Many species are on the move in a desperate attempt to adapt to changing climatic conditions, and those moves are expected to increasingly pose a substantial, yet quite understated and under-researched, challenge to human society. Shifts in species distributions are already happening: terrestrial species, for example, have been shown to move poleward by 17 km on average each decade, while marine species move by 72 km. The arrivals of these new species in established communities can create chaos, disturbing predation, herbivory, host-plant associations, competition, and mutualistic interactions, and can ultimately reduce the delivery of those benefits we currently derive from nature. The Institute of Zoology, the research branch of ZSL, is particularly interested in developing research helping to understand and mitigate the impact of climate change on biodiversity and society. To that effect, we are here seeking to recruit an intern to work on data gathering and database building for a project on the impact of climate change on species redistribution in the UK.
