Natural History Museum launches new project for Earth Day

The Natural History Museum is calling on nature lovers to help with a major new community science project to help the UK’s insect population.

The ‘Nature Overheard’ project is set to investigate the link between noise pollution and insect populations. Volunteers are being called on to help make it one of the biggest such projects in the UK.

People are being urged to record wildlife recordings next to a roadside to help scientists to gather vital data and “better understand the natural world”. The study is taking place on Earth Day on April 22.

It is feared that insect declines are being seen due to a combination of “habitat loss, increases of pests and disease, climate change and increased use of pesticides”. Scientists say many insects make sounds to communicate with each other, but these are being affected by increased noise pollution as Britain becomes more built up.

The public’s recordings, known as “community science”, will help scientists ascertain where insect populations are struggling and where they are thriving. Their data will help to paint a nationwide picture on how insects are impacted by noise pollution.

It is hoped that the study will help to support road developers, councils, and others to work together to make roads better for nature in ongoing and incoming developments around the country.

The idea has come from a museum appeal for pupils across the UK aged between 11 and 14. The museum asked them to share their own research questions to investigate nature in the urban environment. The important question, ‘how can we make roads better for nature?’ was chosen, which has led to this study.

The museum says anyone can get involved by:

1.     Picking a street or road to survey

2.     Recording audio for five minutes — capturing both the sounds of nature and human-generated noise

3.     Walking along a road for 10 metres recording any insects found; these might include bees, wasps, ants, hoverflies, flies, beetles, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers and crickets

4.     Submitting data via the online recording form

Ed Baker, Acoustic Biology Researcher at the Natural History Museum said: “The data from Nature Overheard will form an essential tool in unlocking new solutions to the decline in insect populations and further science-informed nature recovery in the UK. Focusing on acoustic data is a key way to monitor biodiversity and make our roads better for nature.”