Historic record of pasture soil water and the influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation in south-west England

The North Wyke Farm Platform is a National Capability funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council in the UK (project number BB/J004308/1). Climate data were measured at the MIDAS Land Surface Station DLY3208 DEVON, UK, a weather station of the UK Meteorological Office. We would especially like to thank Dr Melannie Hartmann, NREL, Colorado State University for the inclusion and use of the DayCent model, and advice on preparation of model parameters.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

What contribution can Miscanthus giganteus make to bioenergy requirements associated with IPCC climate projections ?

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Modelling the Effect of Climate Change on Environmental Pollution Losses from Dairy Systems in the UK

21 p.So far, there has been strong emphasis on studying the impacts of climate change on agriculture in terms of changes in food production; however, there is increasing evidence that agricultural ecosystems (e.g. livestock) will also be severely affected in terms of other goods and services. For example, patterns and loads of environmental pollution derived from nutrient losses are expected to change dramatically (e.g. increased run-off: Betts et al., 2007). There have been few studies that use a system-based approach to explore the complex interactions between farm inputs, response of system components and inherent site factors that give rise to changes in productivity, environmental pollution losses and agricultural services in future scenarios. This article describes the methodology and the results of a study to evaluate the effect of climate change only on losses of nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) from grassland-based livestock systems in 10 UK Regional Development Programme (RDP) areas. In order to do so, a modelling framework integrating different models at the crop and farm level was developed and implemented. Simulated projections suggest that farming systems will undergo different changes in food production and associated nutrient losses depending on different areas and time-slices. Potential trade-offs on other pillars of farm sustainability (e.g. net farm income, biodiversity and soil quality) were simulated and illustrated as an example

Expanding the Miscanthus market in the UK:Growers in profile and experience, benefits and drawbacks of the bioenergy crop

Research Funding Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Grant Number: BB/V011553/1 EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Additive Manufacturing. Grant Number: EP/S000771/1 UK Supergen Bioenergy Hub. Grant Number: RG15855Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Metrics of biomass, live-weight gain and nitrogen loss of ryegrass sheep pasture in the 21st century

This study was partially supported by Soil to Nutrition, Rothamsted Research’s Institute Strategic Programme supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBS/E/C/000I0320).The North Wyke Farm Platform is a UK National Capability, also supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBS/E/C/000J0100).This study was also partially supported by the Natural Environment Research Council’s ADVENT project (NERC NE/M019691/1).Climate data were measured at the MIDAS Land Surface Station DLY3208 DEVON, UK, a weather station of the UK Meteorological Office. We would especially like to thank Dr Nadine Loick of Rothamsted Research for advice on preparation of N2O model calibration parameters, and the data team of the North Wyke Farm Platform. We owe our gratitude to the late Mr Robert Orr, grassland specialist at the North Wykesite, for his invaluable advice and information on sward growth.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Disaggregated N2O emission factors in China based on cropping parameters create a robust approach to the IPCC Tier 2 methodology

Acknowledgements This work was funded by Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and the United Kingdom Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), UK under the UK-China Sustainable Agriculture Innovation Network (SAIN; Project DC09-06). Rothamsted Research receives strategic funding by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Overview and application of the Mitscherlich equation and its extensions to estimate the soil nitrogen pool fraction associated with crop yield and nitrous oxide emission.

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Climate change and hydrology at the prairie margin : historic and prospective future flows of Canada's Red Deer and other Rocky Mountain river

This projected commenced with support from Alberta Agriculture and the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance, and subsequent funding was provided by Alberta Environment and Parks, Alberta Innovates, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and Agriculture and Agri‐Food Canada provided some climate data. This paper follows from an MSc thesis chapter by the first author, and we extend thanks to faculty advisors Cam Goater, Stefan Kienzle, and Larry Flanagan and to two anonymous reviewers for very helpful recommendations.Peer reviewedPostprin

Scale and intensity of intertidal habitat use by knots Calidris canutus in the Western Wadden Sea in relation to food, friends and foes

In August-October 1988-1992 we studied the distribution and abundance of knots Calidris canutus around Griend in the western Wadden Sea, and the extent to which these can be explained by benthic prey availability and presence of avian predators. Numbers in the nonbreeding season showed monthly averages of 10000 to 25000 birds. Over 100000 knots were recorded on three occasions. Knots feed in large flocks, individual birds usually experiencing 4000 to 15000 flock-mates. The Siberian-breeding/west-African wintering canutus subspecies passed through in late July and early August. Otherwise the Greenlandic/Canadian breeding islandica subspecies was present. Over the period 1964-1992 there were no clear trends in the number of knots, but canutus-knots were particularly abundant in July-August 1991, whereas in 1992 both subspecies were absent. Macoma balthica was the preferred prey of both subspecies. Hydrobia ulvae, Mytilus edulis and Cerastoderma edule were eaten when Macoma was absent close to the surface of the sediment. As Macoma buried deeper from July onwards, canutus faced better average feeding conditions than islandica later in the year. The spatial distribution of knots feeding on the intertidal flats around Griend was best explained by the harvestable biomass of the prevalent prey species in a particular year and season, i.e. Macoma (main prey when their harvestable biomass densities were greater than ca 0.8 g AFDM per m2) and Cerastoderma, and by the avoidance of situations where they run the risk of attack by bird-eating birds. Flocks of knots covered most of the intertidal flats in the western Dutch Wadden Sea in a couple of tidal cycles. This is about 800 km2, much larger than the equivalent area used by knots on their wintering grounds in Mauritania (10-15 km2), a difference that is correlated with prey spectrum, prey availability and predictability.