Why Collect Records?
The biological data collected and stored centrally by local records centres is becoming vital as we put increasing pressure on our environment
Why collect records?
Biodiversity (or Biological Diversity) is defined as the variety of life on earth in its various units; for example the diversity of habitats, species and genes.
During recent decades we have seen growing concern about our impacts on the environment and biodiversity, from local to global scales. Whilst the causes of climate change may be international, its effects may be seen locally, perhaps as changes in species' distributions or changes to migration patterns. Local biodiversity must also be conserved as part of the global conservation effort. Natural landscapes and their wildlife provide interest and can potentially benefit the wellbeing of all people.
Building up a good database of records for biodiversity in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is important for many reasons:
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Understanding where important wildlife sites are in the county, especially for protected species.
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Finding new important sites for species and helping to maintain them.
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Monitoring changes in the populations of species or areas of habitats.
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Where species are found to be declining, action can be taken, such as:
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Conservation projects started - for example the Water Vole recovery project
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Particular species can be given their own Biodiversity Action Plans (BAP). Cambridgeshire species which have a BAP include the Song Thrush and Otter.
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Records can also be used for monitoring environmental changes; for example lichens can be an excellent indicator of clean air and pollution levels.
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Councils and planning authorities can use this information to help them make well-informed decisions during the planning process.
If you have any records that you would like to contribute to the records centre, we would be very interested to hear from you. You can fill in our record form, or if you have a very detailed and extensive data set you can contact us directly and send your records to the data officers.
We provide a Data Request Service where we make data available to a wide range of interested parties, including members of the public, councils, conservation organisations, utility companies, and consultants, amongst others.
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