Identification Trainers for the Future - Inspiring the Next Generation of UK Wildlife Experts

The Natural History Museum is one of the world’s foremost institutions for the advancement of the natural sciences. The Museum’s Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity acts as a centre to promote the appreciation and study of UK natural history and a hub for partnership-based UK natural history engagement, training and research. Through a new project called Identification Trainers forthe Future, the Centre aims to actively address a critical and growing skills shortage within the UK biodiversity sector: wildlife identification and recording skills. This will be achieved through a number of placements offering early-career ecologists specialist training in species identification and survey, museum curatorial skills, training delivery and broader transferable skills.This article has been deposited in the NHM repository with the permission of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM), with whom the copyright remains. If you wish to view the entire issue or cite from the article you are advised to visit the publisher's website

Bridging the Skills Gap in UK Species Identification: Lessons Learnt & Next Steps

As the Identification Trainers for the Future project draws to a close, we take this opportunity to reflect on what we have learnt from the project and where the Natural History Museum is heading next in terms of supporting UK natural history skills development.The attached file is the Power Point presentation given at the Conference, freely available at the link given

The OPAL bugs count survey: exploring the effects of urbanisation and habitat characteristics using citizen science

Citizen science projects can gather datasets with observation counts and spatiotemporal coverage far in excess of what can easily be achieved using only professional scientists. However, there exists a potential trade-off between the number of participants and the quality of data gathered. The Bugs Count citizen science project had thousands of participants because of its few barriers to taking part, allowing participation by anyone in England with access to any area of outdoor space. It was designed to scope for both the effects of variation in local habitat and urbanisation on broad taxonomic groups of invertebrates, and the responses of six target ‘Species Quest’ species (Adalia bipunctata, Ocypus olens, Aglais urticae, Palomena prasina, Limax maximus, and Bombus hypnorum) to urbanisation. Participants were asked to search for invertebrates in three areas: ‘soft ground surfaces’, ‘human-made hard surfaces’, and ‘plants’ for 15 min per search. Participants recorded counts of taxa found and a range of environmental information about the survey area. Data samples were weighted according to identification experience and participant age and analysed using canonical correspondence analysis, and tests of observation homogeneity. Species Quest species showed species-specific relationships with urbanisation, but broad taxonomic groups did not show significant relationships with urbanisation. The latter were instead influenced by habitat type and microhabitat availability. The approach used demonstrates that citizen science projects with few barriers to entry can gather viable datasets for scoping broad trends, providing that the projects are carefully designed and analysed to ensure data quality

Combination Therapies Targeting Alk-Aberrant Neuroblastoma in Preclinical Models.

BACKGROUND: ALK activating mutations are identified in approximately 10% of newly diagnosed neuroblastomas and ALK amplifications in a further 1-2% of cases. Lorlatinib, a third generation ALK inhibitor, will soon be given alongside induction chemotherapy for children with ALK-aberrant neuroblastoma. However, resistance to single agent treatment has been reported and therapies that improve the response duration are urgently required. We studied the preclinical combination of lorlatinib with chemotherapy, or with the MDM2 inhibitor, idasanutlin, as recent data has suggested that ALK inhibitor resistance can be overcome through activation of the p53-MDM2 pathway. AIMS: To study the preclinical activity of ALK inhibitors alone and combined with chemotherapy or idasanutlin. METHODS: We compared different ALK inhibitors in preclinical models prior to evaluating lorlatinib in combination with chemotherapy or idasanutlin. We developed a triple chemotherapy (CAV: cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and vincristine) in vivo dosing schedule and applied this to both neuroblastoma genetically engineered mouse models (GEMM) and patient derived xenografts (PDX). RESULTS: Lorlatinib in combination with chemotherapy was synergistic in immunocompetent neuroblastoma GEMM. Significant growth inhibition in response to lorlatinib was only observed in the ALK-amplified PDX model with high ALK expression. In this PDX lorlatinib combined with idasanutlin resulted in complete tumor regression and significantly delayed tumor regrowth. CONCLUSION: In our preclinical neuroblastoma models, high ALK expression was associated with lorlatinib response alone or in combination with either chemotherapy or idasanutlin. The synergy between MDM2 and ALK inhibition warrants further evaluation of this combination as a potential clinical approach for children with neuroblastoma

NHM Science and Society Blog. New plans for the Museum's green spaces: connecting people and nature

A little over a month ago, the Museum applied for planning permission to continue with an ambitious transformation of its outdoor spaces. Drs John Tweddle, Paul Kenrick and Sandy Knapp of the Museum’s Science Group provide the background to the project and clarify its impact on the Wildlife Garden.This is an open access article, available to all readers online. The attached file is the published version of the article