News

27 August 2021: New paper on glacial sediment entrainment

Dr Simon Cook has published a paper with colleagues at University of Minnesota and British Geological Survey entitled ‘Thrust faulting in glaciers? Re-examination of debris bands near the margin of Storglaciären, Sweden’. The paper is published in Boreas.

26 August 2021: New paper on African forest carbon published in Nature

Dr Alex Morel is part of an international team of authors who have published a paper in Nature entitled ‘High aboveground carbon stock of African tropical montane forests‘.

26 August 2021: New paper on tree growth in oil-contaminated soils

Recent PhD graduate, Dr Raquel Serrano, along with Prof Mark Cutler and Prof Glyn Bengough have published a new paper in Remote Sensing entitled ‘Spectral and Growth Characteristics of Willows and Maize in Soil Contaminated with a Layer of Crude or Refined Oil’. Accessible here.

26 August 2021: New book on Landscapes and Landforms of Scotland

A new collection of chapters on Scotland’s landscapes includes several contributions from Environmental Futures colleagues, including Prof Alastair Dawson, Dr Andrew Black, Prof Alan Werritty, and Dr Martin Kirkbride. You can access the book here.

17 August 2021: New paper on global forest above-ground biomass

Dr Alex Morel has contributed to a paper entitled ‘The global forest above-ground biomass pool for 2010 estimated from high-resolution satellite observations’ now published in Earth System Science Data.

29 July 2021: New article on nature-based solutions for flood management

Dr Andrew Black and Prof Chris Spray are part of a team who have published a paper on ‘How can we plan resilient systems of nature-based mitigation measures in larger catchments for flood risk reduction now and in the future?’ now available in Water Security.

29 July 2021: New article on the state of Earth’s tropical forests

Dr Alex Morel is part of an international team who have published a major study on the state of Earth’s tropical forests. The article ‘Taking the pulse of Earth’s tropical forests using networks of highly distributed plots’ has been published in Biological Conservation.

29 July 2021: New article on glacier microbial ecosystems

Simon Cook has published an article led by a former PhD researcher under his supervision. The article entitled ‘Active microbial ecosystem in glacier basal ice fuelled by iron and silicate comminution-derived hydrogen’ is now available in MicrobiologyOpen.

29 July 2021: New article on fine root dynamics published in Global Change Biology

Dr Alex Morel is one of a team of authors who have published a paper entitled ‘Fine root dynamics across pantropical rainforest ecosystems’ in Global Change Biology. You can access the paper here.

17 July 2021: BBC Radio Scotland commentary on Germany floods

Simon Cook gave a live radio interview for BBC Radio Scotland on 17th July about the catastrophic flooding in Germany and western Europe. You can listen to Simon from ~1h13mins here, although the recording is available on a time-limited basis.

13 July 2021: New article about French flood risk governance

Simon Cook is part of a team of researchers in France and Belgium who have published a paper in Natural Hazards entitled ‘Floods in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and lessons for French flood risk governance’.

7 July 2021: New article about the oceanographic contributions of James Croll

Prof Alastair Dawson has published a new paper entitled “The oceanographic contribution of James Croll” in the journal Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. You can read the paper here.

29 June 2021: New article in The Conversation about hydropower sustainability

Faculty member, Simon Cook, has published an article on the sustainability of hydropower in the world’s mountain regions. The article examines whether hydropower plants are becoming more vulnerable to floods and landslides in a warming climate.

29 June 2021: New paper on European eel conservation

PhD student, Sayali Pawar, is part of a team who have published a new study on the conservation of European eel. The paper, entitled “A European eel (Anguilla anguilla) case study using structured elicitation to estimate instream infrastructure passability for freshwater fishes” has been published in Conservation Science and Practice.

15 June 2021: Freshwater Systems chapter published in major new report

Prof. Chris Spray has led a chapter on Freshwater Systems, also co-authored by Dr Andrew Black, for the British Ecological Society’s major new report on “Nature-based solutions for climate change in the UK’. The full report can be accessed from here.

10 June 2021: New paper on 2021 Uttarakhand disaster published in Science

Dr Simon Cook was a member of a 53-person international team who have determined the causes and consequences of a massive debris flow that destroyed two hydropower stations and killed >200 people in the Indian Himalaya. The results were published in Science, and there is a press release here.

4 May 2021: Highly commended dissertation on palaeo-tsunamis

Former student, Danielle Bateman, was Highly Commended by the Royal Geographical Society for her dissertation (supervised by Prof. Sue Dawson) entitled ‘Detailed Sedimentological Signatures Using X-ray Computed Microtomography Scanning of Shetland Paleotsunamis‘. Congratulations Danielle! See the full list of awardees here.

4 May 2021: Expert commentary on carbon offsetting

Dr Alex Morel is quoted in this Guardian article (4th May 2021) about flaws in the carbon offsetting scheme used by the world’s major airlines.

23 March 2021: New article in The Conversation

Regrowing a tropical forest – is it better to plant trees or leave it to nature? by Mark Cutler. Article here.

New paper in Journal of Flood Risk Management

Natural flood management, lag time and catchment scale: Results from an empirical nested catchment study. Including Andrew Black, Alan MacDonald, Andy Young, Chris Spray, Alan Werritty, et al. Paper here.

New paper in Frontiers in Environmental Science

Science-Narrative Explorations of “Drought Thresholds” in the Maritime Eden Catchment, Scotland: Implications for Local Drought Risk Management. Including Lindsey McEwen and Andrew Black et al. Paper here.

New publication in Environmental Law and Management

Fishing or fish farming: the conflict between a Crown grant of salmon fishings in the sea and other Crown rights in the sea in Scotland. Including Crispin Agnew QC et al. Paper here.