Earlier this month ECN site co-manager, Denise Pallett, was invited to speak at the launch of a new book from Oxford University Press on research at Wytham Woods.
The event on Saturday 14th March marked the launch of Wytham Woods: How a Landscape Works.
As Oxford University’s research woodland, the woods have been studied intensively by generations of scientists, but they continue to yield up new secrets. Written by an expert group including Nigel Fisher (OGE Conservator) and edited by veteran Woods researcher Dr Keith Kirby, the new publication focuses on the last decade and a half of discoveries.
The part wooded, part farmed estate at Wytham has also been an ECN long-term monitoring site since 1992.
The afternoon of talks was held at the Natural History Museum in Oxford. Dr Denise Pallett from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, who manages ECN’s long-term monitoring at Wytham along with Steffi Schafer, talked about ECN’s studies of long-term change at Wytham.
Other speakers were Professor Yadvinder Malhi, who showed how his study of the carbon dynamics in the Woods contributes to world-wide assessments of the role of forests in climate change; Professor Ben Sheldon who described the nearly 80 years of studies of birds in the Woods; and Lucy Crittendon who reviewed the role of Hill End Camp on the Wytham Estate in promoting environmental education over the past century.
The audience consisted of members of the public, along with students, members of the active citizen science community and many of the pioneering researchers who contributed to the publication.
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