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Kevin Watts

@watts-km.bsky.social
332 followers 209 following 59 posts

Principal Scientist - Landscape & Restoration Ecology 🌍🌳🌲🔬@forestresearchuk.bsky.social🌳🌲🔬Biodiversity 🌼🐝 🦇🦉Experiments 🌳🌲@wrenproject.bsky.social 🌳 Hon Prof @stir.ac.uk📚

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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Individual‐Based Models Reveal Population Recovery and Impacts of Woodland Creation on Pine Martens (Martes martes) in Britain - Scopes - 2026 - Ecology and Evolution - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Individual‐Based Models Reveal Population Recovery and Impacts of Woodland Creation on Pine Martens (<fc><fi>Martes martes</fi></fc>) in Britain
We used a calibrated individual-based model to explore the reintroduction of pine martens to Britain and whether woodland creation can be targeted to improve pine marten dispersal. We find that the r...
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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Offsetting is widely promoted but poorly founded in ecology Our modelling study shows: effective offsetting requires restored areas larger than those impacted & protection over long timescales high habitat conversion rates reduce offsetting success conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Deer 🦌 activity limits tree 🌳 recruitment in woodland creation sites - Journal of Applied Ecology besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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University of Stirling Biological and Environmental Sciences @uofstirling-bes.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Where should I put my acoustic monitor? If you're looking to study #biodiversity using #ecoacoustics, #PhD researcher @ecologybarnett.bsky.social can advise! Here he is talking at the BES Symposium 🔊
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
“Drivers of complexity in ecosystem restoration” Waddell 2026 - Journal of Applied Ecology - besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Drivers of complexity in ecosystem restoration
This study shows that ecological complexity is empirically measurable, and its development in restoration can be influenced by key variables, which have mechanistic underpinnings. The foundational ro...
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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Is habitat fragmentation good or bad for biodiversity? This debate is stymied by studying snapshots of current landscape patterns Our paper reminds us fragmentation is the breaking apart of habitat over time Suggesting approaches to assess fragmentation as a process www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
cell.com
Resurrecting habitat fragmentation as a process over time
Habitat loss and fragmentation occur over time. Despite this truism, understanding the effects of habitat fragmentation has, in recent years, predominantly focused on interpreting snapshots of current...
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Robert Fletcher @fletcherecology.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Excited to share a new article from the lab & wonderful co-authors. We argue that habitat fragmentation research needs to be recalibrated to focus on changes over time. We hope that doing so will advance understanding, isolate attribution, and diminish heated debate. www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
cell.com
Resurrecting habitat fragmentation as a process over time
Habitat loss and fragmentation occur over time. Despite this truism, understanding the effects of habitat fragmentation has, in recent years, predominantly focused on interpreting snapshots of current...
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
“Resurrecting habitat fragmentation as a process over time” - Trends in Ecology & Evolution www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
cell.com
Resurrecting habitat fragmentation as a process over time
Habitat loss and fragmentation occur over time. Despite this truism, understanding the effects of habitat fragmentation has, in recent years, predominantly focused on interpreting snapshots of current...
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
www.forestresearch.gov.uk/news/launch-...
forestresearch.gov.uk
Launch of the Large-scale Ecosystem Recovery Network (LERN) - Forest Research
On 17 February 2026, the Knowledge Exchange Network for the Large-scale Ecosystem Recovery Network (LERN) was launched at Harold’s Park Wildland in Essex.
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Forest of Avon @forestofavon.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
We’re #Hiring a Tree & Woodland Officer 🌳 Do you have a passion for trees, nature, and tackling the climate crisis? Join our growing team and help deliver impactful woodland creation and tree planting projects across the region. 📅 Apply by 13th April 2026 Find out more: forestofavon.org/careers/
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Exciting new dataset on 🌳'Trees Outside of Woodlands' in Wales - created by @forestresearchuk.bsky.social datamap.gov.wales/layers/geono...
datamap.gov.wales
Trees Outside of Woodlands | DataMapWales
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Structural complexity across a continuum of woodland establishment methods from planting to natural colonisation www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
🌳Structural complexity across a continuum of woodland establishment methods from planting to natural colonisation🌳 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Klementyna Gawecka @klementynag.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Looking forward to the #BES2025 Annual Meeting next week! If you're interested in restoration, food webs, landscapes and species recovery, join me for the session: "Species interactions and recovery under global change" - Tuesday 16th - 5:30pm - Lammermuir 1
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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
There are problems with binary definitions of nativeness “Dilemmas arise from the dynamic nature of species' distribution ranges on longer time scales, in the application to smaller regions defined by arbitrary borders, & limited knowledge of species' past distributions” doi.org/10.1002/oik....
doi.org
A graduated nativeness definition for overcoming dilemmas and difficulties of vascular plant species
Nativeness is a concept central to biodiversity conservation and invasion biology, but there are several problems related to a classic binary nativeness definition. Dilemmas arise from the dynamic na...
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Ross Barnett @ecologybarnett.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Looking forward to #BES2025 this week! If you're interested in restoration, complexity and ecoacoustics you should definitely check out my talk on Thursday 🌳🌲🌳🐦🐦‍⬛
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Ian Vaughan @ian-vaughan.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Could a 'lightweight' digital twin of a river system be a low cost tool to help us manage water quality and other pressures? We have a new PhD opportunity between Cardiff University and @natreswales.bsky.social to test this idea 🌍🧪 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
findaphd.com
NERC RED-ALERT CDT: Using digital twins to improve river surveillance and management. at Cardiff University on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - NERC RED-ALERT CDT: Using digital twins to improve river surveillance and management. at Cardiff University, listed on FindAPhD.com
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
It’s been a busy few days in the field, but we’ve now established 200+ experimental plots for the LERN (Large-Ecosystem Recovery Network) across four post-agricultural sites in England. A major milestone for the project and exciting to see the configuration finally taking shape 🌳🦅🐝🌼
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Very timely paper on the importance of long-term large-scale experiments 🌍 We’re just in the process of trying to set up the ‘Large-scale Ecosystem Recovery Network’
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Paulina Arancibia @pauliarancibia.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
🌎 Experiments are central to understanding community dynamics, yet their use is declining. We're trying to understand why. If you work in community ecology, we'd really appreciate your input in a quick survey (<5 mins). 👉🏼 link.webropolsurveys.com/S/2022629791... Reposts welcome!
link.webropolsurveys.com
Webropol Survey
Survey Powered by Webropol
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Paulina Arancibia @pauliarancibia.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Check out our new preprint. In this review we show the comparative decline of experimental approaches in community ecology and discuss some alternatives to push the field forward
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bioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Experimental community ecology in decline: A call to embrace technology www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
We managed to add in some ground preparation treatments to our 2nd LERN site before the plough broke - experiments seem a lot easier on paper 🤣
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Another 48 plots laid out on our 2nd LERN site in Herefordshire (incl some ground prep treatments) 👍🏼 2 more sites still to go 🌳
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
On my way to Research-Practice Event to talk about using natural processes to create new woodlands 🌳 britainsforestfuture.zohobackstage.eu/event
britainsforestfuture.zohobackstage.eu
Britain’s Forest Future: Research-Practice Exchange
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Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
🚨Job opportunity🚨 We are hiring a 3yr research technician. If you love fieldwork, are passionate about forests & mountains, and want to up-skill in remote sensing, sensor networks and running field experiments this could be the dream job for you! 🧪🌳⛰️🛰️🌡️🍄 www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...
bristol.ac.uk
Details | Working at Bristol | University of Bristol
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Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
You'll be working closely with a team of researchers @bristolbiosci.bsky.social and alogside some amazing partners at Forest Research @watts-km.bsky.social and a wider network of collabroators across Europe. Do get in touch if you have questions about the role. Applications close on 27 November
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Amazing 3-year ‘field technician’ position at @bristoluni.bsky.social to work with @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social @forestresearchuk.bsky.social & others on some really cool forest 🌳 experiments 👇 #dreamjob
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James Bullock @jmbecologist.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
If we focus on restoring ecosystem processes rather than a reference species assemblage Can we derive general rules? Here we find plant-pollinator networks in grasslands & plant-herbivore ones in woodlands both become more complex with restoration age & area www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Restoration of ecological interactions: The influence of site and landscape factors
Restoration has been extensively used in agricultural landscapes as a mitigation measure to reduce biodiversity loss in response to historic habitat d…
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Restoration of ecological interactions: The influence of site and land... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... New output from the restreco.com project
sciencedirect.com
Restoration of ecological interactions: The influence of site and landscape factors
Restoration has been extensively used in agricultural landscapes as a mitigation measure to reduce biodiversity loss in response to historic habitat d…
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
🚨PhD opportunity🚨Come and work with us & Stirling Uni to understand the role of woodland creation 🌳in nature recovery 🌺🦋 iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
iapetus.ac.uk
Understanding the ecological interplay between tree planting and natural processes to create future forests
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
more PhD info here www.linkedin.com/posts/efuent...
linkedin.com
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
📢 PhD opportunity: ‘Understanding the ecological interplay between tree planting and natural processes to create future forests’ 🪴🌱🌳 working on space-for-time & @forestresearchuk.bsky.social large-scale experiment network (LERN) iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
iapetus.ac.uk
Understanding the ecological interplay between tree planting and natural processes to create future forests
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Forest Research @forestresearchuk.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
📽️ Two farmers, from Lincolnshire and Cornwall, talked to us about their values and how they influence their decisions about trees. 🔗 Read some of the case studies 'Further paths to embracing trees on farms': www.forestresearch.gov.uk/publications... Supported by Defra.
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Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Creating woodland through natural processes: Current understanding and knowledge gaps in Great Britain Great to contribute to this #OpenAccess paper published in Ecological Solutions & Evidence: doi.org/10.1002/2688... #rewilding #forests #trees #nature @ukceh.bsky.social
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Julia Koricheva @juliakoricheva.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
See press release here: www.stir.ac.uk/news/2025/oc...
stir.ac.uk
Woodland creation strategies reshaped by Stirling-led research | About | University of Stirling
Woodland creation strategies reshaped by Stirling-led research
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Julia Koricheva @juliakoricheva.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
New OA publication from TreE_PlaNat project @uktreescapes.bsky.social in Ecological Solutions and Evidence: Creating woodland through natural processes: Current understanding and knowledge gaps in Great Britain besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Creating woodland through natural processes: Current understanding and knowledge gaps in Great Britain
Natural colonisation can successfully create structurally diverse, locally adapted woodlands in Britain, but the outcomes of this process can vary considerably. Combining natural colonisation and tre...
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Julia Koricheva @juliakoricheva.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Another nice output from TreE_PlaNat project @uktreescapes.bsky.social: a video on integrating natural processes into woodland creation has just been released www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0N2...
youtube.com
Integrating natural processes into woodland creation
YouTube video by TreE PlaNat
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Is there really a strict divide between (active) tree planting and (passive) natural processes when creating new woodlands — or should we be combining both approaches? besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
We’ve also tried to capture some of the benefits & challenges of using natural processes in woodland creation in this short animation @uktreescapes.bsky.social youtu.be/i0N2PBJM0dQ?... As part of www.uktreescapes.org/projects/tre...
youtu.be
Integrating natural processes into woodland creation
YouTube video by TreE PlaNat
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
New paper - “Creating woodland through natural processes: Current understanding and knowledge gaps in Great Britain” - Fleiss - 2025 - Ecological Solutions and Evidence - besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @forestresearchuk.bsky.social
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Creating woodland through natural processes: Current understanding and knowledge gaps in Great Britain
Natural colonisation can successfully create structurally diverse, locally adapted woodlands in Britain, but the outcomes of this process can vary considerably. Combining natural colonisation and tre....
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Another LERN (Large-scale Ecosystem Recovery Network) field site in the bag 💼 @forestresearchuk.bsky.social Next task is to put in the plots for interventions & controls. Most importantly these are co-developed & agreed with land managers 🌳🌳
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Interested in working with us on LERN???
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Productive day out hunting for new experimental research sites for the LERN (Large-scale Ecosystem Recovery Network) @forestresearchuk.bsky.social
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Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
A new pre-print outlining 15 case-studies of natural colonisation of woodland over multiple decades in uplands & lowlands in England & Scotland: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
ecoevorxiv.org
Creating woodland through natural processes: Current understanding and knowledge gaps in Great Britain
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Interested in creating new woodlands 🌳with 'natural processes'? read on 👇 www.forestresearch.gov.uk/news/new-res...
forestresearch.gov.uk
New research investigates role of natural processes to create woodland - Forest Research
New research reviewing natural processes as a method for woodland creation has been published by Forest Research.
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Julia Koricheva @juliakoricheva.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Great to see research briefing from our @uktreescapes.bsky.social TreEPlaNat project on using natural processes for woodland creation published by @forestresearchuk.bsky.social Research briefing: www.forestresearch.gov.uk/publications... News: www.forestresearch.gov.uk/news/new-res...
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Heather Gilbert @hjgilbert.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Ever caught yourself wondering whether natural processes or tree planting are better for woodland creation? You're not alone! Check out this research to find out why hybrid approaches that combine the two might be the answer 🌳
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Contrary to the perceived dichotomy, most land managers value both 'tree planting' and 'natural processes' to increase tree cover 🌳🌳 - read more 👇
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Kevin Watts @watts-km.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Contrary to the perceived dichotomy, most land managers value both 'tree planting' and 'natural processes' to increase tree cover 🌳🌳 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
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