Simon Butler

My research aims to develop and enhance the evidence-base explaining continued global biodiversity losses and supporting the targeted delivery of conservation management measures designed to halt them. I use a range of observational, experimental and modelling approaches to address the mechanistic links between land-use change and biodiversity health and to identify potential synergies and conflicts between competing demands for space, particularly in agricultural and woodland systems.

The pure science foundations of my research are explicitly linked to applied endpoints; I use this research to identify appropriate preventative or mitigation measures to conserve biodiversity and to facilitate the development of sustainable, multi-functional systems. I am also interested in the development of objective frameworks for selecting indicator species.