2026 Viking Bursary recipient to use Forest Trapping Network to monitor biodiversity
Beatrix Ward is an MSc Entomology student at Harper Adams University whose project investigates whether bycatch from the Forest Trapping Network can double as a biodiversity monitoring tool.
Beatrix Ward, an MSc Entomology student at Harper Adams University, has been awarded the RFS Viking Bursary to support her research into whether insects incidentally caught in forest pest traps could provide meaningful data on woodland biodiversity.
Conducted in collaboration with Forest Research, the project focuses on the Forest Trapping Network (FTN), a Britain-wide surveillance system designed to detect priority pest and quarantine species. While the network serves a well-established pest monitoring function, the traps also collect large quantities of non-target insects. This bycatch has, until now, gone largely unanalysed as a potential source of ecological information.
Beatrix’s research will examine specimens collected from Scots pine and Sitka spruce stands across Scotland, Wales and England, with a particular focus on Coleoptera and parasitoid Hymenoptera. The study will assess whether certain insect groups can act as indicators of pest presence or absence and explore how existing monitoring infrastructure could contribute to broader biodiversity assessment without requiring additional sampling effort.
“As our forests face increasing pressures from invasive pests, climate change, and biodiversity loss, I was passionate about developing a project that could help inform future long-term monitoring projects,” said Beatrix.
“Being awarded the Viking Bursary is a huge honour, which will enable me to spend essential time at Forest Research’s Northern Research Station processing samples and identifying specimens that are crucial for my project.”
The bursary will fund travel between Beatrix’s base in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire and Forest Research’s Northern Research Station in Roslin, Edinburgh, where laboratory facilities and FTN samples are held. Intensive laboratory work is planned across a five-month period from April to August 2026.
“The support the bursary will provide will not only help make this research possible, but also represents an important investment in my development as an early-career entomologist,” she added. “I am incredibly grateful to the Royal Forestry Society for their support and generosity.”
The findings are expected to inform future forest monitoring approaches, with the potential to maximise the ecological value of existing surveillance programmes at no additional sampling cost.
Applications for next year’s Viking Bursary will open in 2027. RFS members will receive first notification through our bi-monthly newsletter.
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