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To understand how pressures such as problems arising from agricultural and urban land use and, increasingly, climate change affect the biophysical and ecological processes within our catchments. The focus of the research is on understanding how the biophysical and ecological processes within water bodies operate and contribute to the delivery of ecosystem function and health. The core of this work will provide information and knowledge that is needed to address one of the fundamental research questions of the programme (How do Scotland’s natural assets function, how healthy are they, what are
To support a range of Scottish policy priorities These include: 1) Flooding e.g. helping local authorities incorporate uncertainty into Flood Risk Management (FRM) plans; meeting the requirements of the Floods Directive (FD); 2) Water quality e.g. providing evidence for the Nitrates Directive (ND) review; informing regulation of shellfish and bathing water protected areas; reducing water treatment costs through improved catchment management; and meeting the requirements of the Drinking Water Directive (DWD) and WFD. The project will address questions such as: What changes may take place in the
To evaluate the capacity of water resources to adapt to changing environmental and socio-economic conditions, in order to maintain key functions, goods and services (resilience) This RD addresses one of the fundamental research questions of the programme: How resilient are Scotland’s natural assets to climate change and other risks (invasive non-native species (INNS), pollution, etc.), and what are the key interventions to make them more resilient or to protect them from further harm? To do this, RD 1.2.3 considers components of natural and managed water systems (and their interactions), their
The fruit industry relies on a small number of varieties and a decreasing number of chemicals, presenting serious challenges for future sustainable growth. No suitable high-quality varieties with resistant to pests and diseases are available. This is coupled with climate change where unpredictability in phenotypic expression is resulting at both small and large spatial scales. The ultimate aim of much of the research, therefore, is to understand the development of phenotype and to facilitate knowledge-based breeding of sustainable high quality resistant soft fruit varieties through the
To enable the uptake of measures that will improve water management, both to improve water quality and to contribute to flood risk management. This RD examines the options to improve water management in the complex socio-economic and policy settings of 'real world' catchment management. Separate projects within this RD range in their focus from reviewing lessons from water management in other countries, through to lessons that can be derived from ongoing work in Scottish catchments, and in synthesising evidence and providing tools that can help policy and practitioners to select, target and
There remain large gaps in understanding how changes in management and the environment alter community composition and, hence, ecosystem functions. This Research Deliverable (RD) addresses how ecosystem functions are regulated by the traits of species present, and how potential limits for the maintenance of ecosystem function can be captured in ecosystem health metrics. It also has the aim of identifying indices of ecosystem function that can be applied to assess ecosystem health at a range of scales (from field to national) so that management actions can be targeted to improve ecosystem
Ecosystem services provision: To develop an in-depth understanding by 2021 of the impacts of selected management interventions (including restoration) on Ecosystem Service (ES) flows and of the associated trajectories of change. This will be linked to decision making and reporting towards international commitments at the national level, and help develop our impact and collaborations in the international scientific community.
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.