Why native plant species can pose a threat to biodiversity.
Thistles, nettles, brambles. They’re such a familiar feature of the UK countryside, it’s easy to overlook them. Yet the evidence shows they’re spreading – with potentially serious implications.
RCUK's Living With Environmental Change Champion, Dan Osborn contributing to the launch of The UK Water Research and Innovation Framework (UKWRIF).
The framework was launched at the annual All Party Parliamentary Water Group innovation event at the House of Commons on November 28th 2011. It coincided with the release of the Defra White Paper on water, “Water for Life”.
The spread of non-native plants can undermine flood protection systems.
A car stops in a country lay-by... a bag of garden waste is fly-tipped in the undergrowth beside a half-hidden stream... and within a few years local watercourses are overrun with an aggressively spreading tropical plant.
Citizen Science harnesses people power to keep an eye on the weather
When it comes to modelling the climate, there’s no substitute for massive computing power. But that doesn’t necessarily mean massive computers. That’s why the ‘weatherathome’ experiment, part of the Natural Environment Research Council’s LWEC-accredited Changing Water Cycle Programme, set out to recruit thousands of computer users worldwide toassess how climate and weather are changing in different regions of the world.
Geologists make it easy to see the world beneath our feet
The Mendip caving community has discovered a multitude of caves over the years. And they’re hunting for more – a mission aided by the host of maps, photos and other data available from OpenGeoscience. This groundbreaking web service has beendeveloped by the British Geological Survey’s Knowledge Exchange Programme, drawing on a range of work across the organisation including the LWEC-accredited Geoscience Technologies Programme.
