Biodiversity and Ecosystems

Maddy is a soil ecologist working within the Ecological Sciences group at the James Hutton Institute. Her research interests include C and N cycling in soils and how these soil functions can be influenced by microbial communities. Maddy currently works on the NERC funded CZO project Using critical zone science to enhance soil fertility and improve ecosystem services for peri-urban agriculture in China.

Alistair is an environmental economist with research interests in the evaluation of agricultural and environmental policy, particularly through the application of cost benefit analysis and non-market valuation. Recent work has included the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) Quantitative Assessment and inputs into ‘TEEB for Business’ chapter 2; refining and updating the environmental accounts for agriculture; and the development of marginal abatement cost curves for agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

Glenn is Head of Research at BioSS and the theme leader for process and systems modelling. In his role as head of research aims to foster a creative research environmnet deepening interactions with the biological sciences whilst strengthening links with the colleagues in areas such as mathematics, statistics and informatics. Glenn's individual research aims to understand the emergent properties of key biological systems using dynamic process-based models.

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. 

Sally is based at the Royal Botanic Garden and is currently doing research towards her PhD, jointly working with Royal Botanic Garden and the University of Glasgow. Her research uses meta-population modelling to reconstruct patterns in the distribution and abundance of oceanic epiphyte species and to infer exological processes for better habitat management. 

Katharine is a senior statistician at BioSS, based at the James Hutton Institute. Katharine has a background in ecological modelling with a focus on spatial systems and physiologically based models. 

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).

Alison is a research leader in ecological sciences at the James Hutton Institute. Alison is an agroecologist with 20 years research experience in plant production and ecology, with a focus on agroecosystem biodiversity and pest biocontrol under reduced inputs and climate change. Her research interests are driven by the wider challenges of how to enchance ecosystem service provision in agroecosystems and optimise sustainable crop production.

Aline is a molecular ecologist at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, whos research focus is conservation and ecological genetics of threatened and important plant species.