The environmental challenges facing our planet have never been more acute. SEFARI research helps to show how we can protect and restore our natural capital – our soils, biodiversity and ecosystems – and develop effective ways to manage the land and water to improve environmental condition. SEFARI works to better understand how biological, chemical and physical processes can allow us to tackle climate change, adapt to changes coming our way, and build a more resilient and well-functioning environment.
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Climate and the Environment
Case Studies
3 Dec 2024
Refreshing crop genetic biodiversity
Genetic biodiversity is the fuel that drives crop improvement. However, in major cereal crops, while the traditional method of crop improvement has brought significant yield improvements over time, it has also resulted in a drastic loss of crop genetic biodiversity.
30 Sep 2024
Developing Dialogues on Land Use Decision Making for Natural Capital
Spurred in part by Scottish government policies such as the commitment to reach Net Zero by 2045, there has been an increase in investment in land for natural capital purposes in Scotland.
16 May 2023
Microbe Safari: A new web resource for the public and learners
Microbes play a wide variety of essential roles in keeping our guts healthy and in supporting food and agriculture production. Conversely, some microbial populations can cause serious disease, as foodborne pathogens or infectious agents of food-producing animals and crops.
22 Feb 2023
Which habitats are at greatest risk from plant pests and pathogens?
Plant pests and pathogens can have a devastating impact not only on plant hosts but also the wider biodiversity that use the infected plant (e.g., for food, breeding and shelter).
12 Dec 2022
The Tarland Catchment: Monitoring landscape interventions to improve water quality, benefit riparian habitat and mitigate flooding
The Tarland Burn Catchment (~70 km2) has been studied since the year 2000 making it one of the longest running comprehensive catchment management case studies in the UK.
3 Nov 2022
What impact does tree planting have on soil carbon storage?
Increasingly trees are being promoted as a means to increase carbon storage and hence off-set climate change.
24 Oct 2022
Does floodplain restoration help to reduce extremes of water availability and improve biodiversity?
Healthy, intact floodplains play an important role in mitigating extremes of water availability (droughts and floods) expected under climate change. Compared to other ecosystems, intact floodplains also support a disproportionately high biodiversity.
30 Sep 2022
Taking the scenic (and sustainable) route - exploring public engagement strategies to decarbonise transport in UK national parks
The climate emergency presents a double challenge for public bodies as they reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and learn to adapt to the already changing climate.
12 Aug 2022
Assessing the benefits of river restoration in low energy streams
Streams and rivers in farmland areas often have a degraded morphology due to straightening and run-off pollution (inputs of fine sediment, < 2 mm particle size diameter).
14 Jun 2022
Livestock Health and Greenhouse Gases: A SEFARI Specialist Advisory Group
A SEFARI Gateway-funded Specialist Advisory Group brought together a broad range of expertise across key industry stakeholders, Government Policy Leads and relevant SEFARI researchers to discuss livestock health and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), to prioritise health conditions that have the greatest impact on emis
28 Apr 2022
Assessing the impact of different management interventions on perceived woodland benefits
The importance of ecosystems and biodiversity to human well-being is now well established as they provide benefits such as timber, pollination and coastal protection.
19 Apr 2022
Net zero opportunities to mitigate agricultural emissions in the North East of Scotland
The Scottish Government has committed to legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2045. This will require a reduction across all sectors of the economy.
8 Apr 2022
Can open science aid the sustainable transition? Collaborative intercrop research with farmers highlights opportunities for data and knowledge sharing
Scotland has ambitious strategies for biodiversity protection and climate action with the intention of achieving a greener, fairer and just future.
4 Apr 2022
Comparing Biodiversity Predictions by People and Computer Models for Woodland Management
Combining local, contextualised knowledge with generalised, scientific knowledge is seen as best practice in decision making for biodiversity management. However, there is the potential for conflict if these two knowledges do not concur.
1 Apr 2022
Going underground: testing the potential of citizen science and DNA to explore alpine soil biodiversity
Soil biodiversity is critical to ecosystem functioning, but our understanding of the richness and distribution of soil organisms lags far behind that of biodiversity above ground.
14 Dec 2021
Exploring the potential of spatially referenced data to support the evolution of land-based policy in Scotland
The way we manage land and plan land-use change plays an integral role in the efforts for meeting climatic targets and for mitigating and adapting to climate change impacts.
7 Dec 2021
Nature-based Solutions – how should we plan and evaluate them?
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have been defined many times, but these definitions can be summarised as “solutions to societal challenges that are inspired and supported by nature”.
5 Oct 2021
Mountain heights, hidden depths – biodiversity and carbon in Scotland’s alpine soils
The alpine zone supports some of Scotland’s most natural habitats. Complex topography interacts with snow cover and climate to create gradients in water availability and temperature, resulting in a mosaic of plant communities variously dominated by dwarf-shrubs, grasses, or mosses.
9 Sep 2021
Potato tuber development and quality: Why do some potato varieties sprout more than others?
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the world's most economically important food crops and holds major significance for future food security.
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Blog
5 Dec 2024 - 09:53
Keeping the three-legged stool in balance: the physical, chemical and biological health of our soil
Soil erosion remains one of the most pressing agricultural issues worldwide. It is still happening - the intensive way we farm is destroying and degrading the very basis of our entire food system, soil.
7 Nov 2024 - 10:50
NMEG report: Improving policy and practice for agricultural nutrient use and management
The interaction between nutrient management, food production and sustainability goals are complex, where both research and policy still remain fragmented.
14 Oct 2024 - 15:47
Climate Change Adaptation: 2nd Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (ENRA) Science, Evidence and Policy Conference
Climate Change Adaptation is one of the key items on the policy agenda in Scotland, and this was the main focus at this year’s ENRA Science, Evidence and Policy conference.