Restoration Forth Biodiversity Survey

The Restoration Forth team will be meeting at Burntisland Leisure Centre’s car park at 09:30am on Friday the 10th of March, to conduct a biodiversity survey along Pettycur Bay – one of our restoration sites – to investigate for the presence of  invasive non-native species (INNS). Participants can expect to learn skills in performing biodiversity surveys as well as enhancing their knowledge of INNS. Before heading out to the beach to undertake the biodiversity survey, participants will be briefed on the protocol for the day and how to identify non-native invasive species. Participants will be asked to conform to our bio-security protocol in order to minimise the spread of INNS, this will involve participants disinfecting their boots before and after the event.

Please can participants dress accordingly for the weather conditions on the day, it is advised that participants wear wellie boots as your feet may become wet.

Background:

The Restoration Forth team - Restoration Forth is a multi-partner project which intends to restore seagrass and oysters across the Forth - are conducting biodiversity surveys across our seagrass restoration sites, as we are interested in investigating for the presence of invasive non-native species. Invasive non-native species are species which have been transported or translocated (deliberately or accidently) to an environment outside of their normal distribution range with the potential to cause environmental damage. These species pose a considerable risk to the environmental integrity due to their ability to spread rapidly and become dominant in an area, causing negative ecological, social and economic impacts. Not all non-native species have the ability to become invasive, however they have the potential to exert a negative effect upon the existing fauna and flora. It is important to monitor our environments for the presence of these organisms to determine their spread and the potential ecological consequences which arise from their colonisation.