Geography, Geology and the Environment

My first degree was a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science at the University of Hull and upon completion I worked for BTCV, a UK based conservation NGO, for several years.

Before taking up an MSc in Environmental Forestry at the University of Wales (Bangor), I secured a position as a research assistant on a Darwin Initiative funded project in the cloud forest of Ecuador. During my MSc I specialised in tropical forestry and ecology, in particular small holder agriculture and agroforestry at forest margins. My dissertation was on the ecology of a tropical pioneer species, Cecropia, carried out with data collected as part of my work at Reserva Los Cedros, Ecuador.

The MSc subsequently led to a six month internship with Iniciativa Amazonica (part of the World Agroforestry Centre, CGIAR) working with agroforestry extension agents and producers in the Brazilian and Bolivian Amazon regions.

I am currently in the final year of study for a PhD in Computational Ecology. My research interests include statistical methods, particularly Bayesian and Information Theoretic techniques, spatial and community ecology and the application of Remote Sensing data to modelling problems.

During the first semester of the 2012/13 academic year I was employed as temporary module leader and sessional lecturer on ESC-20017 Human Impacts on the Environment.

The establishment of Rhododendron ponticum in a Pseudotsuga menziesii dominated plantation during changing management practices

Supervisors: Dr. S.L. Taylor, Dr. P.A. Thomas, Dr. N.J. Cassidy

Funding: EPSRC and Acorn

Background information

This study utilises three permanent sample plots within Coed-y-Brenin (the King’s Wood) forest park, North Wales. Situated at the southern edge of Snowdonia National Park, the forest is approximately 10 miles in land from the Irish Sea and contains the confluences of the Afon (river) Wen, Afon Mawddach, Afon Gamlan and Afon Eden.

Now a major mountain biking destination the forest is still actively managed for timber and has a significant problem with R. ponticum infestation. The presence of R. ponticum complicates forest management due to its vigorous regrowth and dense evergreen canopy stifling regeneration.

Aims

The project has three aims:

1. To parameterise SORTIE-ND (Pacala et al. 1993; Pacala et al. 1996), an individual based spatially explicit forest model, with data collected from a five-year time series of the Coed-y-Brenin permanent sample plots.
2. To build a statistical model of R. ponticum establishment using environmental covariates from the largest Coed-y-Brenin permanent sample plot.
3. To combine the parameterised forest model and statistical model to assess how R. ponticum establishment is affected by different management scenarios.

References

• Pacala,S.W., Canham,C.D., Silander,J.A., (1993). Forest Models Defined by Field-Measurements I The Design of a Northeastern Forest Simulator. Can. J. Forest Res, 23, 1980-1988.
• Pacala, S. W., Canham, C. D., Saponara, J., Silander Jr, J. A., Kobe, R. K., & Ribbens, E. (1996). Forest models defined by field measurements: estimation, error analysis and dynamics. Ecological Monographs, 66(1), 1-43.

Journal Publications

• Krause, S., Taylor, S. L., Weatherill, J., Haffenden, A., Levy, A., Cassidy, N. J., & Thomas, P. A. (2012). Fibre-optic distributed temperature sensing for characterizing the impacts of vegetation coverage on thermal patterns in woodlands. Ecohydrology.