{"id":25236,"date":"2023-03-09T17:35:14","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T16:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=25236"},"modified":"2023-03-09T17:35:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T16:35:14","slug":"meet-the-scientist-helen-roy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2023\/03\/09\/meet-the-scientist-helen-roy\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the scientist: Helen Roy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
MEET THE SCIENTIST <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Helen Roy<\/h2>\n\n

Ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology on invasive non-native species <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Helen Roy (second from left) assists with potting plants at the St Helena endemic nursery for a restoration programme <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

\u201cEVEN AS A SMALL CHILD I WAS CAPTIVATED BY wildlife of all kinds,\u201d says Helen Roy. \u201cMy fascination with the interactions amongst species, the environment and people led to a career as an ecologist.\u201d Helen currently works at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) within the Biological Records Centre: \u201cI feel so privileged to work alongside amazing people on a treasure trove of datasets that only exist because of the dedication of volunteers sharing their wildlife observations.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

\u201cBiological invasions are one of the five main causes of biodiversity change worldwide, including contributing to species extinctions,\u201d states Helen. \u201cPeople are moving species around the world at an unprecedented rate and in some cases these species manage to sustain populations, spread and adversely impact biodiversity and ecosystems \u2013 these species are termed invasive non-native species.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe can help manage biological invasions by making predictions about which new arrivals could be the most damaging and so raise awareness and inform action.\u201d Helen has recently worked on a Conservation Letters <\/em>study about the future threat of biological invasions across the 14 UK overseas territories, which are home to high numbers of endemic species.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Invasive ants have caused declines in native species in abundance <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

\u201cWorking with amazing experts on each of the UK overseas territories, we compiled lots of information on thousands of species that could have the potential to be invasive within these unique places,\u201d she says. This information was reviewed and scores were assigned to each species for likelihood of introduction, establishment (sustaining populations) and impact. They were also ranked as high, medium or low priority. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe Asian green mussel was identified as a high risk for 12 of the UK overseas territories \u2013 it is spread through ballast water and ship hulls,\u201d explains Helen. \u201cIt can form dense colonies that clog power plant infrastructure, reduce the abundance of phytoplankton and outcompete other colony-forming sedentary marine species.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe lists derived through this research can contribute to ongoing biosecurity surveillance, which could in part be focused on the most likely introduction pathways,\u201d says the ecologist. \u201cFurthermore, authorities could undertake detailed risk assessments for some of the high-risk species.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Jo <\/strong>Price <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology on invasive non-native species <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"21","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"21","purple_seq_number":"2","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"2","purple_source_article":"article_21-2.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_21-2.xml","purple_source_issue":"Spring-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"Spring-2023","purple_external_id":"Spring-2023-21-2","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"Spring-2023-21-2","purple_issue_code":"|0000087242||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000087242||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.502","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.502","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.502","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.502","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"58d61955-0ac4-406c-83f1-ab6f21d86b70","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-03-09T16:35:22Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"e66e9b89-89db-4f95-b1d3-a15c1dd375ae","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-03-09T16:35:22Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A5m6biYnbT5Wx06FcHdN1rg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[25],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/0deed7cc-26e9-41f8-894f-940ff5dd51f2.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/0deed7cc-26e9-41f8-894f-940ff5dd51f2.jpg",1625,1133,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/0deed7cc-26e9-41f8-894f-940ff5dd51f2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/0deed7cc-26e9-41f8-894f-940ff5dd51f2-300x209.jpg",300,209,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/0deed7cc-26e9-41f8-894f-940ff5dd51f2-768x535.jpg",768,535,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/0deed7cc-26e9-41f8-894f-940ff5dd51f2-1024x714.jpg",800,558,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/0deed7cc-26e9-41f8-894f-940ff5dd51f2-1536x1071.jpg",1536,1071,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/03\/0deed7cc-26e9-41f8-894f-940ff5dd51f2.jpg",1625,1133,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology on invasive non-native species","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25236"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25871,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25236\/revisions\/25871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}