Eyes on the bog. Long-term monitoring network for UK peatlands

Eyes on the Bog provides a scientifically robust, repeatable, low tech, long-term monitoring initiative. The standardised methodology enables individual peatland sites to be consistently monitored across the UK, creating a network of comparable sites. The initiative employs cheap, simple techniques and modern technology to enable useful monitoring information to be collected by peatland community employees or volunteers on: Peat subsidence and carbon loss Carbon capture Water table behaviour Peat soil condition Vegetation status, structure and composition Historical context of change and current trajectorie

Identification and classification of unmapped blanket bogs in the Cordillera Cantábrica, northern Spain

Blanket bogs are rare types of peatland that are recognised internationally for important habitat provision, and nationally and locally as important carbon stores and sinks. These ecosystems enjoy particular attention and protection within the European Union, but gaps highlighted in the Spanish national peatland inventory leave many areas of Spain’s blanket bog habitat unprotected and exposed to anthropogenic pressures such as livestock or wind farm development. This research identifies and offers classification of four currently unmapped areas of blanket bog located in the Cordillera Cantábrica (north Spain) on the administrative boundaries between the regions of Cantabria and Castilla y León. Peat depth was surveyed on a 15 m spaced grid at all sites and mesotope units were defined from topography and hydrological flow patterns. Two sloping and two mound blanket bogs were identified containing a range of bog and fen mesotope units. Maximum peat depth at the five sites ranges from 1.78 to 2.82 m covering an area of 43 ha of blanket bog (> 30 cm peat depth). The survey also estimates that more than 300,000 m³ of peat has accumulated across all sites. This study adds significantly to the known global distribution of blanket mire and suggests that an urgent update of national peatland inventories is needed more widely, not least in Spain, to identify currently unmapped areas of blanket bog. The approach used here can be employed wherever blanket mires occur in the world to promote their designation and the preservation of peatland diversity and carbon storage

Individual differences in eyewitness accuracy across multiple lineups of faces

Theories of face recognition in cognitive psychology stipulate that the hallmark of accurate identification is the ability to recognize a person consistently, across different encounters. In this study, we apply this reasoning to eyewitness identification by assessing the recognition of the same target person repeatedly, over six successive lineups. Such repeat identifications are challenging and can be performed only by a proportion of individuals, both when a target exhibits limited and more substantial variability in appearance across lineups (Experiments 1 and 2). The ability to do so correlates with individual differences in identification accuracy on two established tests of unfamiliar face recognition (Experiment 3). This indicates that most observers have limited facial representations of target persons in eyewitness scenarios, which do not allow for robust identification in most individuals, partly due to limitations in their ability to recognize unfamiliar faces. In turn, these findings suggest that consistency of responses across multiple lineups of faces could be applied to assess which individuals are accurate eyewitnesses

Vehicular tracks and the influence of land use and habitat protection in the British uplands

Uplands cover around 25% of the Earth's land surface and comprise highly sensitive soils and habitats of global ecological importance that together provision a suite of valuable ecosystem services. Access to upland areas for land management and recreation is increasingly dependent on the use of motorised vehicles. However, despite the widely acknowledged detrimental consequences of vehicle track development and use, this activity is not currently quantified or monitored. In this study, surfaced and unsurfaced vehicular tracks, footpaths and land cover in an approximately 5% sample of mainland British uplands (1910 km2) were mapped using aerial imagery dating between 2007 and 2016. An information theory approach was used to identify models that best predicted the presence and extent of surfaced tracks as a function of land cover, protected status, extent of blanket peat, proximity to human population and altitude. A total of 2104 km of track were recorded, with 27% defined as being surfaced. This equates to a mean (±SE) track density of 1.10 ± 0.15 km km−2 in current use by vehicles across upland Britain. Areas of managed heather and grass-dominated habitat were the primary predictors of the presence and extent of surfaced tracks and we found no evidence that areas of conservation interest with protective designation were less susceptible to track construction. These data indicate that wide-ranging vehicular track networks exist in ecologically sensitive environments across the British uplands, with implications for the integrity of sensitive habitats and soils. Land use and management activities that are not facilitating ecological improvement or conservation appear to be driving the presence of surfaced tracks in 'protected' areas. The findings suggest that: a) urgent review and revision of upland track legislation is required in Great Britain; and b) wider assessment of upland tracks should be undertaken to inform global conservation strategies for these environments

Subversion as a Facet of Terrorism and Insurgency The Case for a Twenty-First Century Approach; Strategic Insights: v.8, issue 3 (August 2009)

This article appeared in Strategic Insights (August 2009), v.8 no.3For most analysts (to the extent they consider the subject at all), subversion as a threat essentially evaporated with the close of the Cold War. A notable exception is David Kilcullen, a leading counterinsurgency strategist, who recently outlined what he terms the 'five classes of threat that currently confront Europe,' namely, terrorist cells, subversive networks, extremist political movements, insurgent sympathiser networks, and crime overlapping with terrorism. In order to understand the dynamics of this complex and shifting threat, he offers a new definition of subversion, as 'the conscious, clandestine manipulation of grievances, short of armed conflict, in order to weaken states, communities and organisations.

An accident of history? The evolution of counter terrorism methodology in the Metropolitan Police from 1829 to 1901, with particular reference to the influence of extreme Irish Nationalist activity

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