Articles
Volunteer Looking at Insect
Biodiversity Survey
In October a group of staff and students spent a sunny morning netting and identifying a wide range of invertebrates that live in the stream running down past East Park.
This man-made waterway has changed a lot over forty years, naturally developing varying sections, each supporting their own micro-habitat. 18 species were found including dragonfly nymphs), a rare stonefly, flatworms and thousands of shrimp. The biodiversity surveyed indicates that the water quality is very good, with little pollution. However the stream itself needs work doing to fix leaks and improve the water flow by removing some of the vegetation. This work will take place over the next few months but will be done carefully as to not disturb the current biodiverse habitat present. Next year repeat surveys will be carried out to see the overall effects on the habitat and wildlife. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Vic Patch: v.a.patch2@exeter.ac.uk
Date: 3 November 2022