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Research Group: Landscape Dynamics and Ecology (LDE)

Currently Active:: Yes

The main focus of the Landscape Dynamics and Ecology Cluster is in geomorphology and ecology (including work at the interface of these two areas), including coverage of long-term processes (Quaternary change) and at spatial scales from species to landscapes. We have particular strengths in aeolian, fluvial, coastal, glacial and periglacial landscapes, environmental change, and in palaeoecology.

Group Overview

Current research priorities

Our current research priorities are:

Geomorphic processes in aeolian, coastal, fluvial and shallow marine, glacial and periglacial environments
Changes in environmental systems in response to climate change, in fluvial, glacial and coastal environments
The effects of extreme events on society, including catchment management, flooding, coastal changes and ecosystem responses
Reconstructing climate change during the Quaternary (Europe, the Americas, Arctic and South Pacific
Understanding the process, timing and forcing of human migration into the tropical South Pacific
What makes Small Islands vulnerable to multiple-hazards?
Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in tropical agricultural systems
Understanding trade-offs between biodiversity and ecosystem services at multiple spatial scales
Environmental Sensor Networks and Internet of Things (IoT) systems for environmental monitoring

Our research often involves the application of novel methodological approaches that integrate high-resolution field and laboratory data acquisition with numerical and physical modelling. We use multi-proxy environmental data and model past and present environments in order to further our understanding of environmental change and its relationship to human societies at a range of temporal and spatial scales. We have broad expertise in a range of techniques and the use of natural systems such as peat bogs and lakes as archives of terrestrial environmental change. These techniques range from the study of fossil pollen to stable isotopes and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA).

Main areas of expertise

Aeolian geomorphology, Agroecosystems Biodiversity, Coastal morphodynamics, Entomology Environmental Sensing, Fluvial sediment dynamics and sediment transport Glaciology and glacial sedimentology, Human–landscape systems, Quaternary Science, Tropical forest ecology.

Publications

Articles

Book Chapters

Conferences

Datasets

Letters/Editorials

Geoghagen, H., Hall, S. M., Latham, A., & Leyland, J. (2020). Continuing conversations: reflections on the role and future of Area from the new editorial team. Area, 52(3), 462-463. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12642
Finotello, A., D'Alpaos, A., Lazarus, E., & Lanzoni, S. (2019). High curvatures drive river meandering: COMMENT. Geology, 47. https://doi.org/10.1130/G46761C.1
Santos, A. M. C., Florencio, M., Nogué, S., Patiño, J., Traveset, A., & Borges, P. A. V. (Accepted/In press). Cómo la Macaronesia ha influido en nuestra perspectiva sobre los ecosistemas insulares. Ecosistemas, 25(3). https://doi.org/10.7818/ECOS.2016.25-3.25
Rull, V., Vegas, T., Nogué, S., & Montoya, E. (2008). Bureaucratic obstruction of conservation science in the Guayana Highlands. Conservation Biology, 22(3), 508-509. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.00960.x

Reports

Simon, A., Artita, K., Simon, G., Darby, S., & Leyland, J. (2020). Changes in hydrology and suspended-sediment transport in the Mississippi River Basin over the past century. United States Army Corps of Engineers. https://doi.org/10.21079/11681/37073
Thomas, D., Ashworth, P., Nield, J., & Souch, C. (2017). International benchmarking review of UK physical geography. Royal Geographic Society (with Institute of British Geographers). https://www.rgs.org/getattachment/Research/Equality-and-diversity-in-geography/Physical-Geo-Review-FINAL.pdf/?lang=en-GB

Reviews

Mondon, B., Sear, D. A., Collins, A. L., Shaw, P. J., & Sykes, T. (2021). The scope for a system-based approach to determine fine sediment targets for chalk streams. CATENA, 206, 105541. [105541]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2021.105541
Tomsett, C., & Leyland, J. (2019). Remote sensing of river corridors: A review of current trends and future directions. River Research and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3479
Riley, W. D., Potter, E. C. E., Biggs, J., Collins, A. L., Jarvie, H. P., Jones, J. I., Kelly-Quinn, M., Ormerod, S. J., Sear, D. A., Wilby, R. L., Broadmeadow, S., Brown, C. D., Chanin, P., Copp, G. H., Cowx, I. G., Grogan, A., Hornby, D. D., Huggett, D., Kelly, M. G., ... Siriwardena, G. M. (2018). Small water bodies in Great Britain and Ireland: Ecosystem function, human-generated degradation, and options for restorative action. Science of the Total Environment, 645, 1598-1616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.243
Rull, V., Montoya, E., Nogué, S., Vegas-Vilarrúbia, T., & Safont, E. (2013). Ecological palaeoecology in the neotropical Gran Sabana region: Long-term records of vegetation dynamics as a basis for ecological hypothesis testing. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 15(6), 338-359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2013.07.004

Research Staff

List of all staff members in Landscape Dynamics and Ecology (LDE)
Staff Member	Primary Position
Tony Brown	Professor of Physical Geography
Paul A Carling	Emeritus Professor of Geomorphology at University of Southampton, Visiting Professor at Lancaster University, Visiting Professor at Chengdu University of Technology
Stephen Darby	Professor in Physical Geography
Jadu Dash	Professor in Remote Sensing
John Dearing	Professor in Physical Geography
Pauline Delorme	PRDA
Mary E Edwards	Professor of Physical Geography, University of Southampton; Member, Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton; Adjunct faculty, ESTES, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA
Felix Eigenbrod	Principal Investigator (Spatial Ecology)
Jane Hart	Professor in Geography; Deputy Head of School (Education)
Robert A Holland	Senior Research Fellow
Paul Hughes	Professor of Palaeoecology
Craig Hutton	Professor of Sustainability Science
Peter G Langdon	Professor of Quaternary Science
Attila N Lazar	Principal Research Fellow
Eli Lazarus	Associate Professor in Geomorphology; LDE Research Group Leader
Julian Leyland	Associate Professor in Physical Geography
Peter Morgan	Laboratory Manager
Jo Nield	Associate Professor in Aeolian Geomorphology
Sandra Nogué	Lecturer in Palaeoenvironmental Science
Patrick Osborne	Reader
Kate Parks	Senior Teaching Fellow
Ben R Pears	Research Fellow in Geoarchaeology
David Sear	Professor in Physical Geography
Justin Sheffield	Head of Geography and Environmental Science
Jake L Snaddon	Lecturer in Environmental Science
Rebecca (Becks) Spake	Research Fellow in Applied Biogeography
Hal Voepel	Senior Research Fellow

Related Projects

List of related projects to Landscape Dynamics and Ecology (LDE)
Related Projects	Status
Holocene Land-Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions on the Eastern Seaboard of North America (PRECIP)	Active
Environmental Sensor Networks	Active
Palaeoclimate reconstructions from Tierra del Fuego to detect land-ocean-atmosphere interactions (PATAGON).	Active
Waves of colonization in and out of the Sea of Moyle: population history, resilience and landscape change of island communities	Active
El Nino's, volcanoes and human colonisation in the South Pacific	Active
Slow Onset Hazard Interactions with Enhanced Drought and Flood Extremes in an At-Risk Mega-Delta	Active
Quantifying features of thermokarst lakes in the Yakutsk region	Active
Environmental and ancient sedimentary DNA at archaeological sites in Alaska (EAGER)	Active
BLUEcoast: coastal sediment budgets and their role in coastal recovery	Active
Sediment Transport and Erosion in Large Alluvial Rivers – Source to Sink (STELAR-S2S)	Active
The role of lakes in the arctic carbon cycle (LAC) (NERC funded)	Active
Coarse Sediment Transport Measurement in Rivers and on Coasts Using Advanced Particle Tracing	Active
A tale of two glaciers: using web connected RTK GPS, drones and remote sensing to monitor rapid glacier retreat of two contrasting Icelandic glaciers.	Active
Using Internet of Things technology to aid in Earth and Environmental Science Research	Dormant
PATCheS: how does the development of particle scale structure control river scale morphology?	Dormant
EcoChange	Dormant
Thermokarst Lake Dynamics in the Arctic	Dormant
Estimating past methane emissions from Alaskan lakes (METHANOL)	Dormant

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