Stephen Thackeray

I am currently leading a NERC-funded UK-scale assessment of the links between changing climate and shifts in the phenology of freshwater, marine and terrestrial organisms. This project follows on from the CEH project SPACE (Shifting Phenology: Attributing Change across Ecosystems), which yielded a comprehensive meta-analysis of changing seasonality across UK ecosystems, highlighting differences in the phenological responses of organisms at different trophic levels.

The current project involves staff from most CEH sites, and also collaborators in external organisations. I am complementing this broad-scale approach through a series of more focused studies aimed at resolving the drivers and consequences of phenological change.

I am also working on a zooplankton population model, to be included in the phytoplankton model PROTECH. I recently completed work on sources of uncertainty in lake phytoplankton metrics developed for ecological status assessment, under the EU project WISER, working with Laurence Carvalho. I am also examining long-term changes in the Windermere food web, as a result of the expansion of a non-native fish population (www.windermere-science.org.uk).

I provide ongoing support to the Cumbrian Lakes long-term monitoring programme.