Outer Cir
Marylebone, London NW1 4PJ
UK
Wasps: the Neglected Darlings of the Insect World
Dr Seirian Sumner, Reader in Behavioural Ecology, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, UCL
What’s a wasp? Wasps are much more than the yellow and black striped pesky picnic-botherers. Wasps are one of the most diverse groups of insects; they out number species of bees and wasps combined. Yet, they are the most maligned member of the insect world – hated and avoided. Bees get praise and attention for their good services as pollinators of our wild flowers and crops. In contrast, wasps are regarded as ‘pointless’. In fact, wasps perform a wealth of important ecosystem services as key predators of arthropod pest populations. Dr Sumner will explore the importance of wasps in keeping the pest of crops and the vectors of human disease at bay.
Conservation 4.0 – Will robots take your job?
Professor Kate Jones, Professor of Ecology and Biodiversity, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Dept. Genetics, Evolution and Environment, UCL
Wild nature and natural ecosystems are declining rapidly as humans use more of the earth’s resources and change climate patterns.Thanks to new sensor technologies such as animal movement tags, camera traps and passive acoustic sensors and new ways of analysing these data with artificial intelligence, scientists studying the impact of anthropogenic change now have access to huge amounts of data about our changing environment and declining wildlife populations. Professor Jones argues that although these technologies will help us to better understand the natural world and to further engage people with their environment, they have the potential to be very disruptive and discusses whether we are really ready for Conservation 4.0!