend job in a pub, and that my friends was were it all went wrong.

I applied for a job with the wildlife trust, not a particularly high up position but one that I thought I would find interesting, I made simple adjustments to my current CV and handed it in, not properly looking at this instructions and aim of the task, and because of this the grade I received was less than pleasing. However I’m glad we did this task as the feedback I received allowed me to see what would actually be required for me to apply for a proper job in the sector that my degree has driven me towards and the cover letter aspect of the CV was one I had not encountered before so knowledge on how to complete this section an only be beneficial !

Dragons den – Time for business 

The aim of this task was to help us understand how to put together a business plan and how to apply it, once again we were split into groups which I thought was a good idea for this workshop as it would require you to listen to other people ideas and putting forward your own.
We were given the choice of either the university museum or Treborth botanical gardens and told to develop a business plan in order to enhance their visitor numbers, recognition and economic value. We weren’t given any real boundaries in terms of financial investment and creativity, so was slightly disappointed when my groups came up with the idea of a “local foods” festival in Treborth botanic gardens, but non the less we worked as a team and put forward a convincing business plan and presentation. Overall I enjoyed the task and despite originally questioning the importance of the task I found it very interesting and valuable.

 Interview time !

We were told to meet outside the museum in Bramble at 9 am and awake further instructions. I was slightly nervous before entering and the crowd of other nervous/confused people did help me. I think the nerves stemmed from me focusing on the word “interview” and to be honest I really didn’t have much of clue what the following day would consist of. After all of us entered the museum we were sorted into groups alphabetically, this left me in a group of complete strangers, I didn’t mind this as it provided a more realistic interview situation.

My nerves were finally quashed when Chris freeman announced that the interview would take place in these small groups and be peer assessed, an improvement on my original idea of the interview taking place in front of several lecturers and the rest of the class. our groups were handed a sheet containing sets of questions for the interviewers to use, we each took turns in interview and being interviewed, I was surprised at the type of question being asked, I thought they would be tailor made to jobs in zoology/conservation however the were more broad, stereo typical questions for example “how would your friends describe you ?” “What is your best trait and why ?”

After the interview we all discussed the marks we have given each other, happily everyone in our group exchanged A’s, perhaps because of the standard of question answers or perhaps because no one in our groups was brave/cruel enough to give out anything less than an A, either way I was happy. After this section we took part in an exercise which involved the completion of the “Bolbins self perception inventory” After filling the sheet it the worker it associated me with was one I could see myself as, none the less this task was very interesting because you could recognise your friends with the different worker types and provided a clear insight to what kind of workers you can expect to see in work place.

Conclusion 

Overall this year I have thoroughly enjoyed this module, its been a nice change form the usual 2000 word literature review and exam, many of the tasks offered me insights into what is required of me in the future when applying for jobs and put my course in a real world situation. All of the seminars were excellent providing me with knowledge on subjects I hardly new existed. If I were to resit the year or take part in another degree where by this module was available I would definitely sign up ! as it has a mixture of fun and interesting assessments and useful knowledge on the working world around us.

 

Careers Cafe

I was looking forward to this talk as throughout my degree I have struggled to come up with a clear idea of what I would like to do with my future in terms of career prospects, and I hope some of the speakers on show may help inspire me with the ideas ! the talk consisted of past Bangor students who have led interesting careers within and around the field of biology, they discussed how they went about getting where they are wand what opportunities enabled them to reach the level they were at. the speaker who should out for me the most was Ross piper, he featured on BBC’s “wild burma”, a programme I watched religiously ! however the factor that inspi9red me most was the main message he wanted us to take home, which was “take whatever opportunities you can get your hands on” and told us hard work and passion are the best chances of getting yourself the job you want ! 

 

CV

When I first heard about this assignment I thought to myself “hmmm…. easy marks” as I have applied for many jobs and used the same CV throughout and in most cases got myself a job, however this task wanted us to find a job/career in the biological world and not some weekend job in a pub, and that my friends was were it all went wrong.

I applied for a job with the wildlife trust, not a particularly high up position but one that I thought I would find interesting, I made simple adjustments to my current CV and handed it in, not properly looking at this instructions and aim of the task, and because of this the grade I received was less than pleasing. However I’m glad we did this task as the feedback I received allowed me to see what would actually be required for me to apply for a proper job in the sector that my degree has driven me towards and the cover letter aspect of the CV was one I had not encountered before so knowledge on how to complete this section an only be beneficial !

Dragon’s Den – A business presentation

17th February 2014

The aim of this task was to help us understand how to put together a business plan and how to apply it, once again we were split into groups which I thought was a good idea for this workshop as it would require you to listen to other people ideas and putting forward your own.
We were given the choice of either the university museum or Treborth botanical gardens and told to develop a business plan in order to enhance their visitor numbers, recognition and economic value. We weren’t given any real boundaries in terms of financial investment and creativity, so was slightly disappointed when my groups came up with the idea of a “local foods” festival in Treborth botanic gardens, but non the less we worked as a team and put forward a convincing business plan and presentation. Overall I enjoyed the task and despite originally questioning the importance of the task I found it very interesting and valuable.

The Assessment centre

 Interview time !

We were told to meet outside the museum in Bramble at 9 am and awake further instructions. I was slightly nervous before entering and the crowd of other nervous/confused people did help me. I think the nerves stemmed from me focusing on the word “interview” and to be honest I really didn’t have much of clue what the following day would consist of. After all of us entered the museum we were sorted into groups alphabetically, this left me in a group of complete strangers, I didn’t mind this as it provided a more realistic interview situation.

 

 dismakemeangry.wordpress.com

My nerves were finally quashed when Chris freeman announced that the interview would take place in these small groups and be peer assessed, an improvement on my original idea of the interview taking place in front of several lecturers and the rest of the class. our groups were handed a sheet containing sets of questions for the interviewers to use, we each took turns in interview and being interviewed, I was surprised at the type of question being asked, I thought they would be tailor made to jobs in zoology/conservation however the were more broad, stereo typical questions for example “how would your friends describe you ?” “What is your best trait and why ?”

After the interview we all discussed the marks we have given each other, happily everyone in our group exchanged A’s, perhaps because of the standard of question answers or perhaps because no one in our groups was brave/cruel enough to give out anything less than an A, either way I was happy. After this section we took part in an exercise which involved the completion of the “Bolbins self perception inventory” After filling the sheet it the worker it associated me with was one I could see myself as, none the less this task was very interesting because you could recognise your friends with the different worker types and provided a clear insight to what kind of workers you can expect to see in work place.

Bolbins self perception inventory

www.emeraldinsight.com

 Over all I found it a very useful workshop and gave me an idea of some of the questions that might be asked in an interview situation.

Urban forestry

I was looking forward to this seminar as soon as I saw the title, the reason for this is I wasn’t really sure what was meant by urban forestry, was it the maintenance of plants within urban areas or the development of more green areas in urban places.  My questions were quickly answered by Tim Hall (Former Bangor student) who described it as “All trees within gardens and streets which provide an ecosystem service form part of an urban forest.”

www.worldchanging.com

He went on to described the different services provide by urban based woodland, I have divided the services into two main groups, aesthetic value and economic value. Due to the seasonal changes of trees, they provide shade in the summer, which can improve the efficiency of urban buildings, Provide a noise barrier separating low level noises from noise coming from high rise buildings. In Chicago trees are predicated to remove 10.8 tonnes of pollutants a day, which to me seems extremely beneficial, especially in an era where global warming and pollution are often at the forefront of many scientific debates and research.

In terms of Aesthetic services I know I would much rather walk down a street full of trees and it has been suggested the greener areas of town can be extremely beneficial to mental health. Not only this, attractive streets might encourage people to walk from point to point instead of other means of transport

So its clear that what we are describing as urban forest can have a number of positive impacts for the areas in which they grow and the people that live there, so why do our cities lack a more green appearance. Well…… the first problem is people, many people don’t like change and worry about how it would affect their personal space. People often worry about woods housing youths and unsavoury characters, Tim had a good counter argument for this though, “the more people use them the safer it becomes”.

massrealestatelawblog.com

Besides the more menial arguments against it there are some more serious problems that could potentially arise, trees are big, heavy and on occasion fall, in tightly nit urban areas the changes of it hitting something/someone expensive appear relatively high. The planting of trees would require careful planning as roots tend to have their own ideas on where they will go next and not a whole lot can stop them, a worry for electricity and gas lines. They would require maintenance and monitoring, which as we all know would cost money.

www.americanforests.org

However I really want urban forestry to develop a more green areas in towns and cities to appear, the benefits in my opinion outweigh the negatives, careful planning and management would prevent any damage to people or housing and if it can remove substantial amounts of pollutants and provide a number of health benefits, the money spent on management and maintenance would a small price to pay indeed.

The running of a modern zoo

During this blog I will discuss a seminar given by Dr Mark Pilgrim, Director General of Chester zoo. The main aim of his presentation was to discuss the objective that Chester zoo tries to meet in its everyday operations and the reasons their actions.

www.clickliverpool.com

He began the seminar by running through their 6 main objectives. These are 1) to ensure education and conservation achieves the greatest impact. 2) To be a world class visitor attraction 3) to be a centre of excellence for plant and animal care 4) ensure the long term financial viability of the zoo. 5) recognise staff input and involvement 6) build its excellent reputation.

Zoos have made massive steps in recent years, making a shift from purely entertainment based businesses to more conservation minded businesses, this was highlighted by an interesting comment made by Mark Pilgrim “A zoo specimen is invasive unless it is in great need of an ICUN breeding programme”. The main objectives listed above also highlight the change in attitudes shown by zoos and their owners.

www.wired.com

Step 1 is the objective I consider the most important in the current climate, with thousands of species endangered and hundreds on the brink of extinction zoos play a vital role in the conservations of some of our most vulnerable species. Mr pilgrim highlighted the importance of ensuring the zoo was a centre for education, a point I strongly agreed with as many people rarely show interest in conservation as they may only see it in a magazine or TV but at establishments like Chester zoo, people can experience some of the more endangered and impressive animals species up front, inspiring all generations from our youth to our older generations to get involved with conservation.

Their second goal is to become a world class visitor attraction, at first glance people may be tempted to criticise this goal saying it takes away from the conservation side of things, however Chester zoo relies completely on visitor funds, without these they would not be able to maintain high standards of enclosure, quality staff and most importantly fund their in-situ conservation projects which include black rhino projects and in the UK reintroducing plants such as the limestone liverwort.

Their 3^rd objective is to be a centre of excellence for plant and animal care, Mark made it clear that Chester zoo prides itself on its animal care, With 3 full time vets and professional nutritionists who could argue with him. The times I have visited Chester zoo it is clear that the enclosures are of a much higher standard than many of the zoo I have visited in the UK. He stated that without achieving this objective the zoo would not of been able to successfully bread Black rhinos, Asian elephants and Sumatran tigers this year.

www.theholliesfarmshop.co.uk

The 4th objective is to ensure the long term financial viability of this zoo, this has obvious importance as without money the zoo would not be able to maintain its high standards and continue it’s in –situ and ex situ conservation projects.

The final objective is to build its reputation, boosting its reputation in the scientific world and the in the public’s view is essential to enable the continued development of Chester zoo, increased visitors will result in more funding for projects and increased enclosure capacity. Boosting their rep in the scientific world is also important to attract researchers other professionals to the organisation.

I really enjoyed the seminar, I thought mark provide the audience with a clear insight of what Chester zoo hopes to achieve through their objectives, and I felt that the majority of the audience including myself agreed with their management objectives and left the room feeling as though Chester zoo sets a bench mark for other UK zoos to reach.

Landscape scale grey squirrel control: Lessons from the UK

Wearing wellies and covered in mud Dr Craig Shuttleworth from the red squirrel survival trust presented a nice change from the usually smartly dressed professor, the reason for his choice of clothing immediately gained my respect; he had spent the morning conducting field work. A seemingly down to earth guy the first few slides grabbed the attention of the room with the use of some very funny pictures.

http://www.countrylife.co.uk

After his intro he begin describing the problems caused by the invasive grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), these were; property damage, nest predation, bark stripping and negative impacts on red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) population. Their impacts on red squirrels were also neatly presented, the pox virus is one of the main problems associated with greys, and they act as carriers to the virus which can kill a red squirrel in 3 weeks! They often out compete juvenile reds which has negative impacts on recruitment rates, not only this, their ability to live at higher densities than red squirrels often results in them out numbering red squirrel populations.

http://www.seitzwildlife.com

Personally I am all for the culling of grey squirrels to enhance red squirrel populations as they are native species and let’s be honest, more attractive and less destructive! And according to a recent poll the majority of this country agrees, 69% of the adult population in this country is for the culling of grey squirrels. However I’m only for it if it works, if we are going to remove a living creature from the habitat in which it lives there must be evidence that it will work, fortunately Dr Shuttleworth did just that. He discussed the culling project that took place in Anglesey (which is the first of its kind),the eradication of grey squirrels from the island had a positive impact on the number of red squirrels, not only this there were other benefits which included increased songbird recruitment rates and the loss of squirrel pox on the island. He mentioned that there are still problems as Anglesey is not truly an island because of the two main bridges connecting it to north Wales, therefore two passages from which grey squirrels could return to the island. Despite this the evidence shows that the removal of grey squirrels does enhance red squirrel population and if it works on Anglesey could it potentially be replicated across the whole of the UK? And if so could we see a full re-colonisation by the beautiful red squirrel? In theory yes, however it is more likely that the continued survival of red squirrels will be through the protection of designated areas and local culling efforts.

http://www.fotolibra.com

I really enjoyed the seminar and the presenter as re enforced my original opinion about the culling of grey squirrels with scientific evidence that it does work in terms of enhancing Red squirrel numbers.

Re-introduction of the pine marten into Wales (Martes martez)

I attended a very interesting and also enjoyable seminar on Friday 15th November. The seminar was given by David Bavin of the Vincent wildlife trust, During the seminar he explained the natural history of pine martens within the UK, reasons for their decline and then finally their potential reintroduction into Wales. He began by introducing himself and the Vincent wildlife trust, once a former student of Bangor he went on to work for the trust. He described it as a small trust organisation specialising in the small mammals, in particular bats and mustelidae. David began the seminar by introduction the pine marten alongside several very endearing picture of the small mammals, a set of pictures that instantly got everyone on the pine martens side.

As the picture above shows, pine martins are small, slender, cat sized mammals. Their preferred habitats are tree hollows however derelict buildings are often occupied and they can also thrive in mono culture woodlands. Despite being described as carnivorous, their diet is omnivorous, consuming fruit and nuts right up to small mammals and birds. Commonly thought of as nocturnal pine martens are actually fairly active during the day, especially in summer time

The seminar and David grab my attention when he described their UK history and their current  numbers.

Pine martins have a deep rooted place in the UK’s natural history and ecology, during the medieval era they were the second most numerous predatory species in the UK. A surprising fact when we were then told by 1915 pine martins were found in only a couple of remote locations, a result of de-forestation, persecution, trapping and a low reproductive rate (2-3 kits a year). Populations in Scotland and Ireland are increasing however within the UK and Wales their numbers are still very low. Ireland boasts the most secure populations of pine martens due do its lack of natural predators such as golden eagles and foxes and a lack of competition.

After the short into to the martens current situation. David went on to explain the various methods for monitoring and sampling the different pine marten populations across the UK.

Currently the most popular method by which numbers and locations of pine martens is by identifying and studying skat. However pine marten skat is representative of many other animal skats, a problem that has let to some comical errors, as David went on to describe one skat sample thought to be a pine martens actually belong to a flamingo ! other methods that are used are camera traps, hair tubes and even skat sniffer dogs are used.

The use of these techniques has given evidence for the presence of small isolated populations across the UK, David suggested that instead of titling the project as a reintroduction it should be more a case of reinforcing the current populations, an idea that I agreed with strongly as reinforcing and strengthening an already established populations would be easier and potentially more successful than introducing the pine marten into a new environment.

2015 is the year set by the Vincent wildlife trust as the beginning date for the “reinforcement” programme. The operation will begin the construction of den boxes with a base target of 80 couple with vigorous monitoring. However this project will face opposition as farmers still list pine martens as potential threat to their live stock, David intelligently used a letter to highlight public ignorance.

I personally eagerly anticipate this date and share David enthusiasm with the strengthening of our countries pine marten populations. In a time where the UK appear to be losing its natural heritage through the introduction of many invasive species, surely it must be our number one priority to protect the species that have a natural place in our ecology and history.

Thanks for reading ! 🙂

Large-scale questions in the study of mammalian biology: limitations and opportunities

Large-scale questions in the study of mammalian biology: limitations and opportunities

Welcome fellow bloggers to the first in series of bloggs, intended to discuss several seminars given by experts on their respective studies.

seminar given by Dr. Philip Stephens, Durham University, on the limitations and opportunities in the study of mammalian biology.

The seminar began with explaining the research power possessed by other areas of study such as ornithology and entomology, Dr. Stephens described these two studies as “sexy sciences” suggesting that other sciences such as mammalian biology get overlooked due to their more “appealing” counterparts, I personally found this extremely surprising as mammals are often the first to be mentioned in conservation issues due to their cultural, historical and also t heir aesthetic value.

This apparent bias between the sciences has lead to a lack of funding available for mammalian studies, again another surprise as for any conservation effort to begin, long and short term data must be collected to view the populations dynamics. with many mammals being at the forefront of conservation across the globe the lack of data sets conducted on mammalian population is alarming. Dr. Stephens went on to explain this shortage of funding has lead to less thorough long term and short term studies, scientist often acquiring information from published literature with information sourced from hunters, for example a scientist called Ellie Devenish-Nelson conducted a literature study with data from 96 different journal papers that agreed with hunting records on the demography of the Red Fox population. However she was unable to determine future populations with this data, not useful in a time where detecting potentially vulnerable populations is extremely important. Dr. Stephen gave another example of where data collected from hunters didn’t provide sufficient scientific data to perform a proper study, hunters provide scientist with information about the number and size of chamois caught, however can this data really be used when it wasn’t collected with study many years later in mind.

However readers Dr. Stephens finished the seminar with explaining how the use of new technologies can be used to overcome the use of incidental data and poorly funded long and short term studies. technologies such as camera traps can collect data on the movements and behaviours of mammals, Dr. Stephens also mentioned the power of the internet, a central database with data provided from collaborating scientist across the globe could provide an extremely powerful data set, data that will become increasingly important if effective conservation efforts are to made in a time when many of our most loved mammals face extinction.

Thanks for reading