Red squirrels
In my current postdoctoral role at the Institute of Zoology, ZSL, I am employing structured decision-making (SDM) to help develop a national recovery strategy for red squirrels in England. Red squirrels are an Endangered native species in England that face multiple threats including competition with grey squirrels, the squirrelpox virus transmitted by grey squirrels, other infectious diseases, and habitat loss and fragmentation. Conservation actions are varied with some, primarily grey squirrel management, being less palatable to regional and national communities. Making decisions about how best to conserve red squirrels is, therefore, a complex task. The SDM approach being applied to this situation is used to methodically think through difficult decisions and allows for decisions to be informed by scientific evidence alongside the values and risk attitudes of the people involved. This research is funded by Natural England and conducted in collaboration with the UK Squirrel Accord.
Dr Bethany R. Smith 