Submitted by PBMS Admin on
What has monitoring contaminants in predatory birds got to do with climate change?
“That’s a good question” says Lee Walker, Principal Scientist for the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme “from data generated through the PBMS monitoring, combined with other spatially explicit data, we know that land use change can lead to changes in the diet of predatory birds. Any land use changes driven by climate change could potentially have an impact on what raptors eat and consequently what pollutants they are exposed to”.
Lee, who attended UKCEH’s ‘Climate change adaptation and resilience’ event held on 30th September in Westminster, spoke to government department and conservation body representatives about the work of the PBMS.
Lee presented the Pollution Science Area’s work alongside Claus Svendsen the Science Area Lead for Pollution (image below). Other areas of pollution focussed work presented included micro- and nano-plastic environmental fate and radioecology.