Summary
Why do we monitor woodland mammals?
Assessing woodland ecological condition is required for national and international obligations and to guide decisions that support biodiversity and ecological resilience. Mammal diversity is a key component of woodland condition, as mammals can have an extensive influence on ecosystem functioning both positively (e.g. population regulation of other species, pollination) and negatively (e.g. disease, tree damage, indigenous biodiversity).
Survey approach
Traditional mammal surveys rely on camera‑trapping and live trapping, which are invasive, costly, labour‑intensive, and limited in both taxa covered and scale. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding offers a non‑invasive alternative, detecting mammals from genetic material they leave in soils or water (e.g. skin, hair, mucus, faeces).
What can be learned?
Integrating mammal eDNA into the National Forest Inventory (NFI) monitoring framework will provide cost‑effective, large‑scale estimates of mammal species richness and distribution, improving monitoring of woodland ecological condition across Britain.
Research Objectives
This project aimed to integrate eDNA metabarcoding into the NFI monitoring scheme as:
- a tool for routine monitoring of woodland mammal biodiversity
- a measure of woodland ecological condition (alongside data collected in the Soil eDNA Biodiversity project)
This as achieved through:
- large-scale, cross-region sampling of mammals within the NFI monitoring scheme using eDNA metabarcoding techniques to identify species in up to 100 NFI sample plots.
- obtaining NFI data and easy-to-capture metadata for a range of variables (e.g. woodland type, stand structure & composition, management practice) to consider alongside mammal community data for each of the NFI sample plots.
Future work: Investigate the potential of integrating this dataset with wider NCEA NFI+ and concurrent NFI survey data to create a powerful spatio‑temporal resource spanning multiple above‑ and below‑ground taxa, including the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) and Red List species (e.g. all UK bat species). This integration could unlock new insights into how woodland structure shapes biodiversity across woodland types and landscapes, helping to drive more targeted, evidence‑led forest management to support biodiversity recovery.
Latest Update
We are preparing to publish our analysis ready data (ARD) covering all; survey years (2024-26) in the Autumn of 2026.
An interactive dashboard for data exploration is also planned for later this year so watch this space.
