A presentation from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) on mapping natural capital. In the first section, Dr Lisa Norton talks about modelling approaches using site survey for national scale mapping, explaining why natural capital is mapped and how it is useful for land managers, with examples including Countryside Survey and the UK Soil Observatory.
In the second part of the talk, John Watkins of CEH focuses on the Ecomaps application, which will enable researchers to take such work forward.
Showing posts with label natural capital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label natural capital. Show all posts
Monday, 14 July 2014
Friday, 28 February 2014
Natural Capital science at CEH
We're delivering our new Science Strategy (2014-19) through a number of Science Areas and underpinning activities. Find out more about each area as we profile them over the coming weeks in a series of blog posts.
This post focuses on our Natural Capital Science Area, headed by Professor Mike Acreman.
Soil, insect pollination, water, food, nutrient cycling, flood control etc - we rely on goods and services provided by the natural environment. The concept of natural capital as the stock of environmental assets will inform decisions on how we use our natural resources and manage the environment sustainably.
CEH has unrivalled and longstanding expertise in the science of the natural environment that underpins natural capital. We'll use surveys, experiments, analysis and modelling to produce detailed knowledge of water, soils, plants, animals and atmosphere provided by the UK environment.
Research objectives in this Science Area include assessing the extent, quality, trends and vulnerability of the UK's natural capital. We also define ecosystem services that flow from the natural and managed environment, quantifying short and long-term trends and natural variations.
We'll also work with other experts in economics, health and sociology, to evaluate the benefits of natural capital to human well-being, how to balance exploitation with protection and where to target management and restoration efforts. For example, we are a partner member of the Natural Capital Initiative.
Long-term monitoring helps us record how natural capital is changing and identify the causes of change. For example, CEH coordinates the UK Environmental Change Network, and operates the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme in partnership with Butterfly Conservation and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
More details of our Natural Capital Science Area, including a Science Area Summary [PDF], are available on our website.
CEH Science Strategy
This post focuses on our Natural Capital Science Area, headed by Professor Mike Acreman.
We use the term natural capital to recognise the importance of nature’s assets & the benefits that flow from them
— CEH Science News (@CEHScienceNews) February 7, 2014
Soil, insect pollination, water, food, nutrient cycling, flood control etc - we rely on goods and services provided by the natural environment. The concept of natural capital as the stock of environmental assets will inform decisions on how we use our natural resources and manage the environment sustainably.
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| Wetlands, such as this blanket bog on the Isle of Harris, provide essential ecosystem functions and services, including regulation of water quality, sustainable control and mitigation of flooding, greenhouse gas reduction, essential habitats for plants and animals, and cultural and recreational facilities. CEH carries out a wide range of research into wetlands in the UK and overseas. |
CEH has unrivalled and longstanding expertise in the science of the natural environment that underpins natural capital. We'll use surveys, experiments, analysis and modelling to produce detailed knowledge of water, soils, plants, animals and atmosphere provided by the UK environment.
...explaining trends & sensitivity of natural capital to different drivers... pic.twitter.com/Hrt8Ol0fpw
— CEH Science News (@CEHScienceNews) February 7, 2014
Research objectives in this Science Area include assessing the extent, quality, trends and vulnerability of the UK's natural capital. We also define ecosystem services that flow from the natural and managed environment, quantifying short and long-term trends and natural variations.
Food security depends on sustainable nutrient management of soils – CEH co-authored paper in latest issue of @SfEP http://t.co/jeD74vTRQH
— CEH Science News (@CEHScienceNews) July 12, 2013
New paper co-authored with Mike Acreman @CEHScienceNews on how wetlands affect floods is now officially published http://t.co/IYnQyIHlV6
— Joseph Holden (@geojho) September 15, 2013
We'll also work with other experts in economics, health and sociology, to evaluate the benefits of natural capital to human well-being, how to balance exploitation with protection and where to target management and restoration efforts. For example, we are a partner member of the Natural Capital Initiative.
Blog 2 of 3 on #natcap13 from NCI: Bruce Howard @CEHScienceNews takes a natural science view on @NatCapForum http://t.co/mquX1hyGjI #natcap
— NatCapInitiative (@NCI_NatCap) December 20, 2013
New on our blog: Construction, #biodiversity and natural capital: discussing the challenges http://t.co/qCFjI30IFH
— CEH Science News (@CEHScienceNews) December 19, 2013
Ecological science for ecosystem services & the stewardship of Natural Capital - editorial in @JAppliedEcology http://t.co/YD2KSufpHp
— CEH Paper Alerts (@CEHPaperAlerts) July 29, 2013
Long-term monitoring helps us record how natural capital is changing and identify the causes of change. For example, CEH coordinates the UK Environmental Change Network, and operates the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme in partnership with Butterfly Conservation and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
Washout 2012 was the worst year on record for UK butterflies http://t.co/NatOoIdRFG @CEHScienceNews
— BC (@savebutterflies) March 26, 2013
More details of our Natural Capital Science Area, including a Science Area Summary [PDF], are available on our website.
Additional information
CEH Science Strategy
Thursday, 19 December 2013
Construction, biodiversity and natural capital: discussing the challenges
Our latest guest blog is from Business Development Manager Dr Joanne Chamberlain on a recent first meeting between CEH and a construction industry group looking to address some of the environmental challenges their sector faces:
Last week, on 10 December, CEH hosted a visit from the UK Constructors Group (UKCG) for Biodiversity. UKCG is the primary trade association for contractors operating in the UK, and represents more than 30 leading contractors operating in the UK on construction specific issues. Between them, UKCG members account for £33 billion of construction turnover, a third of UK construction total output involving projects building hospitals, schools, offices and housing, as well as large infrastructure projects. UKCG has an Environment working group with an expert task force on Biodiversity, whose aim is to represent the views of contractors within government, promote best practice, and mitigate regulatory and legislative risk.
The UKCG for Biodiversity met with scientists at CEH to open up a discussion and assess the potential for collaboration around topics that included natural capital, ecological survey data and biodiversity offsetting. The construction industry has a number of challenges in these areas, and the group are keen to work with CEH in solving some of these problems. The UKCG aims to ensure a net gain in biodiversity in the work they undertake and enhance connectivity between developments and the wider landscape.
It was interesting to note that UKCG members often find themselves in a position of having to try to influence, engage and educate their clients on how to incorporate biodiversity into a development. This inevitably results in a number of challenges and compromises, but a desire to have a consistent approach across the industry and demonstrate the merits of conserving and enhancing natural capital within a development is driving the group.
Dr Joanne Chamberlain
CEH website: Biodiversity offsetting - relevant research
CEH blog: Biodiversity offsetting - the science behind the policy
Last week, on 10 December, CEH hosted a visit from the UK Constructors Group (UKCG) for Biodiversity. UKCG is the primary trade association for contractors operating in the UK, and represents more than 30 leading contractors operating in the UK on construction specific issues. Between them, UKCG members account for £33 billion of construction turnover, a third of UK construction total output involving projects building hospitals, schools, offices and housing, as well as large infrastructure projects. UKCG has an Environment working group with an expert task force on Biodiversity, whose aim is to represent the views of contractors within government, promote best practice, and mitigate regulatory and legislative risk.
The UKCG for Biodiversity met with scientists at CEH to open up a discussion and assess the potential for collaboration around topics that included natural capital, ecological survey data and biodiversity offsetting. The construction industry has a number of challenges in these areas, and the group are keen to work with CEH in solving some of these problems. The UKCG aims to ensure a net gain in biodiversity in the work they undertake and enhance connectivity between developments and the wider landscape.
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| The construction industry has challenges in areas such as natural capital, ecological survey data and biodiversity offsetting. |
Dr Joanne Chamberlain
Additional information
CEH website: Biodiversity offsetting - relevant research
CEH blog: Biodiversity offsetting - the science behind the policy
Thursday, 1 August 2013
Biodiversity offsetting: the science behind the policy
The Government's Ecosystems Markets Task Force has put biodiversity offsetting amongst its top five priorities, saying that "it is about regulation, developing a well-defined market which delivers 'net gain' for nature". Dr Bruce Howard, who specialises in Biodiversity Offsetting at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), explains how CEH provides the independent and impartial scientific advice needed by this increasingly important policy measure.
Biodiversity offsetting is the term used for agreements that compensate, in measurable ways, for the losses to habitats and species that result from developments such as housing, railways and airports. It is being used or trialled in more than 20 countries worldwide. There is growing interest in the use of biodiversity offsets in the UK, especially in England. A voluntary approach to biodiversity offsetting was a commitment in the Natural Choice – the Government's environment White Paper published in 2011. In response, here at CEH we are gearing up to ensure that our data and expertise in monitoring and restoring biodiversity play their part in informing decisions about the greater use of offsetting in the UK.
In its 2010 report on financing nature conservation, the RSPB's economists expressed similar aspirations when they said that a "strong biodiversity offset market has the potential to reduce environmental damage from development, simplify the planning system and increase funding for conservation". Nonetheless, the debate about how offsets might impact on the level of protection that the planning system provides for biodiversity is only just getting going. In a response to a 2011 Government consultation on biodiversity offsets, Wildlife and Countryside Link, a large coalition of conservation organisations, warned that "a poorly implemented offset system could have a negative effect on biodiversity."
Given all the points of view expressed, the independent and impartial scientific analysis by organisations such as CEH should play an increasingly important role. In July 2013, I was awarded a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Knowledge Exchange Fellowship on biodiversity offsetting. Over the coming three years, I will be drawing together expertise from across NERC and beyond to address specific questions important for offset implmentation. These include:
Working alongside me, Dr Lisa Norton is piloting decision support tools that could be used to inform decisions about how and where to initiate biodiversity offsets. And from September 2013, CEH's Dr Tom Oliver will be developing an indicator of the 'ecological status' of parcels of land. This will consider species that are not on the Government's priority list of species and could help to inform choices about where biodiversity offsets can occur. CEH also has much experience in the area of how the biodiversity value of land can be improved – this is an important requirement for offset creation.
As the UK's Centre of Excellence for integrated research in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, CEH has a unique mix of datasets capable of informing the design and monitoring of offset schemes. For example, our Countryside Survey, which is due to be updated in the next three years, provides the most comprehensive record of the condition of the British countryside. The Biological Records Centre, hosted by us at CEH, holds 27 million records to provide information on the status of and change in UK biodiversity.
If implementation of offsets is to deliver benefits for biodiversity in many years to come, scientific rigour will be required at every stage. This extends from the methods used to assess the biodiversity present at individual sites proposed for development, through to monitoring the long-term contribution that hundreds of 'offset' sites are making to our national biodiversity asset. After all, biodiversity is just part of a wider suite of ecosystem services which provide everyone in society with valuable natural capital – a resource whose importance is recognised, including by Government.
While the scientific rigour has its place, it should not be forgotten that nature down the street (and over the horizon) matters greatly to people. This is something that is recognised in many aspects of our work at CEH, such as our involvement in citizen science. It appears to me that there is a need to ensure that offset schemes will safeguard biodiversity (and the 'services' it provides) for people, rather than simply for the sake of meeting targets or advancing a new way of financing nature conservation.
Dr Bruce Howard
Biodiversity Offsetting activities at CEH
Biodiversity offsetting is the term used for agreements that compensate, in measurable ways, for the losses to habitats and species that result from developments such as housing, railways and airports. It is being used or trialled in more than 20 countries worldwide. There is growing interest in the use of biodiversity offsets in the UK, especially in England. A voluntary approach to biodiversity offsetting was a commitment in the Natural Choice – the Government's environment White Paper published in 2011. In response, here at CEH we are gearing up to ensure that our data and expertise in monitoring and restoring biodiversity play their part in informing decisions about the greater use of offsetting in the UK.
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| New office development |
In its 2010 report on financing nature conservation, the RSPB's economists expressed similar aspirations when they said that a "strong biodiversity offset market has the potential to reduce environmental damage from development, simplify the planning system and increase funding for conservation". Nonetheless, the debate about how offsets might impact on the level of protection that the planning system provides for biodiversity is only just getting going. In a response to a 2011 Government consultation on biodiversity offsets, Wildlife and Countryside Link, a large coalition of conservation organisations, warned that "a poorly implemented offset system could have a negative effect on biodiversity."
Given all the points of view expressed, the independent and impartial scientific analysis by organisations such as CEH should play an increasingly important role. In July 2013, I was awarded a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Knowledge Exchange Fellowship on biodiversity offsetting. Over the coming three years, I will be drawing together expertise from across NERC and beyond to address specific questions important for offset implmentation. These include:
- Most nature conservationists are behind the goal of reversing trends in biodiversity decline, aiming for no overall loss of biodiversity in a particular area, or the country as a whole. Advocates of biodiversity offsetting are motivated by this too. But what role will offsets play in achieving this? The jury will be out for some time yet.
- How can individual species be safeguarded within offset agreements based on habitat? It is not as easy as one might think to establish a population of anything, from adders to yellowhammers, even if an offset site is created and managed by the very best experts.
Working alongside me, Dr Lisa Norton is piloting decision support tools that could be used to inform decisions about how and where to initiate biodiversity offsets. And from September 2013, CEH's Dr Tom Oliver will be developing an indicator of the 'ecological status' of parcels of land. This will consider species that are not on the Government's priority list of species and could help to inform choices about where biodiversity offsets can occur. CEH also has much experience in the area of how the biodiversity value of land can be improved – this is an important requirement for offset creation.
As the UK's Centre of Excellence for integrated research in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, CEH has a unique mix of datasets capable of informing the design and monitoring of offset schemes. For example, our Countryside Survey, which is due to be updated in the next three years, provides the most comprehensive record of the condition of the British countryside. The Biological Records Centre, hosted by us at CEH, holds 27 million records to provide information on the status of and change in UK biodiversity.
 |
| Town and countryside |
If implementation of offsets is to deliver benefits for biodiversity in many years to come, scientific rigour will be required at every stage. This extends from the methods used to assess the biodiversity present at individual sites proposed for development, through to monitoring the long-term contribution that hundreds of 'offset' sites are making to our national biodiversity asset. After all, biodiversity is just part of a wider suite of ecosystem services which provide everyone in society with valuable natural capital – a resource whose importance is recognised, including by Government.
While the scientific rigour has its place, it should not be forgotten that nature down the street (and over the horizon) matters greatly to people. This is something that is recognised in many aspects of our work at CEH, such as our involvement in citizen science. It appears to me that there is a need to ensure that offset schemes will safeguard biodiversity (and the 'services' it provides) for people, rather than simply for the sake of meeting targets or advancing a new way of financing nature conservation.
Dr Bruce Howard
Additional information
Biodiversity Offsetting activities at CEH
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
Feeding, fisheries and food webs - CEH paperblog 3
Our third paperblog covers cormorants, insect herbivores, England's largest lake, natural capital and water chemistry. (For those who want to know more about our paperblog concept, take a look at paperblog #1 published on 21 June).
CEH PhD student Scott McKenzie has a new paper in the Royal Society's Biology Letters, showing how two insect herbivores, an above-ground aphid and a below-ground vine weevil, may benefit in the presence of one another. According to the publishers, "This is known as feeding facilitation and is rare in nature." Read more in the paper, "Reciprocal feeding facilitation between above- and below-ground herbivores".
Dr Chris Huntingford and Dr Lindsay Banin were co-authors on two of the papers in the recent special issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B which looked at change in African rainforests, past, present and future. Many of the papers in the issue are open access.
CEH's lake ecology scientists have published a paper in Global Change Biology on food web de-synchronisation in England's largest lake, Windermere. Read the paper here.
Professor Rosie Hails, CEH's Science Director for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Science, worked with Professor Steve Ormerod of Cardiff University on an editorial for the Journal of Applied Ecology. The editorial, "Ecological science for ecosystem services and the stewardship of Natural Capital", introduced five papers in a Special Profile showing how ecologists in the UK are contributing nationally and internationally to these issues, stemming from the UK National Ecosystem Assessment - the first ever national scale exercise of its type in the world.
Dr Steven Cole of CEH and colleagues from NERC's British Geological Survey have published a new paper in the Journal of Hydrology. The paper uses a novel application of CEH's G2G model combined with geochemical sampling to understand macronutrient fluxes across a catchment.
Staying with catchment water chemistry, CEH Fellow Professor Colin Neal and long-time collaborator Professor Jim Kirchner have published a summary of their work on universal fractal scaling in stream chemistry and its implications for solute transport and water quality trend detection. It can be found in PNAS.
And finally, in the next few months the final outputs from the EU-funded Intercafe project - which aimed to improve European scientific knowledge of cormorant-fisheries interactions - will be made available. Dr David Carss, who led the Intercafe project, has a lead-author paper, "Managing European cormorant-fisheries conflicts: problems, practicalities and policy" in the journal Fisheries Management and Ecology which previews some of the work.
As always, we're very interested in your feedback, so please let us know what you think, and any improvements that could be made, by commenting on the blog or emailing us via enquiries@ceh.ac.uk.
That's it for now, more in a couple of weeks!
Barnaby Smith - CEH Media Relations Manager
If you'd like a fuller picture of new papers from CEH, just follow the @CEHPaperAlerts Twitter feed, which lists CEH peer-reviewed papers newly published online. Full details of Centre for Ecology & Hydrology science publications, including those published in peer-reviewed science journals, are eventually catalogued on the NERC Open Research Archive (NORA).
Those of you who follow the scientific literature will know some journal websites require registration and some are subscription-only. CEH, as part of NERC, is working with publishers and funders to make more of our output open access, and we'll be indicating where this is the case.
We also publish lots of other outputs including biological records atlases and project reports. More details can be found on the publications page of our website.
CEH PhD student Scott McKenzie has a new paper in the Royal Society's Biology Letters, showing how two insect herbivores, an above-ground aphid and a below-ground vine weevil, may benefit in the presence of one another. According to the publishers, "This is known as feeding facilitation and is rare in nature." Read more in the paper, "Reciprocal feeding facilitation between above- and below-ground herbivores".
Dr Chris Huntingford and Dr Lindsay Banin were co-authors on two of the papers in the recent special issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B which looked at change in African rainforests, past, present and future. Many of the papers in the issue are open access.
CEH's lake ecology scientists have published a paper in Global Change Biology on food web de-synchronisation in England's largest lake, Windermere. Read the paper here.
Professor Rosie Hails, CEH's Science Director for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Science, worked with Professor Steve Ormerod of Cardiff University on an editorial for the Journal of Applied Ecology. The editorial, "Ecological science for ecosystem services and the stewardship of Natural Capital", introduced five papers in a Special Profile showing how ecologists in the UK are contributing nationally and internationally to these issues, stemming from the UK National Ecosystem Assessment - the first ever national scale exercise of its type in the world.
Dr Steven Cole of CEH and colleagues from NERC's British Geological Survey have published a new paper in the Journal of Hydrology. The paper uses a novel application of CEH's G2G model combined with geochemical sampling to understand macronutrient fluxes across a catchment.
Staying with catchment water chemistry, CEH Fellow Professor Colin Neal and long-time collaborator Professor Jim Kirchner have published a summary of their work on universal fractal scaling in stream chemistry and its implications for solute transport and water quality trend detection. It can be found in PNAS.
And finally, in the next few months the final outputs from the EU-funded Intercafe project - which aimed to improve European scientific knowledge of cormorant-fisheries interactions - will be made available. Dr David Carss, who led the Intercafe project, has a lead-author paper, "Managing European cormorant-fisheries conflicts: problems, practicalities and policy" in the journal Fisheries Management and Ecology which previews some of the work.
As always, we're very interested in your feedback, so please let us know what you think, and any improvements that could be made, by commenting on the blog or emailing us via enquiries@ceh.ac.uk.
That's it for now, more in a couple of weeks!
Barnaby Smith - CEH Media Relations Manager
Additional information
If you'd like a fuller picture of new papers from CEH, just follow the @CEHPaperAlerts Twitter feed, which lists CEH peer-reviewed papers newly published online. Full details of Centre for Ecology & Hydrology science publications, including those published in peer-reviewed science journals, are eventually catalogued on the NERC Open Research Archive (NORA).
Those of you who follow the scientific literature will know some journal websites require registration and some are subscription-only. CEH, as part of NERC, is working with publishers and funders to make more of our output open access, and we'll be indicating where this is the case.
We also publish lots of other outputs including biological records atlases and project reports. More details can be found on the publications page of our website.
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