Student Education News

Provision of expert advice and promotion of evidence based conservation practices

Professor John Altringham's research on the conservation of bat species has promoted the need for evidence based conservation practices

Professor John Altringham has conducted conservation research and been involved in conservation for many years, and is held in high esteem in the conservation community. His research on the conservation of bats has had wider influence in promoting the need for evidence-based conservation practices. Professor Altringham’s recent work has highlighted the major effects roads have on bats and has demonstrated that some of the commonly used mitigation practices (such as “bat bridges”) are actually ineffective. His team are currently studying bat movements around roads to help design structures that are more effective at making newly built roads more ‘permeable’. Current research also has the broader aim of increasing our understanding of how bats are constrained by our heavily altered landscapes. As part of this work he is collaborating with national parks and AONBs in the north to develop detailed distribution maps for bats, based on an understanding of their use of habitat.

He works with a number of bodies with an interest in conservation, receiving funding from NERC; DEFRA; The Leverhulme Trust; several conservation charities, including the People's Trust for Endangered Species; government conservation organisations including Natural England, the Countryside Council for Wales, and the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Park Authorities. He has served as a Public Inquiry Expert Witness and is regularly consulted on conservation planning issues. He has run training courses for Natural England, the Lake District National Park Authority, the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, and the National Trust. Professor Altringham is currently a member of the National Trust’s Natural Environment Panel and a member of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Biodiversity Forum.

1st November 2012