Ecological Services
Ecological Services
BSL defines Ecology as the scientific study of processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interactions among organisms and the interactions between organisms and their environment.
Understanding such ecological functions or relationships for an area/site is critical to design effective and efficient management strategies and plans that could amongst others help alleviate potential threats, risks and impacts onto biodiversity. These management strategies could be species-specific, or habitat and/or ecosystem-based depending on the most appropriate mechanisms identified for the alleviation.
We support clients in this regard and provide a range of ecological services including but not limited to;
Biodiversity surveys and analysis
We undertake a number of activities including but not limited to; Designing and implementing ecological baseline and monitoring surveys of all taxa; Mammals, Birds, Plants, Herptiles (Reptiles and Amphibians) and Invertebrates (fisheries and arthropods) in all the different ecosystem types. This also includes aspects of Behavioral ecology, genetics, stress assessments, amongst others. We also design and implement specialized services such as Wildlife telemetry (i.e. animal collaring and/or tagging) and Camera trapping in various habitat and ecosystem types.
We also apply cutting-edge conservation tools and techniques to understand species distributions through Species Distribution Modeling, by use of tools as such as; Geographic Information System (GIS), Maxent, Statistical Program R, Program PRESENCE, Program DISTANCE amongst others.
Vegetation, Land-use/Land-cover mapping
We offer services of assessing, analyzing and mapping vegetation/habitat types, land-use and/or land-cover types either on a small scale or large landscape scale. We apply both remote sensing and field surveys. We undertake field surveys to identify and map land-use/cover types, and vegetation communities. We also assess and analyze drivers and impacts of land-use/cover change over time.We also undertake botanical surveys to identify plant species, determine their conservation statuses (threatened, rarity or widespread) and provide an assessment on the overall condition of the area. In addition to vegetation mapping, we also do habitat preference, suitability, quality and condition assessments to provide further planning and decision making for development projects.
Ecological risk and impact assessment
We conduct ecological risk and impact assessment to successfully predict, evaluate, interpret, and communicate ecological risks and potential impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems services and natural resources, associated with either a development project or other environmental stressors such as chemicals, land-use change, climate change, and invasive species.We gather robust data on all these features to determine the flora and fauna, ecosystem services and/or natural resources are at risk, which ones are of high priority, their levels of exposures and what needs to be protected. We can design and collect both baseline and monitoring data. We subsequently design practical mitigation measures to avert the risks/impacts, and develop corresponding Management Plans, including the Monitoring and Evaluation Plans.
Environmental sensitivity mapping
We survey and map sensitive areas/features to help strategic decision making in planning of development activities or conservation. We do both field surveys and desktop analyzes of geo-referenced data, including remote sensing and map sensitive environmental and social features within an area.Environmental sensitivity mapping is useful in land-use planning for minerals, oil and gas, agriculture and other forms of development. It is also essential for planning response to incidents such as accidental oil spills. The Sensitivity map also informs cumulative/in-combination effects and supports formulation of spatially-specific mitigation measures.
Restoration and rehabilitation of degraded landscapes
We undertake restoration and/or rehabilitation of degraded areas, landscapes, and wetlands, to restore the biodiversity, ecological functioning and the supply of ecosystem goods and services. We design and implement the required Restoration plans and procedures to guide restoration process.We oversee and/or undertake the full restoration process from designing plans, undertaking restoration operations and monitoring of the restored sites, including stakeholder engagements and involvement of communities where necessary. Where required, we do corrective actions to ensure effective restoration to as close as possible the original state of the site. Our team has been involved in a number of restoration projects within Uganda majorly conducting wetland and forest restorations in many parts of the country.