The most viewed CEH news stories & blog posts of 2014

To round off the year, a little insight into the CEH news stories and blog posts you were reading the most in 2014 (in reverse order):

Top 10 most viewed news stories:

 

10: Notable persistent floodplain inundation - January 2014 Hydrological Summary for the UK
The year got off to a very wet start.

9: Adult vendace, Britain’s rarest freshwater fish, found in Bassenthwaite Lake
Good news in the late summer for British wildlife

8. City life key to harlequin ladybird invasion
Intriguing results from new ladybird research

7. Top 30 high risk invasive alien species with potential to threaten British biodiversity identified by scientists
CEH scientists led a horizon-scanning exercise of high risk invasive alien species.

6. Exceptional rainfall, floods and gales – February 2014 Hydrological Summary for the UK
News of heavy rain and storms continued to grip the nation.

5. Public help needed to map fungus infecting invasive ladybird
An appeal for help was well-received

4. Nitrogen on the table: pollution, climate and land use
A new report quantified for the first time how much our food choices affect pollutant nitrogen emissions, climate change and land use across Europe.

3. The Big Bumblebee Discovery: large-scale citizen science!
A citizen science project for schools met with enthusiasm

2. New free practical guide covers when and how to use citizen science for monitoring the environment
Citizen science again a popular topic for our readers

1. The recent storms and floods in the UK – new report
The extreme winter weather was the hot topic throughout the year.

 

Top 5 most viewed blog posts

 

5. Update on the UK hydrological situation
Demand for hydrological news was very high at the turn of the new year.

4. New iRecord Butterflies app available
The new app from CEH's Biological Records Centre working with University of Bristol and Butterfly Conservation colleagues was a big success.

3. Rainfall, UK floods and the potential impacts of climate change?
The severity of the winter weather posed several questions for our scientists.

2. UK butterfly statistics 2013 - the story behind the headlines
Delving deeper into the numbers produced by the long-term UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme

1. Record breakers? Climate change, statistics and the recent UK floods
More information on the Met Office and CEH report which looked at the 2013/14 winter weather.

You can read more about CEH research and news over the past twelve months in our annual review of the year on the CEH News Centre. Just a final thanks to all our contributors and, of course, to our readers. Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year!

Paulette Burns and Barnaby Smith

Invasive alien quagga mussel arrives in UK

The invasive alien quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) has arrived in the UK. The mussel was found in Wraysbury Reservoir and the Wraysbury River, a tributary of the River Colne, near Egham, Surrey.

Top threat

Earlier this year a CEH-led invasive alien species horizon scanning exercise identified the quagga mussel as the top ranking threat to the UK’s biodiversity. The study, published in Global Change Biology, concluded that the mussel poses a high risk because it is an ecosystem engineer with the potential to disrupt the ecological function of freshwater environments.

The horizon scanning exercise was carried out by scientists from more than 20 research institutes and universities with expertise on invasive alien species. It aimed to collate a list of invasive alien species not yet established within Britain but anticipated to arrive, establish and threaten biodiversity within five years.

Invasive mussels clogging a propeller. As well as altering ecosystems, the quagga mussel
can block pipes, smother boat hulls and other structures,
Photo: Government of Alberta (CC-BY-NC-ND)

Other high risk species

In addition to the quagga mussel the exercise identified a further 29 high risk species, including the Sacred ibis, the Brush clawed shore crab, the Asian hornet, and the American water-milfoil. Since the paper was published, the first UK record of the non-native Asian shore crab (Hemigrapsus sanguineus), which was included in the top 10 potential threats, has been received.

How to record sightings

An alert system operates within the UK for invasive species. The latest species alerts can be found here. If you see the quagga mussel or any other invasive alien species of concern, please report your sighting via iRecord: http://www.brc.ac.uk/irecord/enter-non-native-records

More information

The horizon scanning exercise was published in the scientific journal Global Change Biology. The paper is open access.

Full paper reference: Helen E. Roy, Jodey Peyton, David C. Aldridge, Tristan Bantock, Tim M. Blackburn, Robert Britton, Paul Clark, Elizabeth Cook, Katharina Dehnen-Schmutz, Trevor Dines, Michael Dobson, François Edwards, Colin Harrower, Martin C. Harvey, Dan Minchin, David G. Noble, Dave Parrott, Michael J.O. Pocock, Chris D. Preston, Sugoto Roy, Andrew Salisbury, Karsten Schönrogge, Jack Sewell, Richard H. Shaw , Paul Stebbing, Alan J. A. Stewart, Kevin J. Walker (2014) Horizon-scanning for invasive alien species with the potential to threaten biodiversity in Great Britain. Global Change Biology DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12603 (open access)

CEH news story:  Top 30 high risk invasive alien species with potential to threaten British biodiversity identified by scientists