Emily is an ecologist, exploring the biodiversity and ecosystem function outcomes of nature-based solutions projects, with a particular focus on native woodland expansion in the UK. She is collaborating with Trees for Life, Highlands Rewilding, and The Carbon Community to explore above/below-ground biodiversity and ecosystem function responses to different woodland creation methods. Emily often explores trends in biodiversity/ecosystem function responses using data collection across natural gradients and within existing conservation projects, complemented by experimental work to investigate underlying mechanisms in more detail. She also has an interest in integrating effective ecological monitoring into conservation projects, co-developing a tool for selecting metrics to monitor biodiversity and soil health outcomes in nature-based solutions projects, as part of the Agile Initiative sprint “How do we scale up nature-based solutions in the UK?”.
Department/Institute: Biology
I am an MBiol student working on determining the impacts of volatile organic compounds emitted by the plants in the Oxford Botanic Gardens glasshouses upon physiological markers of stress.
I am particularly interested in measuring the impacts of VOCs upon salivary amylase activity and changes in cortisol concentration.
Multi-disciplinary researcher. Working with the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery and the Long Term Ecology Laborotory Team, Benjamin has backgrounds in both engineering science and clinical medicine. His clinical work complements his academic research into human wellbeing. Benjamin also facilitates community groups to improve wellbeing and active participation in nature, and maintains an organic garden at home.
I am a conservation scientist interested in how we can improve the uptake, effectiveness and efficiency of biodiversity conservation actions, to ensure they are delivering the conservation gains required to address the biodiversity crisis. My research has focussed in two major areas to present: 1) understanding how we can better engage, and improve the outcomes from private sector biodiversity management; and 2) how we can collect and better use evidence to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of actions to protect and restore biodiversity. My current role looks at the actions needed across the Mitigation & Conservation Hierarchy to reach global biodiversity goals, with a particular focus on the approaches taken by businesses to measure, avoid, reduce and compensate for their impacts. The research forms part of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery as part of the Integration work package.
I work on the nature-positive tools needed to measure biodiversity footprints and plot a path towards worldwide ecological recovery. This involves collaborating with organisations to quantify their environmental and biodiversity impacts and identify how these could be mitigated through institutional change and conservation action.
My research involves the development and application of environmental and climate models to report the impacts (positive or negative) of different land managements and greenhouse gas emission pathways. As part of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative, I am particularly interested in linking carbon removal interventions with improved indicators of biodiversity and ecological functioning.
My DPhil research concerns the application of artificial intelligence to forest management within England’s Public Forest Estate.
I aim to identify the configuration of management decisions that optimises the capacity of woodlands to prevent floods and improve human health and well-being.
I am an entomologist, community ecologist and conservation biologist studying the processes that maintain, structure and threaten biodiversity in a range of terrestrial ecosystems. Areas of current research areas include approaches to reconcile human land-use with biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the UK and in the tropics; the structure and dynamics of insect food webs and their responses to perturbations; the role of plant pathogens and insect herbivores in structuring and maintaining the high diversity of rainforest plants; and the impact of climate change on interspecific interactions and associated ecosystem functions and services. For further information, please visit the Community Ecology research group web pages.
My research is focused on the use of fossils and modern datasets, models and innovative technologies to determine the diversity, distribution and abundance of plants and animals across global landscapes in space and time. This evidence-base is then used to understand biodiversity baselines, the resilience of biological communities to external shocks, the relationship between biodiversity and human health, and the distribution of natural capital assets across global landscapes that are important for human well-being.