Category: Science
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232: Wildlife Law in Europe with Caroline Cox and Meganne Natali
What does the label ‘protected area’ actually tell you about what is being protected? How did the wolf lose its strict protection status in the EU? And what about a legal system that looks strong on paper but leaves animals exposed on the ground? Those questions sit at the heart of ‘Protecting Wildlife in Europe: A Comprehensive Analysis of Legislative Frameworks and Their Shortcomings’, a paper published in July this year in the Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy.…
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231: How to Think Like an Ecologist with Amy McEuen
How do you tell solid science from something dressed up to look like it? Are we living through the sixth mass extinction? And why is the climate crisis not the worst of the planetary boundaries we have crossed? My guest today is Amy McEuen, a professor of Biology at the University of Illinois Springfield, where she has taught environmental biology, ecology and conservation biology for more than twenty years. Her book, ‘How to Think Like an Ecologist: A Non-Scientist’s Guide…
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228: Red Deer and Habitat Connectivity with Frank Zabel
Why are red deer populations in Germany growing in number and antler size yet sitting in deep genetic trouble? What is the difference between census population size and effective population size, and why does it matter? And how can a satirical award for the worst-built wildlife crossing draw attention to the issue of habitat fragmentation? In this episode, I sit down with Frank Zabel, a wildlife biologist, campaigner, and co-host of the award-winning JAGDcast podcast. Frank also runs the nonprofit…
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224: Conservation Labour with Anwesha Dutta and Nick Harvey Sky
Working in conservation? Take the survey➡️ CONLAB survey Who are the people doing the actual work of conservation? How many of them are there and what are their working conditions? And whose labour remains invisible in the process? These are not questions that conservation science has spent much time on. Yet without understanding the people behind the work, we lack a complete picture of how conservation functions and who it affects. Today, we take on this largely neglected subject with…
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221: Snapshot Europe – Wildlife in Irish Woodlands with Adam F. Smith
What does it take to track wildlife across 250 square kilometres of Irish woodland? How do you position cameras to capture elusive species like otters and pine martens without introducing bias into your data? What happens when floodwaters threaten your carefully placed equipment? Join us as we follow a camera trap survey through the Clara Vale in central County Wicklow, where systematic monitoring reveals the lives of Ireland’s mammals. Throughout the episode, we’ve included footage from the field showing the…
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216: EU Wolves and the Conservation Success Conundrum with Hanna Pettersson
Can we find a middle ground between those who see the EU’s wolf downlisting as a catastrophe and those who celebrate it as good news? The debate around wolf conservation in the EU has become frustratingly polarised, with both sides ‘crying wolf’ about the consequences of changing protection status. It’s time to step back and look at the evidence. When dealing with controversial subjects like this, it is important to be factual and follow the evidence. So I was delighted…
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213: Ferret Eradication from Rathlin Island with David Tosh
What are the ethical considerations when eradicating invasive species from an island? How do you develop wireless technology to monitor hundreds of traps across difficult terrain? Why do conservation projects like this cost so much more than people expect? These are some of the questions we explore in our conversation about the LIFE Raft project on Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland’s only inhabited offshore island. Our guest is David Tosh, a Lecturer in Terrestrial Ecology at the School of Geography and…
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212: Snow Leopard Trail with Jonny Hanson
Can communities in Ireland and Britain learn to share landscapes with apex predators again after centuries of their absence? What does coexistence actually look like when people, livestock, and large carnivores occupy the same territory? How might wisdom from Himalayan communities inform debates about lynx reintroduction closer to home? Our conversation takes us from the remote mountains of Nepal to potential lynx habitats in Scotland and Ireland. Jonny Hanson travelled to the Annapurna Conservation Area to document how local communities…
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209: Beavers vs Salmon – Balance the Scales with Rob Needham
Can beavers save Britain’s dying rivers? Are these ecosystem engineers the key to reversing the catastrophic decline of Atlantic salmon, or do their dams create impassable barriers for struggling fish populations? With salmon numbers plummeting by 70% in just 20 years and predictions they could vanish entirely within two decades, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The reintroduction of beavers to British waterways has sparked heated debate about their impact on our most threatened migratory species. In this episode, our guest…
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199: Circumnavigating the Globe for Science with Bert terHart
Can one person sailing solo around the world contribute to scientific knowledge? What happens when you encounter illegal fishing vessels in the middle of the ocean? How can we address the growing crisis of plastic pollution in our seas? In this episode, we dive into these questions with Bert terHart, a scientist, explorer and entrepreneur who circumnavigated the globe alone on his sailing yacht, conducting citizen science along the way. During our conversation, Bert shares his first-hand observations of environmental…