UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

From concept to action: Driving impact through responsible research practices in the International Polar Year 2032–2033 An early career perspective

Regions at the poles are warming at rates two to four times higher than the global average, driving profound environmental, societal, and geopolitical changes. As Polar Early Career Researchers with careers extending into and beyond the 5th International Polar Year in 2032–2033,...

Simulating Methane (CH4) Transport Pathways from a Rice Crop Grown on a Degraded Fen Peat Soil using the Peatland-VU Model

Important notes for future model users that seek to simulate the Peatland-VU model The modelling data uploaded in the zipped folder called as "Swiss PeatVU Aug2026 outputs" contains the simulations conducted using the Peatland-VU model. These Peatland-VU simulations are for the s...

Improved seasonal hydrological forecasting for Great Britain

Great Britain's variable maritime climate has until relatively recently limited the utility of seasonal hydrological forecasts. The latest generations of seasonal atmospheric forecasting systems have created new opportunities to improve flow forecasting across Great Britain, such...

Enabling climate action: A nexus approach for delivering co-benefits across biodiversity, water, food, and health

Climate response options rarely affect biodiversity, water, food, and health in uniform ways. This comparative analysis examines why technically viable response options generate uneven cross-nexus outcomes, and how governance and justice conditions shape whether these outcomes be...

Feasibility and reliability of farmer-recorded plant diversity indicators in European grasslands

European grasslands are biodiversity hotspots but face ongoing threats from intensification and abandonment. Monitoring is essential for evaluating policies that promote grassland biodiversity, but conventional expert-led surveys are costly and difficult to scale. Farmer-led biod...

Satellite-based coastal monitoring through variance image composites (SatVar)

The past decade has seen rapid advancements in satellite remote sensing data availability and analysis. In coastal environments, this has enabled regional to global assessments of shoreline trends, a key practical application for management and planning. However, coastal zones ar...

Interactions of land use and climate change disproportionately impact Lepidoptera of the five major insect orders

Abstract Land use and climate change are two major environmental pressures that interact to impact insect biodiversity. The wide ecological diversity, including life histories, among insects suggests that some groups will be more sensitive to these pressures than others, and it i...

Modelling spatial deficits in citizen science recording: a case study from UK butterflies

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 biasing inferences about species’ distributions. We analysed 51,045 butterfly r...

Water quality dynamics following re-wetting of agriculturally drained peatlands: A mesocosm experiment

Peatland rewetting is an effective restoration strategy to reduce carbon losses, halt soil subsidence and restore ecosystem functioning. However, rewetting drained and degraded peatlands may release stored nutrients and potentially toxic elements into surface waters, raising conc...

Rapid increase of climate extremes reveals new areas of concern in Amazonia

Abstract Amazonia is highly sensitive to climate extremes, yet we lack an Amazon-wide assessment that examines the spatial-temporal changes in these extreme conditions. We address this within seasons and across the hydrological year, using a quantiles approach that integrates the...

Age-related changes in the gut microbiota of a long-lived seabird suggest divergence from mammalian models

Abstract Gut microbiota plays key roles in shaping host development, immunity, and physiology. The assembly of vertebrate gut microbiota during early life follows relatively predictable trajectories across several mammalian species, largely driven by maternal transmission routes....

Future fire weather projections show the importance of mitigation and adaptation for dynamic fire management

Abstract. Understanding future shifts in fire weather (FW) risk across peak-season, transitional, and off-season periods is crucial for adapting fire preparation and management to climate change. Fire management planning depends not only on reducing fire risk through climate chan...

Plurality in transformative change: Three co‐created pathways toward nature‐positive Europe(s)

1.The accelerating decline of biodiversity necessitates transformative change to protect nature and society, requiring innovative actions and governance strategies. This paper focuses on developing diverse transformative pathways for biodiversity in Europe and advancing methodolo...

Antimicrobial resistance as a signature of soil restoration across a 143-year chronosequence

Abstract Restoring agriculturally degraded habitats to species-rich grasslands is a vital conservation objective. During restoration, how the soil resistome matures alongside microbial community composition and function remains unclear. Here, we tested two competing hypotheses: w...

Nonadditive gene expression and reduced homoeolog expression bias in an intraspecific hexaploid wheat hybrid

Abstract Background Intraspecific hybridization in allopolyploid plants can generate additive and nonadditive changes in gene expression through interactions between divergent parental genomes. However, how it simultaneously affects gene expression and the relative expression of...

Nowcasting convective cores using deep learning

Abstract Extreme precipitation events in the Tropics are often linked to convective storms. Storm nowcasting systems for early warning have been recognized as a necessary adaptation strategy to increase public resilience in a rapidly evolving climate. Ongoing advances in deep‐lea...

Exploiting OmicData to Advance Predictive Ecotoxicology

Abstract Predicting species-specific chemical sensitivity using in silico approaches has the potential to transform environmental risk assessment, conservation, and biomonitoring, while reducing, and ultimately replacing, animal testing. Genomic and transcriptomic data capture ex...

Widespread thermophilization but weak link to climate warming in Europe’s summit plant communities

Abstract Recent changes in alpine vegetation are often attributed to climate warming, particularly community composition shifts towards more warmth-associated species, or thermophilization. Here we assess the link between thermophilization and warming across 53 European mountain...

Drivers of invertebrate community assembly during ecosystem restoration

Abstract Introduction Ecosystems are complex multi‐trophic systems, and successful restoration needs to consider the mechanisms that underpin the reestablishment of biotic interactions. Critical to supporting this is improved understanding of the ecological processes that govern...

New insights into decadal climate variability in the North Atlantic revealed by data-driven dynamical models

Abstract. The Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are the dominant modes of oceanic and atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic, respectively, and are key sources of predictability from seasonal to decadal timescales. However, th...