Biodiversity Day 22 May 2021

The Organic Centre, Rossinver

11:00 to 13:00 hrs and 14:00 to 16:00 hrs

Maria Cullen & Howard Fox

Themes of the Day

What is biodiversity.

Biodiversity of trees on and with them (Willow, Holly, Ash, Elder, Elm, Apple).

Introduction to Biological Recording by ‘Bipedal Optical Scanners with Species Recognition Software’.

Phytosanitary issues of wild and cultivated plants

Biodiversity groups – All species in nature

Vascular plants; Woody plants; Garden plants; Wild flowers; Grasses; Rushes, Orchids; Cryptogams; Ferns; Horsetails; Mosses; Liverworts; Algae; Fungi including lichens; leaf rusts, leaf mildews, ascomycetes, bryophilous fungi. Insects, Bees, Ants, Wasps, Moths, Butterflies, Flies, Dragonflies, leaf galls, and so on.

Fauna and Flora Concepts – Group, Family, Genus, Species – all have Latin names at each taxonomic resolution to show the systematic placement and identification precision. All concepts are free science, open to pillory and constructive criticism.

Geography – Lat. Long. – Ireland; County Leitrim; Irish National Grid reference finder tool, 1km raster square, point recording. G9249 is our raster today. This is checked on OS map sheet 17.

Nature table – photography and google image searches on each latin name is a good way to share information

Focus – the resolution of recording and display vary according to communication needs – humans produce a fluent kind of assimilated spatial and systematic zooming in – Scientists produce tools to help biodiversity observations, such as identification books, national census; vice-county lists; 10km species lists, 1km species lists. For interesting species, we can note 6-figure, 8-figure and 10-figure grid references.

Flora and Fauna of North Leitrim is stored in electronic formats and not compiled equally. For the grid square G92, this covers Rossinver as well as Dough Mountain. Useful databases include bsbi.org and nbnatlas.co.uk and NBDC in Waterford.

Biodiversity models for a townland and regions for planning should include 500 to 2000 observations. The more observations the better science for decision making. Hence the need for urgent LWIG ecology desk and original survey work.

Some trees – Apple trees – Malus domestica; Elder bushes – Sambucus nigra; Willow trees – Salix vimnalis; Ash – Fraxinus excelsior; Elm – Ulmus glabra; Holly – Ilex aquifolium.

Graphic design – a challenge for communication, Anne Lamott’s maxim Bird by Bird is best. It is good to separate recording (1) the record and observational acts and (2) communicating resulting species distribution display

Handout design: Howard Fox, 21 v 2021