Climate and the Environment

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What we eat, and meeting our climate change commitments

Background

The dietary choices and habits of a person cannot be divorced from climate change, biodiversity and ecosystems, or the more common focus, the prevalence of diet-related diseases (e.g. obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer).

As regards climate change, it has been estimated that the food system (including e.g. agricultural production, processing, distribution, retail, cooking and waste) accounts for 20-30% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

Learning By Doing: Understanding and Managing for Ecological Resilience

Our natural environment is facing threats from a range of environmental drivers, including climate change, invasive non-native species, novel pests and diseases, over-exploitation, and pollution. It is difficult to predict exactly how nature will respond to these drivers and to tailor management solutions precisely to each threat. An alternative approach is to try to understand what makes species and ecosystems generally more resilient, and to develop management plans which aim to enhance resilience.

Professor Davy McCracken

Davy is Head of Department of Integrated Land Management and Head of Hill & Mountain research centre at SRUC. Davy is involved in a range of research and demonstration projects investigating the economic, social and environmental resilience of upland livestock systems and seeking to understand the trade-offs associated with changes to those systems.

Davy McCracken

Scotland’s Rural College

Peter Wilson Building, The King's Buildings

West Mains Road

Edinburgh

EH9 3JG

Dr Christopher Ellis

Christopher is head of Cryptogamic Plants and Fungi at the Royal Botanical Garden in Edinburgh, using his research to understand how habitat management can offset negative impacts of global change. He co-ordinates RBGE's Scottish biodiversity science, including activities contributing to the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy (2020 Route Map) and the Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme (Theme 1 - Natural Assets).

Christopher Ellis

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Arboretum Pl

Edinburgh

EH3 5NZ

Dr Roy Neilson

Roy is a Rhizosphere Ecologist who is one of the key staff members leading Integrated Pest and Disease Management (IPM) research at the James Hutton Institute. His recent projects have focused on biodiversity loss due to transport by soil erosion, nematode ecology, endochrine compounds and risk of invasive species.

Roy Neilson

James Hutton Institute

Errol Road

Dundee

Scotland

DD2 5DA

Dr Lionel Dupuy

Lionel is a mathematical phytologist at the James Hutton Institute, where he develops models that predict how crops utilise environmental resources to grow and produce yield. His research for SEFARI sits within soil and ecosystem function, and plant-soil-water interactions.

Lionel Dupuy

James Hutton Institute

Errol Road

Dundee

Scotland

DD2 5DA

Dr Eric Paterson

Eric is a Root physiologist and Biochemist at the James Hutton Institute, and the theme of his research over the last 15 years has largely revovoled around the impact of rhizodeposition on soil microbial communities and processes.

Eric Paterson

James Hutton Institute
Craigiebuckler
Aberdeen
Scotland
AB15 8QH

Climate Change and Parasitism – Breaking the Cycle

This case study will summarise ongoing research on Teladorsagia circumcincta, one of the most common and economically important endemic parasites to control in sheep in the UK. SEFARI scientists have found that as temperatures gradually get warmer there could be a ‘tipping point’ where parasite burdens suddenly get a lot higher. Our scientists have also shown that climate change can increase parasite burdens, these parasite burdens can substantially drive-up greenhouse gas emissions, and ineffective parasite control can lead to further increases in emissions.

Professor Robin Pakeman

Robin is a plant ecologist based at the James Hutton Institute. His research focuses on the management and functioning of biodiversity in a range of Scottish Ecosystems and he currently leads a workpackage, Functioning of Species, Habitats and Ecosystems, as part of the Scottish Government funded research programme on Environment - Land Use and Rural Stewardship.

His current research covers the following areas:

Robin Pakeman

James Hutton Institute
Craigiebuckler
Aberdeen
Scotland
AB15 8QH

Socioeconomic and biodiversity impacts of driven grouse moors in Scotland

In May 2017, the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform announced commissioning of “research into the costs and benefits of large shooting estates to Scotland’s economy and biodiversity”¹. The focus of the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement was ‘driven grouse shooting’. A Programme for Government (2017-2018) commitment, September 2017, also states research will be commissioned to “examine the impact of large shooting estates on Scotland’s economy and biodiversity.”

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