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Monthly Archives: October 2019

Amy Withers – NPIF Innovation Placement Programme

Amy Withers

Details of student and placement Name: Amy Withers Institution: Lancaster University Placement Host: AgSpace Ltd What motivated you to apply for the placement? I wanted to gain as much experience as possible during my PhD, and learn about the many different career paths available within science and research. Doing a placement allowed me to immerse […]

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Savanna Soil Carbon: investigating biological climate resilience

Savanna Soil Carbon: investigating biological climate resilience

Savanna ecosystems occupy 20% of the Earth’s land surface and are characterized by open canopied mixed woodland with a grassy understorey and seasonal rainfall in tropical or sub-tropical regions. They are also reservoirs of globally important biodiversity and carbon that are strongly influenced by the combined effects of grazing, fire and climate. Savannas are critical […]

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Adapting to extreme environments: Hybridisation and the evolution of contemporary heavy metal tolerance

Adapting to extreme environments: Hybridisation and the evolution of contemporary heavy metal tolerance

Climate change, urbanisation and exploitation of natural resources increasingly alter the environment, posing significant challenges for plants and animals. We have a poor understanding of how organisms will adapt to such rapid and widespread disruption, particularly in terms of their evolutionary responses. For species to adapt to such fast paced change, they will either need […]

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Hannah Markham

Hannah Markham

PhD: Sensitivity of aquatic insect eggs to elevated fine sediment and phosphate concentrations in rivers University of Nottingham Email Hannah Markham I graduated from the University of Nottingham with a first-class degree in Environmental Science and a keen interest in aquatic invertebrates. My main focus is the effects from anthropogenic activities that bridge terrestrial and […]

October 22, 2019 2019

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Filling the emissions gap: Investigating the dynamic contribution of soil volatile organic compounds to temperate and tropical forest atmospheres

Filling the emissions gap: Investigating the dynamic contribution of soil volatile organic compounds to temperate and tropical forest atmospheres

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) disrupt the chemical equilibrium of the atmosphere causing increased formation of air pollutants and greenhouse gases. The majority of these VOCs are known to originate from the world’s forests, but we cannot currently account for them all. Without knowledge of the precise sources, we cannot predict how they will respond to […]

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Diversity and evolution of facultative and constitutive C4 photosynthesis in sedges

Diversity and evolution of facultative and constitutive C4 photosynthesis in sedges

Plants have evolved different versions of photosynthesis to maintain efficiency under diverse environmental conditions. While the vast majority of plants use C3 photosynthesis, some plants evolved a turbo-charged form of photosynthesis called C4, which is used by our most productive food and bioenergy crops. The C4 system evolved from the ancestral C3 type via a […]

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Nitrogen controls on ecosystem functioning in neotropical dry forests

Nitrogen controls on ecosystem functioning in neotropical dry forests

Global agriculture is rapidly expanding in response to the growing demand for food, with ‘agricultural frontiers’, such as dry and fertile lands of the Gran Chaco in South America contributing to this need. The croplands produce large quantities of food cheaply as infrastructure develops and investments grow. However, conflicts between economic development and environmental degradation […]

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Improving UK air quality forecasts during heatwaves

Improving UK air quality forecasts during heatwaves

Poor air quality is a major global health concern affecting all industrialised nations and virtually all of society. Worldwide, ~3 million deaths are attributable to air pollution annually (World Health Organization), with ~40,000 premature deaths in the UK alone (Royal College of Physicians). Air pollution-related disease places a significant financial burden on the NHS and […]

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Rewilding trajectories: how important are the early years?

Rewilding trajectories: how important are the early years?

Would you like to earn a PhD doing research at the cutting edge of biodiversity, ecosystem services, environmental genomics and land-use change? We are looking for an enthusiastic, numerate student with a passion for ecology. The UK has committed to ambitious targets for landscape management in coming decades, and evidence is needed to support ecological […]

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