Biodiversity Network Coffee Mornings – Michaelmas Term
Thursdays from 10.30 for coffee and pastries, and from 11am an informal biodiversity-related talk and discussion Seminar rooms 1 and 2. Oxford Martin School.
Thursday October 10th Young Kim Payments for Ecosystem Services Programs and Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture.
Payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs can enhance resilience to extreme weather events by establishing natural infrastructure. I investigate the effectiveness of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) in the United States in mitigating flooded crop losses through the restoration of riparian buffers and wetlands. By leveraging variation in the timing of the program’s introduction across counties, I find that CREP reduced the number of flooded crop acres by 39 percent and the extent of damage on those acres by 26 percent during the initial 11 years of program implementation. The flood mitigation benefits of CREP also generated financial spillover effects on the federal crop insurance program, saving $94 million in indemnity payouts that would have otherwise been paid to insured farmers. Two-thirds of these benefits resulted from reduced flood damage on cropland in production, while the remaining benefits were attributed to the removal of at-risk cropland from production. The magnitude of benefits varied spatially and temporally depending on the duration of program availability, the extent of program participation, and the adoption of alternative risk management strategies. Overall, these findings underscore the critical role of PES programs in facilitating nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation.
Thursday 17th October – NO MEETING.
Thursday 24th October – NO MEETING.
Thursday October 31st Alison Smith The Agile Nature Recovery and Nature-based Solutions Opportunity Maps.
These can be used to identify opportunities for restoring the right habitats in the right places to deliver multiple benefits for people and nature, while minimising trade-offs with food production. I’ll describe the maps and mention how they are being tested in different contexts across the UK.
Thursday November 7th Anwen Cooper, Oxford Archelogy. Rewilding’ later prehistory: archaeological wildlife and its role in nature recovery
The UKRI-funded ‘Rewilding’ later prehistory project is putting wildlife back at the centre of understandings of landscapes in prehistoric Britain, from 2600 BCE to 100 CE. This talk asks if and how archaeological wildlife can play a role in restoring nature and in building biodiverse futures.
Thursday 14th November Henry Grub What is a just transition for environmental targets?
In 2023, Henry Grub worked on secondment in the Parliamentary Office for Science & Technology (POST), researching and writing a briefing paper for MPs on the ‘just transition’. The concept of ‘justice’ has multiple different meanings, with different ramifications for dealing with the consequences a) of climate change, and b) of industrial shifts towards sustainability. A just transition will require consideration of wide-ranging consequences at home and abroad, with difficult trade-offs for UK politicians. Henry will also share insights on working with policymakers and in the ‘Westminster bubble’, and undertaking secondments as a research council-funded PhD student.
November 21st Please contact me if you would like to speak on this date.
November 28th Please contact me if you would like to speak on this date.
December 5th Eben Kirksey Rifts in Ecological Processes.
Bats have remarkable biological abilities that enable them to live in symbiosis with a diverse community of viruses. Highly adapted immune systems enable bats to live with viral infections that are deadly in other species. Symbiotic viruses may play a role in helping bats fend off other infections and enjoy incredibly long life spans. Returning to the bat caves of Thailand will give readers an opportunity to reflect on the key roles that bats play in ecological processes and also how natural cycles of energy are unravelling in the Anthropocene. Animals and people are collectively becoming vulnerable as global capitalism transforms the planet. Mining operations and agricultural ventures are dramatically transforming the landscape—above ground where bats forage, as well as underground where they roost. Bats are going hungry as a result of these changes. As caves are destroyed or overrun with tourists, they being forced to find new places to roost. The intensifying speed of capitalism is generating a steady increase in the number of infectious disease outbreaks in livestock, wildlife, and people. Bats and other wild animals are becoming sick, and shedding viruses. Cats are catching bats, catching fevers, and passing viruses along to people. Is the focus on Wuhan as the epicenter of 2020 pandemic fundamentally misplaced? Where are viruses actively circulating among people and animals? What basic lessons about symbiosis can be learned from studying bats, their viruses, and broader community dynamics? Can repairing some kinds of ecological damage help protect humanity from future pandemic diseases?
December 12th Anant Jani Nature connection with CARE: Countryside Access, Recreation, and Environmental Stewardship.
There is a drive to increase people’s exposure to nature through outdoor exercise and contact with nature given the many health and wellbeing benefits this provides. At the same time, however, there is also a need to ensure that nature is protected – there have been a number of incidences across the country, like the Sycamore Tree at Hadrian’s Wall being cut down, of undesirable actions and activities taking place, including damage to property and the environment.
In this talk, Anant will provide an overview and preliminary results from CARE (Countryside Access, Recreation, and Environmental Stewardship) – a Natural England funded project being carried out in partnership with Blenheim Palace, The Eden Project, Oxfordshire County Council and the Ramblers – to explore how we can increase nature connection in a way that also protects and enhances England’s natural places.
