Department staff assess biodiversity impact of new Waterside Campus

The University of Northampton is building a new campus, in the heart of Northampton. The Waterside Campus will open in September 2018.

Researchers within the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences have been monitoring the effects of the building work on biodiversity. You can read more about this research here.

Geography students visit SW USA

Second year Geography students recently went on a two-week field trip to SW USA.  They visited California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada on their road trip.

Dr Greg Spellman gives instructions for the first day - at Santa Monica pier

The trip enabled students to gain an in-depth understanding of tourism and resource-management issues in SW USA.

Learning about water management at Parker Dam

Tourism and Route 66

We visited a number of National Parks and National Monuments, including Sunset Crater volcano and the Grand Canyon.

At the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park

Walking the Lava Flow Trail at Sunset Crater National Monument

Students completed a number of tasks each day, and developed their research skills.

Working in a National Park visitor centre.

We covered more than 2,000 miles on the trip, staying in a different town most nights.

One of the beautifully-decorated minibuses!

On the road again...

We travelled through some fabulous landscapes.

At Horseshoe Bend.

Monument Valley

After more than a week in the glorious wilderness, we ended the trip with visits to Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Viva Las Vegas!

Standing (a long way in front) of the Hollywood sign.

Professor Jeff Ollerton wins Silver Medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Our own Professor Jeff Ollerton has been working with the British Ecological Society on their display for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.  They were awarded a Silver Medal!  Read all about it here.

What is in a waste expert's rubbish bin?

Prof Margaret Bates recently allowed the BBC to review what went in her waste bin.  Read about what they found here...

What is 'biodiversity'?

Professor Jeff Ollerton explains what is meant by the term 'biodiversity...


Ever since I set up the Biodiversity Blog in 2012 I’ve had it in mind to write a post asking the question “Just what is “biodiversity”?”, but have never quite got round to it, there’s been too many other interesting and important things to write about on here!  This week over at the Dynamic Ecology blog Brian McGill has beaten me to it with a really interesting post entitled:  Biodiversity and pizza – an extended analogy leading to a call for a more multidimensional treatment of nature.
I’m not entirely sure that the pizza analogy works, it’s a little tortuous, but none the less the post is provocative and interesting, and has generated a lot of comments.  I strongly recommend it.
In the interests of recycling, and because the readership of my blog only overlaps partially with that of Dynamic Ecology, thought I’d restate a few things that I brought up in the comments to Brian’s post (but this certainly won’t substitute for going over and reading it yourself”.

One of the questions that Brian asks is:  “Is biodiversity a useful term or has it outlived its usefulness?”  It’ll come as no surprise to readers that I like the word “biodiversity”: I used it for the title of my blog and for my professorship, because it captures a lot about what I value in the natural world, and because it’s a term that I’ve (professionally speaking) grown up with. To my mind it is an umbrella term that can mean different things to different people; some see this as a disadvantage but I think that, as long as we qualify precisely what we are referring to, using “biodiversity” in a loose way is not a problem. Perhaps an appropriate analogy is with politics: if someone describes themselves as a “conservative” or a “socialist” or a “liberal”, those terms cover huge internal variation and political scope, but it’s not a problem because it broadly describes the beliefs of that individual.
As an instance of when “biodiversity” may not be a useful concept for nature conservation, Brian gives an example of salt marsh, often areas with rather low species diversity, as being of low priority for conservation because they are poor in “biodiversity”.  But this ignores the fact that all of the “official” definitions of biodiversity explicitly include diversity of habitats/communities/ecosystems/biomes in a defined geographical area.  For example the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines it as:

“the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.” [my emphasis]

Thus destroying an area of salt marsh may indeed result in few species being lost, but it would be a significant loss of biodiversity at that higher level of community/ecosystem, if a region has only salt marsh, woodland and grassland in it: in essence you’ve lost one third of your biodiversity because you’ve lost one third of your habitats.

Something that’s occurred to me over the last couple of days of reading comments and thinking about the questions that Brian posed is that “nature” and “biodiversity” are not actually synonymous at all. When people say they like “being in nature” or they “value contact with nature”, what they are usually saying is that they enjoy landscapes, seascapes, changes in the weather, being out of doors, etc., things which are not strictly part of what we understand as “biodiversity”.

Likewise, “protecting the environment” includes a whole set of non-biodiversity related questions and actions such as air and water quality, wastes management, sustainable use of resources, etc., much of which may not directly affect biodiversity at all.

“Biodiversity” has a specific meaning, as the definition above shows, even though that meaning can be broadly defined. Which sounds like a contradiction, but it’s not – and brought to mind the title of the Led Zeppelin fanzine: “Tight But Loose”*.  Biodiversity as a concept and as a field of research and action involves so many different types of stakeholder (ecologist, botanist, zoologist, artist, conservationist, activist) that (as I said) it provides a useful (loose) umbrella.  Problems only occur when people use different tight definitions and talk past one another.

The other aspect to Brian’s post is around the pros and cons of valuing ecosystem services, which is a much bigger argument in some ways, and I’m going to point readers to two blog posts, one recently from Steve Heard which I think is a very nice, concrete example that captures a lot of the uncertainties that Brian describes:
https://scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2015/08/04/invasions-beauty-and-ecosystem-services-a-conundrum/
The second is one of mine from last July related to the value of valuing nature, which was prompted by the Costanza et al. update paper:
https://jeffollerton.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/how-do-we-value-nature/
These are fascinating discussions that will run and run, I have no doubt.

*I’m found of bringing musical examples into these blog posts :-)


This blog post was first published here.

Professor of Biodiversity blogs about a spider named David Bowie

Jeff Ollerton, Professor of Biodiversity, writes a regular blog about his research.

Prof Jeff Ollerton

 
Recent posts have considered a new publication about pollination and biodiversity and Christmas. He also reflects on a spider named David Bowie...

Students visit Wicken Fen

A group of students recently visited one of Britain’s oldest nature reserves, as part of their studies.

Dr Janet Jackson and students at Wicken Fen

Undergraduates studying Environmental Science, Wildlife Conservation, Biology and Countryside and Wildlife Management spent the day at Wicken Fen, in Cambridgeshire, which was the first reserve cared for by the National Trust, starting in 1899.
 
Wicken Fen is said to be the birthplace of modern ecology, being home to the Godwin Plots, one of the world’s longest-running scientific experiments.

Photos from the visit can be viewed here

Geography students return to class

Each year we welcome former students back to class to talk about life after graduation.

Tom Lee, Matt Gibbs and Hardeep Rai

Tom Lee told students about his experiences of postgraduate study, outlining the advantages and challenges of Masters qualification.  He also explained about his current role as a Trainee Operational Meteorologist with the Met Office, and about the competitive recruitment process for this position.

Matt Gibbs works for a corporate communications consultancy, Radley Yeldar.  He told students about how speculative applications can lead to internships and employment.  Matt explained what his role involves on a day-to-day basis, and talked about the importance of finding a career path that is both enjoyable and challenging.

Hardeep Rai works as a Flood and Coastal Risk Management Officer for the Environment Agency.  He told students about what the role involves, and how his studies at Northampton have helped him in this role.

Research finds that England is unlikely to meet recycling targets

Academics from the School of Science and Technology at the University of Northampton, have had a paper published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling – a high impact, internationally peer-reviewed journal.

The paper entitled ‘Strategies for local authorities to achieve the EU 2020 50% recycling, reuse and composting target: a case study of England’, is based on the dissertation of a former MSc Wastes Management student, Steve Waite. Dr Terry Tudor, Paul Cox and Steve used a representative sample of 48 local authorities in England, and concluded that it was unlikely that the country would meet the 2020 target, as set out by the European Union’s Waste Framework Directive. 

Dr Terry Tudor, a senior lecturer in Waste Management at the University of Northampton, commented:

“Our paper outlines the reasons why England is unlikely to meet the target and makes recommendations for improvement. The findings have significant implications – not only for England, but for the other Member States in the EU. This is just one example of the work being done by academics and students within our department to develop strategies to address key environmental management issue, in the UK and also globally.” 

A free copy of the article which was published in the journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling can be downloaded from the link below until December 18:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092134491530094X

Environmental Science student has Amazon adventure

Third year Environmental Science student Thomas had an Amazon adventure over the summer - read all about it here.

Geography graduate returns to class #2

Sian Williams studied Human Geography & Health Studies at the University of Northampton, graduating in 2014.  She recently returned to campus to talk to final year students about life after graduation.

Sian is currently on a graduate programme with Baxi.  She told the students how she had found out about the role, what the application process involved, and what her role involves on a day-to-day basis.

Sian Williams

A number of alumni are attending classes this term as part of the Geographers at Work module.  The module aims to boost students' employability through supporting their career planning.

Students learn about the work of Age UK in Northamptonshire

On 26/10/15 Jo Gunnett, Volunteer Coordinator for Age UK Northamptonshire, visited second year Human Geographers to talk about the organisation’s work in local communities. Jo provided some really valuable insights for students who can choose to do an assignment about issues faced by isolated older people as part of their second year studies.

Jo provided an overview of the services offered by Age UK Northamptonshire, issues faced by local older people, and challenges faced by services and charities ‘in the current climate’ of funding cuts.

Jo Gunnett, Volunteer Coordinator for Age UK Northamptonshire, with Dr John Horton

She also outlined some of the opportunities for students to engage in volunteering: as befrienders, charity shop assistants, sports coaches, knitters, fund-raisers, or friendly faces/tea drinkers/games-players at day care centres. 

For more information about Age UK Northamptonshire, see: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/northamptonshire/

Guest speakers talk about poverty, deprivation and austerity in Britain

Second year Human Geographers have been learning about geographies of poverty, deprivation and austerity in the UK.

Regular guest speakers provide really valuable first-hand insights into these issues. For example, third year Geography student Olli Boyde gave a talk about his experiences of volunteering, and conducting dissertation research, at a local food bank.

Olli gave a fantastic overview of issues faced by local users of food bank users. Following Olli’s visit, second year students donated more than 60 items to a collection for local food banks.

Olli Boyde with tutor Dr John Horton - they needed help to carry the students' donations!

A number of students have also been inspired volunteer at local food banks. To find out more about the work of local food banks, see: http://spencerbridge.foodbank.org.uk/ and http://www.restorenorthampton.org.uk/

Geographers visit London

Geography students have been doing lots of fieldwork activities over the past few weeks - fieldwork is a great way to apply what we have learned in the classroom to real-world environments.

Last week five groups of students visited London to explore a range of geographical issues.

The obligatory group photo at the start of the day!

First year students took part in an activity using Twitter, which required them to develop field observation skills and write concisely.

Recording field observations via Twitter

Groups comparing their observations using Twitter

Some second year students visited the Natural History Museum to enhance their geological knowledge, whilst others explored transport geography using different sorts of travel modes.

Taking a well-earned rest after a busy day of fieldwork

There were a few opportunities to see the sights

Third year students studying water resource management learned about cholera, sewers and London's hidden rivers...

A little bit of mudlarking!

Third year students on the Children's Geographies module visited the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. They looked at paintings and sculptures to explore how representations of childhood have varied over time.

Some third year students outside the Victoria & Albert Museum

Geography graduate returns to class

As part of the GEO3030 Geographers at Work module recent graduates return to class to tell current students about life after graduation.

Mitch Robinson joined the class this week to talk about his career.  Mitch studied BSc (Hons) Geography at Northampton and graduated in July 2014.  His first role was with the Black Country Consortium, working as an Economic Development Graduate.  Mitch outlined the skills he had learned in this role, and the process of applying for - and getting! - that first graduate job.

Mitchell Robinson

He also outlined his current role - he is now a Sustainable Travel Officer for Centro.  His role focuses on cycling and walking.  Mitch outlined the work he has been doing with the Bostin Bikes scheme, and explained how he has been working with various stakeholders to develop further cycle routes in the region.

There were opportunities for students to ask questions about the role and to find out more about graduate recruitment processes.

Mitch's visit was the first in a series - a number of other graduates will be returning to class over the next few weeks...

Prof Ian Foster carries out research in South Africa

During the summer Prof Ian Foster spent 10 days at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, supervising a PhD student, Jordan Miller, with Professor Kate Rowntree.  (Kate is a Visiting Professor at the University of Northampton.)
 

Prof Ian Foster

The research focuses on sediment source tracing in the KrugerNational Park in Mpumalanga State. Here we sampled sediments from dry ponds and collecting samples of soil from different geological outcrops under the watchful eye of our armed ranger, Thomas, who kept a lookout for the Big 5 and other wildlife to make sure we could do the work efficiently and safely. One of the best research trips ever - not only ALL the big 5 in one day but hippo, cheetah, kudu, impala...