Ecology with Impact

The Buxton experiment is the longest-running climate change manipulation experiment in the UK.

Impacts:

• scientific impacts demonstrated through molecular changes to plant reproduction and development traits in the face of climate change simulations

• science communication through pioneering use of Virtual Reality (VR) headsets to bring the experiment to the public remotely

Impacts:

• economic benefits to water utilities and consumers via cost savings realised through a better understanding of moorland management in a drinking water catchment

• societal benefits through Government intervention in the upland management of blanket bog, yielding improvements in habitat and associated ecosystem services

Impacts:

• economic benefits of liming acidified grassland demonstrated through improved herbage yields

• societal benefits demonstrated through improved biodiversity

• a ‘proving ground’ for the impacts of policies to reduce acid rain, manifest through improved biodiversity

Impacts:

• societal benefits demonstrated through Defra-led policy changes which limit aerial nitrogen deposition to vulnerable habitats and ecosystems

• economic benefits gained through data relevance to nitrogen (ammonia) pollution from the chicken farming industry

Impacts:

• scientific impacts specific to understanding the effectiveness of novel bracken control methods in upland grazing habitats

• economic benefits to landowners via contribution to a Defra Technical Advice Note which now forms the basis for bracken control/upland restoration throughout Great Britain

• societal benefits demonstrated through improvement in biodiversity