August - September 2023
My R&A project began at the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST) on the Isle of Arran in Scotland. This is an NGO that I have worked with before, having completed a science engagement internship with them after my third year of University. During that internship I absolutely fell in love with the Isle of Arran and COAST's work. From the moment that I left I knew that I wanted to come back. It was the perfect location for the start of this project!
The project that I developed with COAST focused on seagrass meadows, important coastal ecosystems for climate change adaptation and mitigation. I reviewed all previously conducted research on seagrass meadows around the Isle of Arran and integrated all available spatial data into one system utilising GIS, showcasing where and when seagrass beds have been mapped around the island. I additionally aided in re-mapping previously mapped beds, to assess if their extent and status has changed over time. This was done by snorkelling the perimeter of various seagrass beds towing a GPS on a buoy, creating track data for analysis in GIS.
The project's final component involved trialling a scuba-diving methodology for the assessment of the surface sediment carbon stock in a seagrass bed. We collected various soil cores which are now undergoing laboratory analysis at the University of St Andrews. It is hoped that this method can be further developed to study carbon sequestration within seagrass beds around Arran, showcasing the importance of these ecosystems for the UK's climate change ambitions.
The key findings of this project are that there is a large extent of seagrass around Arran, with patches reported in various locations. However, most of these reports lack a spatial component, meaning the actual extent of many of the beds remains unknown. Citizen Science is playing an important role in closing this information gap, with volunteer snorkelers and kayakers from COAST beginning to map seagrass beds around the island.
My work with COAST continues, as I am developing a report summarizing the known extent and status of seagrass beds around Arran, which will be made available in the upcoming months.
A big lesson that I took away from my time with COAST is the importance of first understanding basic environmental parameters before exploring more complex questions in conservation (in this case, carbon sequestration and habitat restoration). It is vital to first understand the extent of a habitat, how it functions, and what influences it; as without understanding such factors more complex questions cannot be answered. However, when faced with a short timeline and limited funding, it is natural to jump to the big questions right away. In truth, baseline information is hugely important. This is a key lesson for me to remember when planning fieldwork and later stages of my project.
I had a great time kicking this project off with COAST, picking up lots of new skills, and studying a coastal habitat entirely new to me. Specifically, I'm very happy to have been able to learn new methods of scientific snorkelling and scuba-diving data collection. I've no doubt I'll need these skills again down the line during this year!
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