Currently there is an array of persistent organic pollutants that undergo long-range transport in air and seawater and are present in the Earth’s Polar Regions. These chemicals, arising from industrial, agricultural and domestic sources are present in surface media (seawater, snow) often at trace level, but are undergoing bioaccumulation/biomagnification in the Arctic marine foodweb. The […]

Major advances in our understanding of how microbiota contribute to the living world have resulted from genomic advances. So-called second-generation sequencing now allows high throughput and cost-effective determination of diverse assemblages of microbiota, enabling determination of their ecological role. Here, we plan to examine the microbiome, microorganisms colonsing a particular environment of the host (e.g. […]

The accidental drilling into rhyolitic magma at Krafla volcano, Iceland in 2009 has opened exciting possibilities for research that could transform our ability to detect stored magma, whilst potentially providing unprecedentedly powerful geothermal energy. However, magma detection and heat extraction both require knowledge of how magma intrusions interact with geothermal fluids, which we currently lack […]

The earth’s oceans and atmosphere are warming, with the volume of snow and ice diminishing. Arctic temperatures have warmed at twice the global rate, with increasing inter-annual variability of sea-ice extent, but a drastically decreasing overall trend in sea-ice extent. Climate models predict future reductions in Arctic sea-ice extent are very likely, with potential changes […]

The failure of the Rio Convention to halt the loss of global biodiversity resulted in the new Aichi Target: “By 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people”. However, species vary in response to environmental change, with some human commensal […]

Coral reefs house exceptional biodiversity, and provide food and livelihoods to hundreds of millions of people across the tropics. The full range of benefits people gain from coral reefs can be termed ecosystem services, and range from fishing and coastal protection, to education and other cultural benefits. Ecosystem services may be quantified through direct measures […]

Coral reefs are ocean oases, supporting immense diversity and providing fisheries for small island nations. These important ecosystems are under threat from local anthropogenic impacts and global climate change. Studying the natural functioning of these ecosystems has become challenging, as so many reefs echo a footprint of human-induced change. Remote coral reefs far from human […]

Good environmental policy has to be founded on high-quality environmental science, but delivering the research needed by policy makers can be a challenge. The Montreal protocol is widely held to be the most successful global environmental agreement of all time, but policy-makers, in the UN and around the world, find it hard to define just […]

We require a motivated, curious and independent student with interests in lake water quality and environmental change in the tropics to apply for our studentship investigating the impacts of aquaculture on the ecological integrity of lakes in the Philippines. Based at the School of Geography in the University of Nottingham with Dr Suzanne McGowan and […]

This project will explore the role of environmental geochemistry in land use decisions by wild African elephants. This is a unique, interdisciplinary project involving environmental geochemistry, plant science, and animal health to address research questions which have important and practical implications for wildlife health and conservation. In the first phase of the project, mineral levels […]