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.

  • Climate and the Environment

27 Oct 2022

Working together to improve our understanding of inclusive growth in the Highlands and Islands

In 2020, researchers and practitioners collaborated to better understand how inclusive growth can be conceptualised and measured across a large, diverse and predominantly rural region in the north and west of Scotland.

  • SEFARI Gateway
  • Land and Communities
  • Rural Economy

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.

  • Climate and the Environment
  • Land and Communities

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.

  • Climate and the Environment
  • Land and Communities
  • SEFARI Gateway

18 Aug 2022

Sustainable Roundworm Control - Getting the Message Across

In an ever-changing world, it is essential that individuals are able to access, and act upon, the most relevant information and advice, and no more so than in agriculture.

  • Agriculture
  • Plant and Animal Health
  • Land and Communities
  • Rural Economy
  • SEFARI Gateway
  • Science Education

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).

  • Climate and the Environment

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

  • Plant and Animal Health
  • Climate and the Environment
  • Agriculture

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. 

  • Land and Communities
  • Climate and the Environment

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.

  • SEFARI Gateway
  • Agriculture
  • Climate and the Environment

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.

  • Agriculture
  • Climate and the Environment
  • Plant and Animal Health

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.

  • Land and Communities
  • Climate and the Environment

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.

  • Climate and the Environment
  • Science Education
  • Land and Communities

22 Mar 2022

Anthelmintics and the Environment – opening a whole can of worms?

A SEFARI Specialist Advisory Group was established in response to concerns from livestock farmers and agro-ecologists about the adverse environmental impacts of some frontline livestock worming treatments, which reach the environment either in the dung/urine of treated animals or as a result of inappropriate disposa

  • Agriculture
  • Plant and Animal Health
  • Animal Health & Welfare

28 Feb 2022

Healthy cow, healthy milk? Identifying traits that are mutually beneficial to the cow and the consumer

Improvements in the health and productivity of livestock is key for the future sustainability of farming.

  • Agriculture
  • Plant and Animal Health

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.

  • Land and Communities
  • Climate and the Environment
  • Agriculture
  • Rural Economy

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”.

  • Climate and the Environment
  • Land and Communities

11 Oct 2021

Food and Drink Innovation and Clustering in Scotland’s Highlands and Islands: review of opportunities for engagement with the Arctic Region

This preliminary research explored food and drink innovation and clustering in Scotland’s Highlands and Islands and reviewed potential opportunities for engagement with partners in the Arctic region.

  • Food & Drink Innovation

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.

  • Climate and the Environment
  • Plant and Animal Health

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.

  • Agriculture
  • Plant and Animal Health
  • Climate and the Environment

31 Aug 2021

High and dry - Drought resilience in alpine vegetation and soils

The alpine zone supports some of our most natural habitats and provides ecosystem services including carbon storage, nutrient cycling and water quality.

  • Climate and the Environment
  • Plant and Animal Health

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