Scotland's Nature Student Conference 2025

A great couple of days at #SNSC2025!
My colleagues @bsbiscotland.bsky.social & @sarahelizwoods.bsky.social really enjoyed chatting with the students about #PlantAtlas2020 & hearing the brilliant talks.
Huge thanks to the @scotnsconf.bsky.social team on a great event & many thanks for inviting us!

And that’s a wrap - A final thank you to all of the organising committee at the conference this year, our keynote speakers, the team at the botanic gardens, all presenters and everyone who attended the event - looking forward to doing it all again next year!

Hope you enjoyed the puns!
#SNSC2025

Finally, Eileen Stuart from NatureScot @naturescot.bsky.social and Naomi Housego @nchousego.bsky.social
from the organising committee gave some closing remarks to summarise the conference #SNSC2025

Great to get along to @scotnsconf.bsky.social this week - two great days at RBGE talking to student naturalists about wild plants and their interests. We talked skill levels, training, data, recording, Sticky Catchfly and arctic alpines (obviously inspired by @sarahwatts.bsky.social!)

A beaver themed prize giving! 🦫 - Eileen Stuart then presented the prizes for best talk to James Macarthur at UHI Inverness and the best poster to Alice Turner from the University of Stirling.
#SNSC2025

PS - I promise it wasn’t rigged towards the organisers!

After lunch Naomi Housego @nchousego.bsky.social led the delegates through a British Ecological Society policy workshop! #SNSC2025

I get by with a little help from my trends - Beatrix Ward with a poster titled: Effects of anthropogenic land-use and abiotic environmental factors on the community structure of carrion beetles (Silphinae spp.) #SNSC2025

Tree are the champions! - Ben Wilson with a poster titled: Tree-mendous change: exploring the effects of implementing alternative forest management in Scotland #SNSC2025

The farm before the storm - Izzy Turner with a poster titled: Impacts of agricultural practice on the abundance of soil microarthropod functional groups #SNSC2025

Open bike night - Jane Evans with a poster titled: A Question of Perception -
How does the Scottish Mountain Biking Community view its ecological and environmental impact & what are the implications for Site Managers with regards to future engagement and education? #SNSC2025

Fish-ion impossible - Mateus Henrique Amaral and Leandro Luiz Giatti with a poster titled: Environmental conflicts between small-scale fishers and the energy sector in Brazilian coastal food systems #SNSC2025

It’s all about the process! - Adelaide Sander with a poster titled: Restoring nature by understanding decisions #SNSC2025

Then and now - plant atlas 2020 with a poster titled: understanding changes in Scotlands flora #SNSC2025

Understanding a nature based solution - Isla Kendall with a poster titled: what makes a nature-based solution? #SNSC2025

Talk on the wild side - Christina Mazilu with a poster titled: Evolving meanings of ‘wild’ and ‘rewilding’ in Scotland #SNSC2025

To tree or not to tree - Sarah Mullally with a poster titled: To plant or not to plant? Efficacy and impacts of woodland expansion in upland soils. #SNSC2025

Nothing grey about these partridges - Lara Auld and Georgia Gargett with a poster titled: A decade of partridges at Balgonie #SNSC2025

Beavers forced to have a ready meal when near humans - Alice turner with a poster titled: Human disturbance affects beaver foraging #SNSC2025

Ticking off the poster session - William McLellan with a poster titled: Humans shape their own exposure to ticks through a "landscape of fear" #SNSC2025

Now it’s time for the posters #SNSC2025

Our final keynote talk of the conference comes from the fantastic Dr Janet Fisher at the University of Edinburgh. Her research highlights the challenges in achieving outcomes for people nature and climate! #SNSC2025

Forget about Alan, it’s time for the Grey Partridge! - Our last student talk of the conference comes from Georgia Gargett and Lara Auld who are highlighting a conservation management approach for grey partridge recovery from the Balgonie Estate #SNSC2025

Stop the noise! 🔇- Jess Lister is highlighting the knowledge gaps and challenges surrounding anthropogenic noise research in freshwater systems #SNSC2025

Forget the pearls, it’s all about the microbiome! - our next talk comes from Alanna McCallum who is using nanopore sequencing to explore the microbiome of freshwater pearl mussels #SNSC2025

A killer talk! - Grace Brady talking us through how prey mapping of Atlantic herring can be used to inform killer whale foraging ecology! #SNSC2025

Our second student keynote of the week comes from Alex Currie. His PhD research looked at using a multidisciplinary approach to understand the perception of peatland restoration and how this influences the likelihood of uptake from communities in Lewis #SNSC2025

Can you hear the difference? - Our final beaver talk of the day comes from Alex Adams who is using bioacoustics to understand the impacts of beavers on birds and bats! 🦫🐦‍⬛🦇 #SNSC2025

Could beavers be a solution to pollinator declines? - continuing the theme of beavers this morning, Patrick Cook talks about the role of beaver wetlands in creating heterogenous habitats for pollinators! 🦫🐝 #SNSC2025

A dam good talk from Emily Simpson @emofthewoods.bsky.social on the role of beaver ponds in sediment trapping and recognising beaver ponds for carbon accreditation 🦫 #SNSC2025

First up on day 2 of the conference we have David Bryan talking us through monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from ponds #SNSC2025