Climate and the Environment

Climate change globally is having a very deleterious effect on plant life and crop yield. Plant life is also intimately linked to soil and air quality, land management and water supply. Understanding the complex interactions of these is also an important part of plant science.

• The Biosphere Group studies the influence of global change on terrestrial ecosystems. The group analyses vegetation dynamics, land-atmosphere interactions, and carbon, nutrient and energy cycling

• The CEH group assesses the impact of air pollutants and greenhouse gases on air quality and climate change

• RBGE research uses statistical models to predict the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and DNA sequence data to infer the effects of past climate changes on plant distribution and evolution. Visit  Environmental change and biogeography and Molecular ecology for more information

• SRUC scientists work on sustainable agricultural systems, food supply chains, environmental management and sustainable use of natural resources.

• EPS scientists at UoE analyse how the external environment affects plant growth, biomass and fitness

• Boosting the efficiency of photosynthetic carbon fixation to increase productivity in crops

• SRUC is working on impacts of climate and weather on the yield and quality. Contact: Dr Steve Hoad, steve.hoad@sruc.ac.uk