Category: Research summaries

Careers, Forests, Research summaries

Lovasoa Rakotozafy: How large native trees and leaf litter promote amphibian diversity in Malagasy agroforests

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview Agricultural expansion is the main driver of forest loss in many tropical regions including Madagascar, leading to increasingly fragmented habitats and forcing many species to persist in human-dominated landscapes. This creates a major challenge: how can we conserve biodiversity while supporting local livelihoods? Agroforestry is widely promoted as a solution to reconcile conservation and agriculture, but … Continue reading Lovasoa Rakotozafy: How large native trees and leaf litter promote amphibian diversity in Malagasy agroforests

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Research summaries, Careers

Emily Warner: Integrated above- and below-ground ecological monitoring for nature-based solutions

Shortlisted for the Georgina Mace Prize About the research Overview Our research produced an ecological monitoring framework for practitioners developing nature-based solutions (NbS) projects. Biodiversity should be at the heart of NbS, underpinning the benefits they provide to humans. Being able to effectively track above- and below-ground biodiversity outcomes of projects is key, but can be an overwhelming task for practitioners, faced with a wide … Continue reading Emily Warner: Integrated above- and below-ground ecological monitoring for nature-based solutions

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Careers, Forests, Research summaries

Skjold Alsted Søndergaard: Year-round grazing as a driver of plant diversity

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview In temperate Europe, open ecosystems are typically managed through mechanical cutting or seasonal grazing, practices the EU subsidizes to the tune of 6 billion euros annually. Despite these massive financial efforts, protected grasslands are still losing species. My shortlisted paper, based on field data collected during my Master’s and realized during my PhD at Aarhus University, … Continue reading Skjold Alsted Søndergaard: Year-round grazing as a driver of plant diversity

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Careers, Coastal and marine, Research summaries

Abigail Keller: Managing a marine invasive species in a changing world

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview When should an environmental manager stop resisting change and accept a new ecological trajectory? This question will become a hallmark of natural resource management under global climate change, particularly for a marine invasive species like the European green crab. While this crab species can drive profound ecological change, it can quickly recolonize after removal, leaving many … Continue reading Abigail Keller: Managing a marine invasive species in a changing world

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Careers, Research summaries

Luisana Barrios: Archetypes of nature-based solutions for farming in the North York Moors National Park

Shortlisted for the Chico Mendes Prize About the research Overview We investigate how Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have been applied within the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme in the North York Moors National Park, analysing how different interventions contribute to biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate adaptation. Our research identifies common archetypes and approaches across 31 projects, such as ecological restoration, water quality enhancement, tree planting and … Continue reading Luisana Barrios: Archetypes of nature-based solutions for farming in the North York Moors National Park

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Research summaries, Careers

Noelia Valderrama Bhraunxs – Great minds map alike: Citizen science can stand next to expert data (and why that matters for schistosomiasis)

Shortlisted for the Georgina Mace Prize About the research Overview Neglected tropical diseases often follow an uncomfortable rule: the people most affected are the ones least covered by surveillance. And if you cannot measure risk, you end up reacting late, or not at all. Schistosomiasis is a clear example. It affects more than 250 million people worldwide and disproportionately impacts people living in poverty. Around … Continue reading Noelia Valderrama Bhraunxs – Great minds map alike: Citizen science can stand next to expert data (and why that matters for schistosomiasis)

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Research summaries, Careers, Forests

Xiaoling Wang: Using forest inventory and LiDAR observations to uncover plant traits cooling and humidifying effects

Shortlisted for the 2025 Southwood Prize About the research Overview Our paper investigates how to maximize the cooling effect of urban forests. We wanted to know whether a tree’s leaf traits (like nutrient content) are more important than its physical structure (like canopy size) for reducing air temperature and increasing humidity in cities. By combining traditional forest surveys with advanced LiDAR technology in Shanghai, we sought … Continue reading Xiaoling Wang: Using forest inventory and LiDAR observations to uncover plant traits cooling and humidifying effects

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Research summaries, Plain language summaries

Farmlands near coastal wetlands experience less cyclone damage

Coastal wetlands, including mangrove forests and saltmarshes, are known to reduce coastal erosion and flooding during storms. However, limited studies have investigated whether these ecosystems influence how tropical cyclones affect nearby farmlands. Farmlands are highly vulnerable to extreme weather events predicted with climate change, threatening food security and regional economies. Our study examined patterns of flooding and crop cover change on coastal sugarcane land in … Continue reading Farmlands near coastal wetlands experience less cyclone damage

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Plain language summaries, Research summaries

Using seabird migration routes as a tool for ocean conservation

Protecting migratory species requires countries to work together across the full routes these animals travel each year. For land and waterbirds, the idea of “global flyways”, the broad paths birds follow between breeding and non‑breeding areas, has been an effective way to organise international conservation. Flyways help unite governments, researchers, and conservation groups, guide research and funding, and coordinate long‑term action. Recently, scientists have identified … Continue reading Using seabird migration routes as a tool for ocean conservation

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Research summaries, Plain language summaries

Not all disturbances are alike: Exploring patterns and shifts in European forest regimes

Forests are naturally shaped by events such as fires, windstorms, or insect outbreaks, known altogether as forest disturbances. The long-term characteristics of these events is defined as disturbance regime; and their trends depend on multiple factors, including site conditions (e.g., climate and soil), disturbance and management legacies, and the specific causal agents present in the region. In this study, we characterised the main disturbance regimes … Continue reading Not all disturbances are alike: Exploring patterns and shifts in European forest regimes

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