.jpg.thumb.480.480.png)
Sensor Network and AWS-powered Data Ecosystem help unlock new biodiversity insights as Museum’s Woodland Soils Stayed 10°C Cooler During Recent Heatwave
The high-tech network of environmental sensors in the Natural History Museum’s (NHM) Nature Discovery Garden, supported by The Cadogan Charity, has collected more than 11 million data records in its first year onto the Museum’s pioneering AWS-powered Data Ecosystem. The garden is the most intensively studied urban nature site of its kind in the world, with a project now underway to expand the network into the NHM’s Evolution Garden, enabling further research and data collection.
Alongside thriving wildlife, the NHM gardens are teeming with over 50 sensors that collect real time data about the environment. This includes temperature and humidity readings to monitor microclimate variations, and underwater acoustic recordings from the pond, alongside the sounds of bird calls, and ambient urban noise such as traffic, all helping scientists understand how nature interacts with its surroundings.
Data from the sensor network feeds into the Museum’s pioneering Data Ecosystem, built using AWS cloud technologies, which allows millions of observations from sensors, imagery and other scientific sources to be collected, enriched, and shared to generate new insights into biodiversity and ecosystem change.
Ed Baker, Acoustic Biology Researcher at the Natural History Museum said: “We call the Museum gardens a living laboratory and the sensor network and AWS Data Ecosystem have made this a reality. By collecting millions of data points, from temperature and humidity to birdsong and underwater sound, we can build a far richer picture of how urban nature responds to various pressures and becomes more resilient to future environmental challenges.”
With millions of visitors and a central London location, the Museum offers a unique opportunity to study the dynamic relationship between people and nature. The sensor data is currently being used to support a range of research projects, including work on urban heat. During June’s heatwave, soil temperature sensors within the woodland areas of the NHM gardens were 10 degrees cooler than in the paved areas within its Darwin Centre Courtyard, designed to highlight climate resilient planting. With this kind of sensor data, NHM scientists can investigate how different urban environments respond to rising temperatures and how nature-based interventions help mitigate urban heat.
Knowing that shade, soil moisture, permeable surfaces and trees can help cool cities, scientists are now working to better understand what works best, from plant species and ground cover to the impact of nearby hard surfaces, building an evidence base for climate adaptation from a single garden to cities around the world.
Hilary Tam, Sustainability Leader, EMEA, at Amazon Web Services (AWS) said: "The Natural History Museum is showing what’s possible when science and cloud technology come together. As the sensor network grows, the AWS-powered Data Ecosystem is able to scale to enable researchers to connect millions of environmental observations, revealing patterns that would otherwise remain invisible. That creates exciting opportunities - not just for biodiversity research, but also to help build more resilient cities, infrastructure and communities in the future.”
Long-term monitoring studies conducted since 1995 have recorded more than 3,500 species using the garden, with the blackbird being the most frequently observed. Since the gardens reopened in 2024, a further 90 species not previously recorded have been identified including the Emperor Moth and Small Red-Eyed Damselfly. Other research projects underway include investigating the ecosystem-wide impacts of positive conservation interventions following the translocation of pond material from the former Wildlife Garden to its new home in the Nature Discovery Garden.
Expanding the sensor network into the NHM’s Evolution Garden will support further research and data collection into the Data Ecosystem in an area of the Museum’s grounds with higher visitor footfall and a contrasting planting style. This will create opportunities to investigate how differences in visitor activity and habitat design influence biodiversity, while opening up new research questions and possibilities.
Ends
Press Contacts
Natural History Museum Press Office
Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5654 / 07799690151
Email: [email protected]
About The Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is a world-leading scientific research centre and the UK's number one visitor attraction.
We are welcoming more than 7 million people to our blockbuster exhibitions, galleries and gardens and our 350 scientists are finding solutions to the planetary emergency - from reversing biodiversity loss to resourcing the green economy.
With over 80 million specimens, spanning 4.5 billion years, the breadth and depth of the Museum’s collection make it the most important of its kind in the world.
Through our NHM150 campaign, we are raising an additional £150 million to transform our iconic building and meet our mission of creating over 100 million advocates for the planet by 2031 – the Museum’s 150th anniversary.