Friday 4 December, 18.29
To tree or not to tree?
Where should we plant new native woodland?
Our native woodlands are enormously biodiverse habitats. They store prodigious amounts of carbon and are focal points for many forms of recreation. They have also been historically undervalued, and are particularly rare in Northumberland. Natural capital accounting seeks to redress this, by placing value on ‘ecosystem services’ provided by woodlands. These vary with location, so targeted planting is important if woodland creation subsidies are to be value for money.
This talk explores future tree planting in Northumberland National Park and presents a generalisable method for strategically locating new native woodland to maximise ecosystem services.
About the speaker
Ray Kidd is a Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management MSc student at Newcastle University, with a passion for his native Northumberland and habitat restoration. He enjoys solving problems using mapping software and planting trees.
Friday 4 December, 7.00 pm
When will it flower? Plants and climage change
Flowering times of most plants in Britain, both wild and cultivated, are now much earlier than they were 30 years ago. It is certain that this major shift in flowering phenology is the result of climate change, but the impacts are far from uniform and surprisingly poorly understood. The talks looks at the evidence for change, some of it dramatic, and its implications.
About the speaker
Alastair Fitter CBE, FRS. is emeritus Professor of Ecology at the University of York. He has served as a Council member of the Natural Environment Research Council. Alastair has wide-ranging research interest, and in particular, has worked on climate change impacts and became interested in flowering time through analysing an extraordinary set of data collected by his father, the eminent naturalist and conservationist Richard Fitter, over a period of nearly 50 years in the second half of the last century.
Alistair’s talk is really not to be missed, as we virtually welcome him to the North East.