Ecological survey of the native pinewoods of Scotland 1971

In 1971, a comprehensive ecological survey of the native pinewoods of Scotland was carried out by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology. The survey was initiated as a consequence of growing concern about the status of the pinewood resource. Since the Twentieth Century, this unique habitat is widely recognised, not only by ecologists for its inherent biodiversity, but also by the general public for its cultural and amenity value. The survey, utilising demonstrably repeatable methods, collected information on ground flora, soils, forest structure and also general site information from the major 27 sites of the 35 sites identified as truly native pinewoods in Scotland. The results from the survey prompted the organisation of an International Symposium in 1975, which set the conservation agenda for the Old Caledonian Pinewoods. The data collected during the 1971 survey are now publicly available via the following DOI: http://doi.org/10/7xb (Habitat, vegetation, tree and soil data from Native Pinewoods in Scotland, 1971). Although the data are now 44 years old, the repeatable methods will allow for a resurvey to take place, in order to assess changes in the vegetation, habitats and tree composition in statistically robust manner

Survey of the terrestrial habitats and vegetation of Shetland, 1974 – a framework for long-term ecological monitoring

A survey of the natural environment was undertaken in Shetland in 1974, after concern was expressed that large-scale development from the new oil industry could threaten the natural features of the islands. A framework was constructed by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology on which to select samples for the survey. The vegetation and habitat data that were collected, along with the sampling framework, have recently been made public via the following doi:10.5285/06fc0b8c-cc4a-4ea8-b4be-f8bd7ee25342 (Terrestrial habitat, vegetation and soil data from Shetland, 1974) and doi:10.5285/f1b3179e-b446-473d-a5fb-4166668da146 (Land Classification of Shetland 1974). In addition to providing valuable information about the state of the natural environment of Shetland, the repeatable and statistically robust methods developed in the survey were used to underpin the Countryside Survey, Great Britain's national long-term integrated environmental monitoring programme. The demonstration of the effectiveness of the methodology indicates that a repeat of the Shetland survey would yield statistics about ecological changes in the islands, such as those arising from the impacts of the oil industry, a range of socio-economic impacts, and perhaps climate change. Currently no such figures are available, although there is much information on the sociological impacts, as well as changes in agriculture

Gaining new knowledge from historic data: an approach to ecological data rescue, with special reference to UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) long-term land use monitoring data sets

The overarching theme of my collection of work comprises a unique synthesis of environmental informatics and long-term ecological monitoring, set in a context of a period of rapid developments in field survey methodology and environmental change. It concerns ecological data from a regional to national scale, charting the development of the repeatable long-term ecological monitoring undertaken by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) (formerly the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, ITE). My submission consists of six peer-reviewed first author papers (plus an additional second author paper) representing a major exercise, led and largely undertaken by myself, in data rescue, management, analysis and publication of a series of nationally important ecological data sets. Each of my published papers explores a major ecological survey, describes the methodology, available data and findings, and places each survey into a national, and international, context. My collection of work demonstrates my technical expertise in the sphere of ecological data management and has been pioneering in the field of data publication and open data. There is an increasing movement, encouraged by the UK Research Councils, towards making publicly funded research data openly accessible in a data repository. In recent years, several journals have been set up to encourage the sharing and re-use of scientific data. Publishing my work in such journals has meant that nationally valuable data are openly available and described to the wider research community and the wider public ensuring data transferability and re-use. Without my vital work concerning the environmental data described, the quality assured data would not be secured safely for long-term storage and use. Indeed, some of the data sets were already on the verge of being lost before the work in question was undertaken. My papers cover a period beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before which sampling techniques for ecological survey tended to be subjective and non-repeatable. Thanks to the ground-breaking work undertaken at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology’s research station at Merlewood, Cumbria, statistically robust, standardised, repeatable sampling methods have been developed for producing figures for large areas. My papers explore how these methodological techniques began to evolve in the first two surveys examined, concerning two habitat specific woodland surveys undertaken in 1971 (across the whole of Great Britain and in Scottish Pinewoods). These were followed by a regional survey of Shetland (1974), during which the idea of a statistical sampling framework using stratified random sampling was first tested. This led to the initiation of the first national ecological survey of Great Britain in 1978, now arguably the largest long-term ecological monitoring project in the country, known as the Countryside Survey (CS). This national survey has now been repeated in 1984, 1990, 1998 and 2007 and is covered in the final three papers. An additional paper describes how the techniques were utilised in an associated survey of targeted ‘Key Habitats’ in England in the 1990s, one of several surveys associated with Countryside Survey. The countryside of Great Britain and its associated habitats and ecological features have changed considerably over the last 50 years, for a variety of reasons. My collection of work providesthe unique opportunity to explore the changes and drivers of change that have taken place in the British countryside. The published data enable links between different disciplines to be made, furthering a range of research on many aspects of land use and land use change such as evolving farming and forestry practices, climate change and atmospheric pollution and providing evidence for national policy makers. The final paper included in my submission is a specific example of how this type of data may be applied, in this case in relation to the British uplands. This document should form essential reading for all scientists planning a major ecological project involving repeatable measurements

Novel methods for spatial prediction of soil functions within landscapes (SP0531)

Previous studies showed that soil patterns could be predicted in agriculturally managed landscapes by modelling and extrapolating from extensive existing but related integrated datasets. Based on these results we proposed to develop and apply predictive models of the relationships between environmental data and known soil patterns to predict capacity for key soil functions within diverse landscapes for which there is little detailed underpinning soil information available. Objectives were: To develop a high-level framework in which the non-specialist user-community could explore questions. To generate digital soil maps for three selected catchments at a target resolution of 1:50000 to provide the base information for soil function prediction. To use a modelling approach to predict the performance of key soil functions in catchments undergoing change but where only sparse or low resolution soil survey data are available. To use a modelling approach to assess the impact of different management scenarios and/or environmental conditions on the delivery of multiple soil functions within a catchment. To create a detailed outline of the requirements for ground-truthing to test the predicted model outputs at a catchment scale. To contribute to the development of a high-level framework for decision makers

Land cover and vegetation data from an ecological survey of `key habitat' landscapes in England, 1992-1993

Since 1978, a series of national surveys (Countryside Survey, CS) have been carried out by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) (formerly the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, ITE) to gather data on the natural environment in Great Britain (GB). As the sampling framework for these surveys is not optimised to yield data on rarer or more localised habitats, a survey was commissioned by the then Department of the Environment (DOE, now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, DEFRA) in the 1990s to carry out additional survey work in English landscapes which contained semi-natural habitats that were perceived to be under threat, or which represented areas of concern to the ministry. The landscapes were lowland heath, chalk and limestone (calcareous) grasslands, coasts and uplands. The information recorded allowed an assessment of the extent and quality of a range of habitats defined during the project, which can now be translated into standard UK broad and priority habitat classes. The survey, known as the "Key Habitat Survey", followed a design which was a series of gridded, stratified, randomly selected 1 km squares taken as representative of each of the four landscape types in England, determined from statistical land classification and geological data ("spatial masks"). The definitions of the landscapes are given in the descriptions of the spatial masks, along with definitions of the surveyed habitats. A total of 213 of the 1 km2 square sample sites were surveyed in the summers of 1992 and 1993, with information being collected on vegetation species, land cover, landscape features and land use, applying standardised repeatable methods. The database contributes additional information and value to the long-term monitoring data gathered by the Countryside Survey and provides a valuable baseline against which future ecological changes may be compared, offering the potential for a repeat survey. The data were analysed and described in a series of contract reports and are summarised in the present paper, showing for example that valuable habitats were restricted in all landscapes, with the majority located within protected areas of countryside according to different UK designations. The dataset provides major potential for analyses, beyond those already published, for example in relation to climate change, agri-environment policies and land management. Precise locations of the plots are restricted, largely for reasons of landowner confidentiality. However, the representative nature of the dataset makes it highly valuable for evaluating the status of ecological elements within the associated landscapes surveyed. Both land cover data and vegetation plot data were collected during the surveys in 1992 and 1993 and are available via the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.5285/7aefe6aa-0760-4b6d-9473-fad8b960abd4. The spatial masks are also available from https://doi.org/10.5285/dc583be3-3649-4df6-b67e-b0f40b4ec895

LCM2021 – the UK Land Cover Map 2021

Land cover is a key environmental variable, underpinning widespread environmental research and decision making. The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) has provided reliable land cover information since the early 1990s; this supports multiple scientific, government and commercial objectives. Recent advances in computation and satellite data availability have enabled annual UKCEH land cover maps since 2017. Here, we introduce the latest, annual UK Land Cover Map representing 2021 (LCM2021), and we describe its production and validation. LCM2021 methods replicate those of LCM2017 to LCM2020 with minor deviations in cloud-masking processes and training data sourcing to enhance accuracy. LCM2021 is based on the classification of satellite and spatial context data into 21 land cover or habitat classes, from which a product suite is derived. The production of LCM2021 involved three highly automated key stages: pre-processing of input data, image classification and production of the final data products. Google Earth Engine scripts were used to create an input data stack of satellite and context data. A set of training areas was created based on data harvested from historic UKCEH land cover maps. The training data were used to construct a random forest classifier, which yielded classified images. Compiled results were validated against 35 182 reference samples, with correspondence tables indicating variable class accuracy and an overall accuracy of 82.6 % for the 21-class data and 86.5 % at a 10-aggregated-classes level. The UK Land Cover Map product suite includes a set of raster products in various projections, thematic and spatial resolutions (10 m, 25 m and 1 km), and land–parcel or vector products. The data are provided in 21-class (all configurations) and aggregated 10-class (1 km raster products only) versions. All raster products are freely available for academic and non-commercial research. The data for Great Britain (GB) are provided in the British National Grid projection (EPSG: 27700) and the Northern Ireland (NI) data are in the TM75 Irish Grid (EPSG: 29903). Information on how to access the data is given in the “Data availability” section of the paper.</p

Bone Mineral Density and Osteoporosis after Preterm Birth: The Role of Early Life Factors and Nutrition

The effects of preterm birth and perinatal events on bone health in later life remain largely unknown. Bone mineral density (BMD) and osteoporosis risk may be programmed by early life factors. We summarise the existing literature relating to the effects of prematurity on adult BMD and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis and programming of bone growth. Metabolic bone disease of prematurity and the influence of epigenetics on bone metabolism are discussed and current evidence regarding the effects of breastfeeding and aluminium exposure on bone metabolism is summarised. This review highlights the need for further research into modifiable early life factors and their effect on long-term bone health after preterm birth

The ecology of British upland landscapes. II. The influence of policy on the current character of the uplands and the potential for change

The paper demonstrates that the British Uplands have been influenced to a great extent by policy - for example, the planting of almost a million hectares of exotic conifers since the Second World War, and the extent of designated areas. Otherwise, climate change transcends policy and is locally important to coastal and high mountain habitats. The different policies affecting the Uplands, such as the Common Agricultural Policy, are described, as are the wide range of designations such as National Parks, which may have a stabilising effect in times of great change. A new trend has started in Scotland in the last 20 years of local initiatives, such as the community ownership of Eigg, however large landowners still dominate. An impact table is presented of the habitats that make up the Uplands and their links to driving forces, with potential changes described that are likely to take place under future policies such as Brexit. Dwarf shrub heath is the habitat affected by many management drivers, whereas habitats such as Inland Rock, are relatively stable but most likely to be affected by climate change

The ecology of British upland landscapes. I. Composition of landscapes, habitats, vegetation and species

A primary requirement for policy objectives is reliable figures on the composition of any region. Currently there is no comprehensive, definitive set of statistics for the British Uplands, hence the present paper. An overview of the background to the region is first provided, together with some examples of the available figures and a discussion of their limitations. The paper uses a formal structure, with landscapes at the highest level followed by habitats, then vegetation, and finally species, with exact definitions of the categories applied at all levels. The figures are produced from a survey of stratified, random one kilometre squares. The tables give comprehensive figures for Great Britain (GB) as a whole, and also England, Wales and Scotland. The Uplands are shown to cover 38 % of the country. In terms of UK Broad Habitats, Bog is the most common overall (2062 k ha). It is estimated that 41 % of upland vegetation in Britain is grazed by sheep, and Cervus elephus (red deer) are particularly evident in Scotland. Walls (mainly drystone) are the most important linear feature (84 k km) but hedgerows (30 k km) are also widespread. The major vegetation classes are those linked to moorlands and bogs (about 25 %) but those associated with fertile soils are also common (10 %). In terms of species, Potentilla erecta (tormentil) is the most frequent species with four other acid grassland species in the top ten. Calluna vulgaris (ling heather) has the highest cover in Great Britain (14.8 %)

"You are just left to get on with it": qualitative study of patient and carer experiences of the transition to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis

Objectives Although the transition to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) is known to be a period of uncertainty for clinicians, who may find progressive disease challenging to objectively identify, little research has explored the experiences of patients and carers specifically during this transition period. Our objective was to explore what patients and their carers understand about their disease stage and describe their experiences and perspectives on the transition to SPMS. Design Semistructured qualitative interviews and subsequent validation focus groups were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Setting South East Wales, UK. Participants 20 patients with MS and 13 carers were interviewed. Eight patients and two carers participated in focus groups. Results Four main themes around disease progression were identified. ‘Realisation’ describes how patients came to understand they had SPMS while ‘reaction’ describes their response to this realisation. The ‘realities’ of living with SPMS, including dealing with the healthcare system during this period, were described along with ‘future challenges’ envisaged by patients and carers. Conclusions Awareness that the transition to SPMS has occurred, and subsequent emotional reactions and coping strategies, varied widely between patients and their carers. The process of diagnosing the transition was often not transparent and some individuals wanted information to help them understand what the transition to SPMS meant for them