Surveys & Results
Here we outline the plant and insect surveys and provide some of the key findings from the surveys at the Wildlife Homes.
The aim of the surveys was to use simple methods which were easily replicable but gave some indication of the sites vegetation and invertebrate fauna.
Plant Surveys
The plant surveys were conducted on the sites in 5m circular plots. The number of points surveyed depended on the size of the site. Plants were categorised as native, introduced or invasive based on Royal Botanic Garden’s Plants of the World and CABI’s Compendium of Invasive Species.
This infographic outlines the survey and was used to promote the project.
Here we provide an overview of the results. If you would like to know more about the data collected, please contact Catherine Wensink cwensink@ukotcf.org
Plant Survey Results
Here are the results of the surveys conducted . In 2022 baseline surveys were completed then in 2024 the sites were re-surveyed.
Key Findings from Plant surveys
Overall, 384 plant species were recorded at the Wildlife Home Sites. The top 10 plant species recorded in each of the categories “Native, Introduced and Invasive” are summarised below.
A summary report of Key Findings can. be seen here
Insect Surveys
For the insect surveys we used a citizen science method developed by the Open Air Laboratory (see Bates et al, 2015) which has been used for citizen science projects in the UK. This was adapted for use on Montserrat as a trial.
There were limitations with the method, for example on Montserrat, beetles are likely to be performing many functions such as pollination, recycling nutrients etc, however they are not included in the OPAL classification as such.
Another limitation is that there are large data gaps in what is known about invertebrates on Montserrat, which may not be addressed by citizen science projects alone. The project addressed these also (see here).
Insect Survey Results
Key Findings from the Insect Surveys
Overall, the insect surveys were intended to be a snapshot of the site in order to identify what insect groups were present and what could be done to encourage more pollinators given their importance for a number of ecosystem services.
The citizen science surveys have been enhanced by additional sampling at the sites using other professional sampling techniques (sweep net sampling etc). This is important as there is still much to be discovered about Montserrat invertebrate fauna and many new species to be described, which requires professional taxonomist. This takes time and so this research will continue. A running checklist is being maintained in the medium term by the Species Recovery Trust. In addition, the MNT and other interested persons continues to use iNaturalist as a way to continue to explore the islands invertebrate fauna.
The plot shows the results of the surveys in 2022 and 2024 (green is baseline data collected in 2022; yellow is re-survey in 2024). Note: to ensure compatible data, only six sites are used in this analysis. The data is organised by functional groups of invertebrates. These are:
- Herbivores (e.g snail, slugs and true bugs)
- Detritivores (e.g worms, ants, earwigs, woodlice, millipedes)
- Pollinators (e.g bees and wasps, butterflies and moths)
- Predators (e.g spiders, centipedes)
- Not classed (e.g beetles, true flies, crickets and grasshoppers)
In the project, we were interested in looking at the number of pollinators on the sites over time. You can see from the plot that for WH08, WH12 and WH13 the number of pollinators increased. If we look at WH06, WH07 and WH10 we see that the results are skewed by the number of bagworms (which turn into moths) present at the sites, which are technically classed as pollinators.
Other noteworthy finds include the decline in scale insects (classed here as herbivores). A decline in these, particularly as they invade food crops, is advantageous and one which was encouraged by the Project Team. This is because there are some which are considered a pest and so needed to be controlled using low-cost, non-chemical techniques such as soapy water.
Ants and termites in the detritivore group would include fire ants. These are a particular problem for Montserrat (given their sting and impact on native fauna) and so control of these was necessary and a decline welcomed by the Adopters.
For more information on this please contact Catherine Wensink cwensink@ukotcf.org