Land and Communities

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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”. Examples would be the restoration of peat bogs to return them to net sinks of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or re-meandering rivers to reduce flood risk. However, not all NbS are equal: the term can be applied to different interventions in quite varied settings, tackling varied problems.

Exploring the Twitterverse – What can we learn about engaging with farmers on social media?

New research, involving a partnership across the Portfolio between Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), SEFARI Gateway and the Plant Health Centre, has been examining a tale as old as agriculture – how farmers discuss farming. Farmers are quite a sociable group, often discussing on-farm practices with friends and colleagues who are farmers and/or those who engage in some aspect of agriculture.

Social and environmental aspects of food redistribution

The Scottish Government has set a flagship target to reduce food and drink waste by 33% by 2025 from a 2013 baseline, which recorded an estimated 1.35 million tonnes of food and drink waste in Scotland.

WaterWall in Motion - A competition to share your water-related videos

We’re eager to create a collective resource showing how we enjoy, monitor, research, innovate, manage and conserve our water resources. This is your opportunity to submit a short video as part of a competition. By getting involved we can highlight how Scotland, as a Hydro Nation, is leading the way in water-inspired activities, research, technology and management.

How grassland farmers are tackling the climate and biodiversity crisis head on

Feeding our growing world population without further adverse environmental impacts remains one of farming’s biggest challenges. Farmers are now expected to deliver much more than simply food. Storing Carbon, conserving biodiversity and mitigating floods are amongst the multitude of wider benefits that we now expect from our farmland.

Eat them to beat them: Can Invasive Plants be Harnessed to Provide a Sustainable Source of Protein?

Invasive plants compete with crops of commercial interest for resources, tending to outgrow them owing to more robust dispersal mechanisms and quicker germination times. Once established, invasive species also become exceedingly difficult to remove. Currently, removal of unwanted plant mass generally involves animal consumption (herbivory), incineration, mechanical removal, or disposal in landfill. The use of herbicides is also a popular and often the preferred method of managing unwanted plant invasion.

Ecosystem resilience – woodland establishment on heather moorland and carbon budgets

Woodland expansion is a key part of the Scottish and Westminster Governments’ plans to meet net zero carbon emission targets by 2045 and 2050 respectively. Here, we use replicated experiments to study the changes that occurred on heather dominated moorland when birch and Scots pine were planted. On decadal timescales we found that net ecosystem carbon storage did not increase, above ground gains being off-set by loss of carbon from the soil. There were few other changes in soil chemistry, but the soil microbial community was shown to change, as was the above ground vegetation.

Five SEFARI Research Farms - take a tour from your sofa

Across the globe the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how people work, communicate, socialise and learn. As an active person who is always out and about doing things, I personally have found this a great challenge. I am missing the simple things in life that I have always taken for granted. Popping into my mum’s for a tea and a chat, meeting friends for coffee (or wine!), or finding a new hill to climb. During the week I am now confined to a little desk in the corner of my kitchen, it is a nice kitchen, but that desk is become tiresome.

Protecting water catchments from zoonotic Cryptosporidium parasites

The Cryptosporidium oocysts have a tough outer waxy shell, composed of lipids and glycoproteins that enables the parasite to survive in the environment over a wide temperature range (-22⁰C -60⁰C) for several months. As a result, Cryptosporidium parasites are a real problem for the water industry as the parasite survives extremely well in water and is resistant to chlorination.

Making Green Infrastructure Socially Inclusive: Principles and Challenges

Green Infrastructure consists of interconnected multifunctional green spaces and green features. Components of Green Infrastructure include parks, nature reserves, street trees, streams, sustainable urban drainage systems and green roofs. Proponents of Green Infrastructure are hopeful that its use in planning systems will provide multiple social, economic and ecological benefits to improve the liveability and sustainability of places.

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