Tag: climate change

Forests, Plant and soil ecology, Research summaries

Passive tree diversity increase after intense forest exploitation? A matter of drought-tolerant and animal-dispersed species

Miriam Selwyn discusses their latest study’s findings, conducted with colleagues. Results find ca. 30 years of passive tree species diversity increase following intense forest management release. This is largely thought to be led by animal-dispersed and higher drought tolerant species in the context of increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitations. Why does diversity matter? Tree species diversity is considered one of the main attributes promoting forest … Continue reading Passive tree diversity increase after intense forest exploitation? A matter of drought-tolerant and animal-dispersed species

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Careers, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Oliver Wilson: Assessing the exposure of UK habitats to 20th- and 21st-century climate change, and its representation in ecological monitoring schemes

Shortlisted for the 2023 Southwood Prize Oliver Wilson explains how he, along with co-author Oliver Pescott, generated a metric of climate change exposure by quantifying the change in observed historical and predicted future conditions. They then compared patterns of climate change exposure in locations sampled by ecological monitoring schemes to random samples from wider habitats. Climate change and ecological monitoring We’re living in a time … Continue reading Oliver Wilson: Assessing the exposure of UK habitats to 20th- and 21st-century climate change, and its representation in ecological monitoring schemes

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Careers, Practitioners, Research summaries, Themed collections, Video

Video: Building partners in high altitudes through participatory action research

Shortlisted for the Chico Mendes Prize 2023 Lead author Munib Khanyari talks us through his team’s journey through the high altitudes of Changthang in trans-Himalayan India to co-design conservation interventions that benefit the communities who live alongside the wildlife. Community-based conservation, despite being more inclusive than fortress conservation, has been criticized for being a top-down implementation of external ideas brought to local communities for conservation’s … Continue reading Video: Building partners in high altitudes through participatory action research

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Desert and semi-arid, Human-wildlife interactions, Plant and soil ecology, Research summaries

Climate challenges in savannas: How herbivore communities chart the course

Dr. Katja Irob summarises their latest study, conducted alongside colleagues, which analysed the impacts of climate change and rangeland management on degradation in Savanna ecosystems of southern Africa. Findings suggest that, in the face of climate uncertainty, farmers’ most effective strategy for securing their livelihoods and ecosystem stability is to integrate browsers and apply management of mixed herbivore communities.  Savannas as hot spots of environmental … Continue reading Climate challenges in savannas: How herbivore communities chart the course

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Conferences and events, Policy, Practitioners, The Applied Ecologist community

Strengthening skills for sustainability: Implications for ecology and ecologists

The Centre for Environment and Sustainability (CES) and the Institute for Sustainability at the University of Surrey were delighted that this years’ Annual Roland Clift Lecture was given by Gary Kass. In this special post, Gary Kass shares his insights on the capacities and competencies needed for environment and sustainability. Until October 2023, Gary Kass was Deputy Director for Foresight and Innovation at Natural England… Continue reading Strengthening skills for sustainability: Implications for ecology and ecologists

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The Applied Ecologist community, Themed collections

Key Concepts in Ecology: Life and the physical environment 

This blog post on ‘Life and the physical environment’ is part of the BES ‘Key Concepts in Ecology’ series, designed to help ecologists in learning the key topics in ecology! Take a look at the full series for a list of key topics you might typically find in an ecology textbook, each providing a quick introduction to the topic, and a list of suggested papers … Continue reading Key Concepts in Ecology: Life and the physical environment 

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Forests, Freshwater, Practitioners, Research summaries

Drought in Scotland? Projections affect specialist habitats and species

Fairlie Kirkpatrick Baird from NatureScot discusses their latest research that reveals the increasing risk of extreme drought in Scotland and how that may affect key habitats and their species. One of the first things that comes to mind when people think of Scotland, alongside the beautiful mountains and the Loch Ness Monster, is the terrible weather. Scotland is famously wet, and as Highlanders we agree … Continue reading Drought in Scotland? Projections affect specialist habitats and species

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Agriculture, Careers, Desert and semi-arid, Human-wildlife interactions, Practitioners, Research summaries, Themed collections

Research stories: Building partners in high altitudes through participatory action research

Shortlisted for the Chico Mendes Prize 2023 Lead author Munib Khanyari takes us through his team’s journey through the high altitudes of Changthang in trans-Himalayan India to co-design conservation interventions that benefit the communities who live alongside the wildlife. A video presentation about the study can also be found here. “We have solutions, but often we don’t have the ability to operationalise it”, whispered the Acho … Continue reading Research stories: Building partners in high altitudes through participatory action research

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Careers, Monitoring and methods, Practitioners, Research summaries, Themed collections

Cheap microclimate sensor networks in the wild

Shortlisted for the Georgina Mace Prize 2023 Author Lina K. Mühlbauer summarises her team’s latest study exploring the use of Arduinos as a novel cost-effective method for microclimate monitoring in remote systems. Why measure microclimate? A great challenge of our times is to predict and mitigate the impacts of global climate change on the world’s ecosystems. To do so, a lot of information is needed … Continue reading Cheap microclimate sensor networks in the wild

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