Predicting forest expansion into alpine areas
May 31, 2013
A new study has shown that geomorphic processes influence how trees are distributed on mountains, and that temperature alone does not adequately predict whether forests will encroach on alpine areas at high elevations in a warmer climate. Conducted by Marc Macias-Fauria (Biodiversity Institute, University of Oxford) and Professor Edward A. Johnson (University of Calgary), ... Continue reading...
Blind Vegetable Farming: One Calabash at a Time
May 20, 2013
by Yemi Ademiluyi and Jessica Thorn originally posted on CCAFS website
Yemi Ademiluyi joined Jessica Thorn for part of her fieldwork mapping the regions where dry season vegetable farming takes place in the Lawra district. Jessica is using a combination of quantitative ecological field- testing techniques and qualitative sociological techniques to assess the ... Continue reading...
Biodiversity Institute in Maharashtra, India
March 18, 2013
Carla Romeu-Dalmau was in Maharashtra, India over the last 3 weeks, in order to start her project that aims to evaluate the impact of genetically modified (GM) cotton on ecosystem services provision. As a first step, she interviewed farmers, analysed soil samples and established local contacts. On these remote farms she was always well accompanied by ... Continue reading...
Successful conference reflecting on Rachel Carson & Ruth Harrison : environment and animal welfare
March 13, 2013
Kathy Willis of the Oxford Biodiversity Institute, together with Marian Dawkins of the Zoology Department, chaired a stimulating conference discussing some of the major issues in conservation, animal welfare and the links and tensions between them. A very detailed blog of the first day is available on the CABI website, for which ... Continue reading...
Is jatropha good for ecosystems and local communities in Africa?
May 31, 2013
Jatropha biodiesel has been promoted as a means of enhancing economic development, poverty alleviation and energy security in Sub-Sahara Africa. However, in several areas this expansion happened despite the incomplete understanding of jatropha’s environmental and social impacts.
Research conducted by Oxford University, CSIR and UNU-IAS shows that numerous trade-offs emerge when converting ... Continue reading...
Postglacial rise in CO2 and terrestrial C storage associated with declining N availability
March 21, 2013
A global synthesis of stable isotope values of nitrogen (δ15N) in lake sediments has produced a 15,000 year long record of global changes in nitrogen cycling. The work was conducted by Elizabeth S. Jeffers (James Martin Research Fellow in the Biodiversity Institute Oxford) with Kendra K. McLauchlan (Kansas State University), Joseph C. Craine (Kansas State University) and ... Continue reading...
Biodiversity and ecosystem services in oil palm plantations
March 18, 2013
Jake Snaddon and Hsiao-Hang Tao of the Biodiversity Institute have just returned from setting up field sites in Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia. Hsiao-Hang’s project is looking at the effect of soil management practices on ecosystem services within oil palm plantations. The project is based at the Smart Research Institute (SmartRI), PT. Smart Tbk and is ... Continue reading...
Biodiversity features strongly at World Forests Summit
March 9, 2013
At the World Forests Summit, held in Stockholm on 5-6 March, attended by Gill Petrokofsky from the Biodiversity Institute, a number of speakers referred to the need to manage and conserve forests for their immense public benefit as well as their obvious economic value for the timber trade. HRH the Prince of Wales in ... Continue reading...