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The ability of trees, woodlands and forests to reduce downstream flooding is increasingly recognised and valued by society, driving a demand for assessments of this important ecosystem service. This study updates a previous evaluation (Broadmeadow et al., 2018) with improved estimates for the volume of flood water potentially removed by...

Understanding how we can increase the resilience of forest systems to future extreme drought events is increasingly important as these events become more frequent and intense. Diversifying production forests using intimate mixtures of trees with complementary functional traits is considered as one promising silvicultural approach that may increase drought resilience....

This research examines the potential of agroforestry to contribute to meeting greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets outlined in Scotland’s Climate Change Plan, and the economic viability of adopting agroforestry practices. It finds agroforestry has potential to sequester carbon and is generally financially viable, but benefits vary according to different factors.

Robert Matthews

• Novel dendrochronological modelling was developed to explore oak stem growth trends. • Trees with long-term AOD symptoms may have been predisposed many decades earlier. • Diseased trees struggle to take advantage of favourable growing conditions. • Historic episodes of stress may impact the future resilience of oaks to disturbance.

The British forestry sector lacks reliable dynamic growth models for stands of improved Sitka spruce, the most important commercial forest type in Great Britain. The aim of this study is to fill this gap by trialling a new modelling framework and to lay the foundations of a future dynamic growth...

We developed a climatic sensitive model to simultaneously estimate the emergence and survival of Corsican pine natural regeneration in Spain through lifetime analysis. This work is highly relevant for managing the species in a context of climate change. Our modelling approach represents a breakthrough in the state of the art...

Forest Research, Forestry & Land Scotland and Forestry England have co-developed an evidence based, repeatable approach for assessing the biodiversity potential of the National Forest Estate. Several extent, condition, connectivity and diversity metrics are measured and aggregated into a Combined Biodiversity Index. An online, interactive tool allows users to explore mapped scores.

New dynamic top height models for 10 major species in Great Britain for pure, even-aged stands

This journal paper investigates the factors that drive deer damage to woodlands using the National Forest Inventory sample square data. We found that the likelihood of damage to trees depends on cross-scale interactions between climate, deer density and landscape structure. The complex interactive effects uncovered are difficult to interpret. We...

We provide a sequential framework for improved multi-scale habitat suitability modelling or species distribution modelling. We apply it to the lesser horseshoe bat in Britain to demonstrate its improved accuracy and ecological inference.