Treescapes fellowships

Climate change and current land-use practices are set to double flooding in the UK within the next 50 years. This fellowship explored how restoring floodplain treescapes could alleviate flooding.

Natural Flood Management (NFM), including tree planting, can mitigate flooding in environmentally and socially beneficial ways. Leon worked towards creating a conceptual and modelling framework for restoring floodplain treescapes.

Outcomes:

• Developed the modified Itzï modelling platform, which allows users to model treescape restoration impacts with unprecedented accuracy.
• The modified platform provides a foundation for identifying prime NFM locations to inform future largescale riparian treescape restoration.
• Identified the locations on Sussex’s River Ouse with the greatest potential for NFM interventions.

Wych elm (Ulmus glabra) populations in the UK have been devastated by Dutch elm disease (DED), leaving questions about how to conserve this species and restore its role in native treescapes.

This fellowship aimed to address a gap in understanding of how the genetics of wych elm influence a tree’s resilience or susceptibility to DED and develop possible conservation strategies.

Outcomes:

• Gained an understanding of genetic testing, analysis and propagation techniques, enabling the future establishment of a cross-pollination programme for highland Wych elms.
• Produced the first genetic population database on UK wych elm and increased the database of surviving elms, providing a foundation to investigate potential genetic resistance to DED.
• Established the UK Elm Knowledge Exchange Group, involving a wide range of stakeholders to enable consistent and holistic work on elms.
• Published The Elm Hunters, a children’s book distributed to 400 primary schools, and an elm-focused short film to inspire conservation action.

UK treescapes face increasing threats from pests and diseases. This fellowship explored the mechanisms by which oak seedlings trigger their own defences, creating a database for future UK studies.

During this fellowship, Marine constructed 100 fully autoclavable oak seedling microcosms and grew Quercus robur and Quercus petraea British oak seedlings in sterile conditions to examine microbiota interactions.

Outcomes:

• Marine built 100 oak seedling microcosms for use in further research and in the development of microbiome engineering strategies. Marine’s step-by-step guide to constructing microcosms is now freely available online.
• Marine successfully sequenced the extracted DNA to produce a baseline dataset for British Quercus robur and Quercus petraea seedling microbiomes.

Human activity has rendered mountain woodland almost extinct in the UK. This fellowship strengthened the partnership between Cairngorms Connect (CC) and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), enabling knowledge exchange between locations with similar climate, geology and species range. Ellie contributed to monitoring and research in two key Norwegian sites.

Outcomes:

• Strengthened collaboration between CC and NINA to advance montane restoration practices.
• Collected seeds in Norway for genetic research by the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh, which could lead to the reintroduction of species almost entirely absent from UK mountain environments.
• Established a comparative research framework between Norway and Scotland, enhancing understanding of restoration and monitoring methods for mountain woodland species and species interactions.

The supply of native tree seeds underpins the UK’s treescape expansion efforts. However, seed production (masting) varies strongly between years, making monitoring and predicting seed supply crucial. This fellowship explored strategies to monitor, predict and secure climate-resilient seeds, supporting the UK’s forest goals.

Outcomes:

• Upgraded the seed forecasting tool, MASTREE+ database, with new data from Europe. The expanded forecasting capabilities for UK hardwoods improve understanding of the variables in masting, which is critical for managing unpredictable seed supply.
• Developed and published a prototype forecasting tool for major UK tree species, with ongoing work to refine models using phenology and weather data.
• Established a UK oak masting monitoring network.
• Ongoing work with partners and Defra, including coproduction of a guide to seed orchard management and strengthened partnership with FORSEE project team.

Agroforestry adoption in the UK remains limited despite efforts to promote it. This fellowship analysed the barriers and constraints hindering adoption and provided actionable solutions. Through a secondment at Defra and a placement in France at INRAE, Amelia gained insights into policy design and alternative agroforestry systems.

Outcomes:

• Identified funding, financial impacts, legal and regulatory demands, and lack of accessible and practical advice as the barriers to agroforestry adoption, as well as co-producing solutions and guidance to address this.
• Strengthened relationships between the fellow, the host institution and multiple key agroforestry stakeholders – national bodies and individual farmers.
• Development of technical skills and knowledge through secondment to INRAE and stakeholder interactions.

Urban trees deliver different benefits depending on where they are planted. AFFORE3ST aimed to focus urban tree planting where it will deliver the greatest benefits. This fellowship aimed to integrate data-driven approaches to urban tree planting with community-centred approaches to co-produce a Strategic Tree Planting Guide for air quality improvements.

Outcomes:

• The integration of GI4RAQ into QGIS software makes it possible to explore site-dependent air quality impacts of urban tree-planting at a larger scale, more accurately and more efficiently.
• Increased understanding of how strategic planting can improve roadside air quality and public health outcomes. James is now extending his research from computer modelling to realworld monitoring via the UPSURGE project.
• Created and published a Strategic Planting Guide and accompanying video through engagement with Tower Hamlets London Borough Council and residents.

Upland woodland pasture has declined in the UK, as has its delivery of environmental and socio-economic benefits. This fellowship explored stakeholder perspectives and provided actionable solutions. 

Rob carried out qualitative research among stakeholders in the UK and in the comparable upland landscape of the Swiss Jura. Through interviews, focus groups and knowledge exchange events, he explored stakeholder and practitioner perspectives on the restoration, creation and maintenance of woodland pasture.

Outcomes:

• Established strategic stakeholder networks in the UK to facilitate further research into upland management and policy. 
• Developed projects at Gait Barrows NNR and initiated a “fuzzy edges” working group to study gradients in land management. 
• Rob’s deepened understanding of the challenges and complexities of upland landscape management and wood pasture opportunities will be shared with the Woodland Trust and inform the Snaizeholme woodland project.

Green spaces help to regulate conditions within the urban environment. This fellowship aimed to quantify the specific effects of urban treescapes on microclimates. Jim installed over 70 high-accuracy sensors across Leeds to record air temperature, humidity and pollution at 15-minute intervals. Positioning the sensors in areas with and without treescapes, allowed Jim to collect over one million data points, making it the most comprehensive dataset of its kind in the UK, and possibly globally.

Outcomes:

• Demonstrated that treescapes reduced air temperatures by up to 4°C compared to grey spaces, particularly during the hottest hours of the day. Treescapes significantly outperformed parks or other green spaces alone in reducing heat stress.
• Established long-term in-canopy air temperature monitoring at the University of Leeds’ Gair Wood to track changes as the woodland matures.
• Increased confidence in Sustainable Environments research at Leeds Beckett University, leading to funding for weather stations for the Open Access Weather Data for Leeds project and creating undergraduate work placement opportunities.
• A Defra-funded project on particulate information improvement programme with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
• Identified literature gaps on solar radiation levels and wind speeds within urban treescapes.