Research

We aim to address a research gap by suggesting how policy can be designed to target maximum diversity conservation (including co-benefits) at minimum cost; where cost and benefits are both financial and social.  Sub-objectives are:

Resilience of ecosystems and biodiversity. This work aims to study the different  aspects of resilience of widlife species and natural ecosystems to improve our understanding of how biodiversity and ecosystems are likely to change in response to environmental and climate change, and how to manage them to increase their resilience to change.

The aim of this RD is to address how well Scotland’s rural industries (e.g. farming, forestry and tourism) can cope with outside pressures such as price volatility, new trade agreements and changes in government policies. The key drivers for this research are:

The aim of the research within this RD is to improve understanding of issues around (re-) engagement of people with Scotland’s landscapes and natural environment. There are three key objectives set out for the research:

1. Developing and applying a framework for understanding access to and engagement with natural landscapes
2. Understanding opportunities to facilitate (re-)engagement with the land
3. Examining linkages between environmental qualities and wellbeing

To improve understanding of the impacts of extensive land use and management on greenhouse gas dynamics  The work will focus on the impacts of land use, including the agricultural intensification of extensive/upland soils and the management of semi-natural ecosystems such as peatlands and moorlands (wet and dry heathlands excluding areas of deep peat) on soil carbon stocks and greenhouse gas dynamics to reduce the uncertainty in our estimates of GHG uptake and release from these systems and to enhance our understanding of the impacts of forest-to-bog peatland restorati

To combine physical, chemical and biological approaches to characterise soil functions delivering essential ecosystem services. This will be done in the context of identifying the potential to promote beneficial functions of soils (e.g. water-holding capacity, resistance to erosion, storage of carbon, nutrient cycling) and to mitigate impacts on the environment (e.g. nutrient leaching and greenhouse gas emissions). The applied context that this research is directed toward is to identify management options (e.g.

To support the sustainable use and management of Scotland’s soil resource. We will provide new and improved tools to predict how soil functions respond to land use, management and environmental pressures.

To understand resilience of soils in Scottish semi-natural ecosystems.  This research aims to understand the relationships among disturbance factors, soil properties, processes and soil functions for a range of important Scottish semi-natural ecosystems (peatland, moorland, woodland, grassland, alpine systems). This will enable assessments of the resilience of soil functions to changes in climate, environmental, and socio-economic factors.

Sustainability of Healthy Diets: There is no single healthy, sustainable diet, since there are many different ways of achieving the dual dietary goals for health and environmental sustainability, and dietary intakes and the types of food chosen differ across different populations. This adds to the complexity of assessing and translating dietary advice to consumers. The research in this RD will provide a more comprehensive understanding of healthy sustainable diets in different sectors of the population and how these can be measured.

The Sustainable Soil and Water Management Deliverable has three broad aims. First, we will generate new knowledge to help enhance the sustainable use and management of soils and water in agricultural systems whilst reducing environmental impact. Work will be informed by the application of existing and novel models, soil management interventions, plant genotypes and soil quality indicators.