Conker Tree Science

From 2010 we have been inviting people to take part in real science to discover more about conker tree health by taking part in our missions. From 2014 we have set up a recording page for the leaf-miner, and have set up the missions as stand-alone activities, ideal for school children. Britain’s conker trees are under attack by a tiny alien species of leaf mining m oths which are not naturally found in the area or habitat.

Scope:
Horse-chestnut ('conker') trees
Taxonomy:
Deciduous tree
Habitat:
Farmland, Towns and Gardens, Woodland
Organisations:
Conker Tree Science was started by and is run by two ecologists, Michael Pocock and Darren Evans. Project support was provided by Nancy Jennings and Huw Jeffries. The distribution of thehrose-chestnut leaf-miner before 2010 was collated by Forest Research and is used with their permission.
Funding body:
Conker Tree Science was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. The Leafwatch Smartphone app was funded by JISC and developed through the NatureLocator project. The pilot projects leading to Conker Tree Science were funded by Research Councils UK, the British Ecological Society and the University of Bristol.
Contact:
Contact link online

How to get involved

Take part in recording: Record damage caused by the leaf-mining moth. We are especially interested in its spread northwards, so would love photographic records from north of a line from Newcastle to Lancaster.

Find out about the missions: Find out about the missions which ran from 2010-2013 and read about the discoveries in a scientific paper.

Teachers: Find out how Conker Tree Science can be used in class projects.

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