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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 |
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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 §
Understanding
where important wildlife sites are in the county, especially for protected
species. §
Finding
new important sites for species and helping to maintain them. §
Monitoring
changes in the populations of species or areas of habitats. §
Where
species are found to be declining, action can be taken, such as: ·
Conservation
projects started - for example the Water Vole recovery project ·
Particular
species can be given their own Biodiversity Action Plans (BAP).
Cambridgeshire species which have a BAP include the Song Thrush and Otter. §
Records
can also be used for monitoring environmental changes; for example lichens
can be an excellent indicator of clean air and pollution levels. §
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. Please 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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