Comparison of different approaches to optimising forest management and ecosystem service delivery
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Zoology
Abstract
Most studies of the values of ecosystem services are theoretical in that the scenarios under consideration are unlikely to be delivered. The project will consider the practicality of applying the natural capital approach to guide large-scale decisions on land use over an extensive area. This is then likely to be influential for others dealing with similar land issues. The project will use Thetford Forest and Breckland heaths as a model to explore the impact of different land use and management options on the full range of ecosystem services.
People |
ORCID iD |
| William Sutherland (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Eleanor Tew (Student) |
Publications
Ockendon N
(2018)
One hundred priority questions for landscape restoration in Europe
in Biological Conservation
Jucker T
(2018)
Ten-year assessment of the 100 priority questions for global biodiversity conservation.
in Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
Tew E
(2019)
Quantifying cultural ecosystem services: Disentangling the effects of management from landscape features
in People and Nature
Rose D
(2020)
Policy windows for the environment: Tips for improving the uptake of scientific knowledge
in Environmental Science & Policy
Tew E
(2021)
Alternative afforestation options on sandy heathland result in minimal long-term changes in mineral soil layers
in Forest Ecology and Management
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NE/R009457/1 | 01/10/2017 | 31/05/2023 | |||
| 1653087 | Studentship | NE/R009457/1 | 01/10/2015 | 31/05/2019 | Eleanor Tew |
| Title | LiDAR photos art |
| Description | The image was an overlay of several aerial and LiDAR photos/images to demonstrate how satellite technology (and particularly LiDAR) can reveal previously unknown details about landscapes. |
| Type Of Art | Image |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | It was exhibited at a scientific art exhibition in a Cambridge cafe and visited by the general public. |
| Description | A comprehensive assessment of how alternative forest management options in Thetford Forest leads to the delivery of different public benefits (e.g. timber supply, carbon storage, water supply, recreation, biodiversity conservation). The trade-offs and synergies between alternatives have been reconciled to generate a practical recommendation for the future management of Thetford Forest to maximise the delivery of public benefits. |
| Exploitation Route | The key results from the PhD have been translated into a user-friendly app to be used internally by staff members in Forestry England (the CASE partner of the award). This allows staff to make day-to-day decisions informed by the scientific evidence generated through the PhD. The overall recommendations from the PhD are being built into a long-term Concept Plan vision for the management of Thetford Forest. The results and subsequent implementation have wider implications as an important case study for land management that maximises the provision of public goods, which is a key component of the new Environmental Land Management policy proposed by the UK government. |
| Sectors | Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/298233 |
| Description | The results from the PhD are being incorporated into a long-term strategic plan for Thetford Forest. This will dictate the management objectives for the next 50 years. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | National Productivity Investment Fund Innovation Placement award |
| Amount | £7,600 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2019 |
| End | 07/2019 |
| Title | New method to quantify cultural ecosystem services |
| Description | A new methodology incorporating participatory GIS and a novel site matching technique to explicitly relate cultural ecosystem services to land management. |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | To date, this has resulted in a significant study at the case study site used in the PhD award. |
| Title | Research data supporting "Quantifying cultural ecosystem services: disentangling the effects of management from landscape features" |
| Description | This dataset contains the points collected as part of a participatory GIS survey investigating the cultural values of Thetford Forest. Data were collected using the online spraycan tool 'Map-Me' (http://map-me.org/). Participants were asked to mark maps with the areas that they valued for four cultural ecosystem services. Further details of the method are available in Tew et al. "Quantifying cultural ecosystem services: disentangling the effects of management from landscape features". People and Nature (accepted). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Description | Bird diversity analysis using LiDAR in Thetford Forest |
| Organisation | British Trust for Ornithology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | I led the project to analyse how forest management affects bird diversity. I used data generated from LiDAR remote-sensing technology to measure structural attributes from forest stands and then analysed whether this was correlated with various bird abundance and diversity metrics. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Bird survey data was collected as part of a project led by the BTO. Some LiDAR processing was undertaken by colleagues in the Plant Sciences department in Cambridge and Edinburgh University. |
| Impact | PhD chapter |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Bird diversity analysis using LiDAR in Thetford Forest |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I led the project to analyse how forest management affects bird diversity. I used data generated from LiDAR remote-sensing technology to measure structural attributes from forest stands and then analysed whether this was correlated with various bird abundance and diversity metrics. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Bird survey data was collected as part of a project led by the BTO. Some LiDAR processing was undertaken by colleagues in the Plant Sciences department in Cambridge and Edinburgh University. |
| Impact | PhD chapter |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Bird diversity analysis using LiDAR in Thetford Forest |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I led the project to analyse how forest management affects bird diversity. I used data generated from LiDAR remote-sensing technology to measure structural attributes from forest stands and then analysed whether this was correlated with various bird abundance and diversity metrics. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Bird survey data was collected as part of a project led by the BTO. Some LiDAR processing was undertaken by colleagues in the Plant Sciences department in Cambridge and Edinburgh University. |
| Impact | PhD chapter |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Cultural ecosystem services method |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Developed the methodology, collected and analysed the data, wrote the paper. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Assisted in development of methodology, made contributions to paper. |
| Impact | Paper - Quantifying cultural ecosystem services: disentangling the effects of management from landscape features. People and Nature (accepted) |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Art exhibition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Exhibited aerial and LiDAR photographs of my study site at a science-art exhibition to show how this technology can be used in science to reveal and study landscape features. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | BBC Look East interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | BBC Look East interview about the research. Featured on the 18.30 BBC News bulletin. An online video was also made and is featured on the BBC News website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-norfolk-47916017/plan-to-future-proof-the-ecology-of-thetfo... |
| Description | BES 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk about PhD results and summary at international ecological conference. Generated a great deal of discussion and questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | ECCB Finland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited speaker in a symposium on ecosystem services at the ECCB conference, Finland. Around 100 attendees. Talks were followed by a panel discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Ecosystem service special interest group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk disseminating research on cultural ecosystem services given to the ecosystem services special interest group based within the David Attenborough Building. Individuals from a variety of conservation organisations attended the talk, followed by varied discussion and questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | FC Ecology conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Two talks about my research at the biannual internal Forestry Commission Ecology conference. Sparked long discussion and follow-up questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Global Cambridge |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited speaker and member of panel for discussion about sustainability issues at Global Cambridge alumni event in Geneva. Stimulated great debate and discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Head of Land Management meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on results of PhD and associated app to the Head of Land Management meeting for Forestry England (representatives from all Districts across England). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Poster BES 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation on preliminary cultural ecosystem services research at British Ecological Society Annual Conference. Many questions and discussion around the poster with attendees. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Poster BES CCI symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster on preliminary PhD research plans. Stimulated discussion and questions surrounding the proposals and case study site. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Poster BES ecosystem services seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation on preliminary cultural ecosystem services research at joint British Ecological Society - Biodiversity Ecosystem Services Sustainability symposium. Stimulated discussion and questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
| Description | Research Horizons article |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Gave an interview for a piece in the university research magazine, which is sent to a wide variety of interested individuals, such as policymakers and funders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Roots FC interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Gave an interview about my research for the internal Forestry Commission newsletter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Talk BES 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk on completed cultural ecosystem services research at the British Ecological Society international annual conference. Stimulated a great deal of discussion and questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |