Abstract Citizen science data are increasingly used to infer species distributions and monitor biodiversity at large spatial scales. However, recording effort is often uneven across space, potentially...

PhD Project - Tracking Ecosystem Recovery and Pollution Risks in Restored Saltmarshes at Heriot-Watt University, listed on FindAPhD.com

Most nitrogen is a harmless gas that makes up 78% of the air we breathe.  Reactive forms of nitrogen are more of a challenge, such as those found in fertilisers essential to help our crops grow. When ...

Dr Jan Dick reflects on how long-term monitoring and international collaboration provide important insights into how climate change is affecting the ecology of the Cairngorms and other European mounta...

Numbers of puffins at one of the UK’s largest colonies have reduced by around 30% since 2024, a new survey has shown.

Global temperature rise is set to cross 1.5°C, likely within the next few years, pushing climate risks and impacts to increasingly dangerous heights, but it is still possible to bring temperatures dow...

Key findings: • Network for Nowcasting Convective Cores (NetNCC) has considerable potential for convective storm nowcasting and the development of early warning systems for extreme rainfall. • Skilfu....

Progress towards national and international targets to halt and reverse declines in species' abundances will be assessed using multispecies indicators (MSIs). A distinction must be drawn between two ...

The summer drought in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2022 produced significant speculation concerning how its termination may impact and interact with the soil resource. Whilst knowledge regarding soils and droughts exists in the scientific literature, a coherent understanding of the wider range of impacts on soil properties and functions has not been compiled for temperate soils. Here, we draw together knowledge from studies in the UK and other temperate countries to understand how soils respond to drought, and importantly what and where our knowledge gaps are. First, we define the different types of droughts and their frequency in the UK and provide a brief overview on the likely societal impacts that droughts place on the soil and related ecosystems. Our focus is on ‘agricultural and ecosystem drought’, as this is when soils experience dry periods affecting crops and ecosystem function, followed by rewetting. The behaviour of moisture in soils and the key processes that contribute to its storage and transport are examined. The principal changes in the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils resulting from drought, and rewetting (i.e., drought termination) are discussed and their extensive interactions are demonstrated. Processes that are involved in the rewetting of soils are explored for soil and catchment-scale soil responses. Lastly, soils’ recovery after drought is considered, knowledge gaps are identified, and areas to improve understanding are highlighted.