Filtered publications and research

This research aims to better understand potential large-scale threats to plant biosecurity in Scotland. In particular, we are exploring the risks posed by i) non-specialist and online horticultural sales, ii) large-scale plantings for landscaping and infrastructure projects, and iii) large-scale tree plantings for environmental benefits.

Management of oak processionary moth (OPM) is becoming an increasing challenge to land managers of trees and woodlands in urban and rural areas as the pest continues to spread outwards...

Co-design of tree health policy options for resilient treescapes as part of Future Farming and Countryside Programme (FFC)

The Nature Integration Programme facilitates sustainable integration of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants into society. A large number of these groups have been taken in by Sweden in recent years.

How we manage priority habitats within increasingly fragmented landscapes is a critical conservation issue. Practitioners and policy makers are often faced with the dilemma of deciding where to focus limited...

This research provides new insights into how to recognise and understand the value of ecosystem services provided by trees and forests.

This Euphresco project will focus on the oak lace bug (Corythucha arcuata), with an emphasis on evaluating its pest status in Europe and assessing survey, control and management strategies.

Exploration of the resilience of woodlands to future change by assessing how ecosystem service values and natural capital stocks of woodlands may be affected by change through the application of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA) scenarios and different management approaches, e.g. forest diversification through the application of forest management alternatives

What is tree resilience and how can we support better management for tree health in the face of climate change and pests and diseases?

FR have established how to detect young trees from space using synthetic aperture RADAR and machine learning techniques. This will support the monitoring of the planting of tens of thousands of restock sites and new woodland across Britain. In searching for a solution researchers hypothesised that even if the trees are too small to see, maybe we could ‘feel’ them using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). A different technique to utilising optical data, SAR provides ‘fuzzy’ data on the presence of objects, their size, orientation and texture. The research found that this was possible and data on whether sites had tree cover or not has been derived for extensive areas of Britain and NFI are working to operationalise the process.