Lucy P Smith

Research Officer, Wetland Bioscience

About me

I have always been fascinated with nature and how I can discover more about it. This led me to choose to undertake a Zoology degree at Swansea University. After graduating in summer 2019, I decided to take a year out of education to gain a year of experience. Amazingly, I was chosen to become WWT’s Conservation Evidence Placement volunteer. This gave me a great insight into the broad range within conservation evidence, what it can achieve and discover how much I love research. After my year was up, I started a part-time Masters by Research at University of Gloucestershire in collaboration with WWT in environmental sciences, focusing on rural ponds and their ecological condition. Now I am a Research Officer in the Wetland Bioscience team.

My role

Currently, I mostly work to gather data to evidence the benefits of wetland features. This baseline data can be used to compare against after we have completed conservation works allowing us to ensure our interventions are positively affecting biodiversity and the habitat as a whole. I collect the data via ecological surveys, water quality analysis and desk-based evidence using software such as QGIS.

In early 2023, I completed my Masters by Research at University of Gloucestershire in collaboration with WWT which developed a method to rapidly identify ponds across a landscape using remote sensing which we are now thinking of applying to some of our work.

Experience and interests

• Digitising and analysing spatial data using QGIS
• Ecological surveys: bats, Riverfly, great crested newts, water quality
• MoRPh trained
• Labratory work: water quality and eDNA analysis

Publications

An evidence‑based study mapping the decline in freshwater ponds in the Severn Vale catchment in the UK between 1900 and 2019. https://rdcu.be/cXrul Return to meet the team