tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/devon-8889/articlesDevon – The Conversation2024-02-05T13:34:48Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2213522024-02-05T13:34:48Z2024-02-05T13:34:48ZHow bats ‘leapfrog’ their way home at night – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572171/original/file-20240130-27-o1vlrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C3413%2C2539&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The greater horseshoe bat is one of the UK's 18 bat species. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/flying-bat-hunting-forest-greater-horseshoe-1494098204">Rudmer Zwerver/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A silent ballet takes place above our heads at night as Britain’s bat populations leave their roosts to forage for food. Although their initial movement away from roosts is fairly well understood, until recently little was known about how they returned home. </p>
<p>But our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11538-023-01233-5">new research</a> shows how bats may use a “leap-frogging” motion to make their way home, something which could help conservationists in future.</p>
<p>As they flit through the darkness, bats play a crucial role in the health of our ecosystems. From keeping insect populations in check to dispersing seeds and pollinating plants, they provide a multitude of benefits. </p>
<p>In the UK alone, the 18 bat species devour agricultural pests such as cockchafers with impressive efficiency. So, it is imperative that we not only understand and appreciate bats, but also actively support and safeguard their populations for the wellbeing of our planet.</p>
<p>But bat populations are vulnerable to pollution, climate change and loss of roosting locations. Habitat fragmentation and light pollution can also interrupt how bats feed. This is particularly important during the maternity season <strong>in early summer</strong>, when bats gather together to have and raise their young.</p>
<p>An integral aspect of effective bat conservation lies in unravelling the mysteries of how bats move. This not only helps us understand how bats navigate and use their environment, but also helps in identifying and protecting their roosts. </p>
<h2>Radio-tracking</h2>
<p>Conventional methods for pinpointing bat roosts primarily hinge on radio-tracking surveys. This arduous process involves capturing bats, attaching small radio transmitters to them before releasing them and following the signals throughout the night. </p>
<p>Our team conducted a radio-tracking survey in Devon which monitored 12 greater horseshoe bats over 24 nights. The trajectories of seven of those bats over 14 nights were extracted from the data for analysis, ensuring that in each case, a bat’s beginning and ending roost were the same.</p>
<p>Using this data, we measured the population’s average distance from the roost. We found two distinctive patterns in the data we analysed: an initial spread of bats within the first one to two hours after sunset and a gradual return to the roost afterwards.</p>
<p>The initial spread reflects the expected random dispersal of bats leaving their roosts to forage after sunset. The return to the roost, occurring two to eight hours after sunset, is more complicated. </p>
<p>This prompted us to explore two potential mechanisms influencing the bats’ return. First, a “pull mechanism”, where the roost attracts the bats home, and second, a mechanism pushing the bats who range furthest away back to the roost.</p>
<p>We modelled the pushing mechanism as a leapfrog process. Imagine this as a cascade effect, where the outermost bats begin their return. Once the “outer” bats have passed or “leapt over” bats that are closer to the roost, the “inner” bats become the furthest out causing them to return too.</p>
<p>This motion unfolds systematically, like a synchronised dance, as each bat from the periphery of the foraging range follows suit in returning to the roost after being “leapfrogged”.</p>
<p>But what causes the bats to return in this manner? One plausible explanation underscores how bats rely on each other for effective navigation, like tiny radar signals. If a bat experiences prolonged silence or predominantly hears calls from one direction, it might decide to move closer to the roost, anticipating the presence of other colony members. </p>
<p>But a bat might return more slowly, prolonging foraging, if it perceives the presence of bats beyond its current location. So, it is the outer bats that would drive the return as they would not be surrounded by calls.</p>
<h2>How does this research help bats?</h2>
<p>The significance of these findings extends beyond just describing the movements of bats. They have laid the foundation for work that promises easier discovery of new bat roosts, potentially reducing the need for labour-intensive bat tracking surveys in the future. </p>
<p>One of the immediate effects of our research includes informing a measurement of the “core sustenance zone” for greater horseshoe bats. This is where most of their foraging occurs, so it’s important in bat ecology, conservation and construction planning.</p>
<p>The leapfrogging mechanism also allows us to ascribe intention to bat movements. Namely, through using surrounding bat calls they can identify where the population is relative to their position, suggesting whether or not they are on the periphery of the group, which is an indicator of their vulnerability. Should they be furthest from the roost they move back towards the bulk of the population and closer to the roost.</p>
<p>While these interpretations hold promise, further rigorous testing is essential. And we need to think about the safety and wellbeing of the bat population.</p>
<p>Our observations are also specific to greater horseshoe bats during the summer months. Different bat species have distinct flight patterns and habitat preferences, with the same species displaying diverse behaviours at different times of the year. </p>
<p>So, while we have taken some crucial first steps, we still have a lot of work to do in unravelling the characteristics of bat motions in general.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221352/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Mathews receives funding from Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Devon County Council and the Natural Environment Research Council. She is affiliated with the UK Mammal Society, Mammal Conservation Europe, Ecotype Genetics and Ecology Search Services Ltd. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Woolley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Maths plays a crucial role in new research which finds that bats “leapfrog” their way home at night.Thomas Woolley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, Cardiff UniversityFiona Mathews, Professor of Environmental Biology, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1701582022-03-15T15:32:59Z2022-03-15T15:32:59ZMicroalgae is nature’s ‘green gold’: our pioneering project to feed the world more sustainably<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451044/original/file-20220309-21-1nh0beb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chlorella, a species of microalgae grown for the ALG-AD project in Devon.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/unicellular-green-algae-large-cells-1042159933">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a young child in the mid-1960s, my days were spent living an idyllic rural life on a dairy farm in the village of Lewdown in the heart of Devon. I recall many happy days exploring the glorious countryside, living a life in balance with nature and the environment – or at least, that’s how it felt.</p>
<p>But I also remember the ever-present slurry pit full of manure down at the end of our cowshed. It wasn’t fenced off, and my mum would remind me on regular occasions that to stray too close could mean death by drowning in what was, in essence, an enormous vat of smelly cow pats. As a five-year-old, I stayed well clear.</p>
<p>What we didn’t know then was that this pit of farm manure posed not only a hazard to me, but to our environment. Manure, which is often returned to the land as a nutrient fertiliser <a href="https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/publications/environment-natural-resources/environmental-implications-of-excess-fertilizer-and-manure-on-water-quality">without consideration of its wider impacts</a>, releases greenhouse gases including methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, and other harmful nitrogenous gases such as ammonia. It can also lead to nitrogen-rich run-off into water courses, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fertilizer-runoff-overwhelms-streams/">polluting rivers, lakes and coastlines</a> – with knock-on effects on fish mortality and tourism.</p>
<p>In short, what I thought was an idyllic childhood, living on a farm in balance with nature, wasn’t quite that. Subsequently, as a bioscientist, I’ve spent much of my life researching microorganisms that can help maintain a healthy planet. Nearly 60 years later, I find myself leading a <a href="https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/alg-ad-creating-value-from-waste-nutrients-by-integrating-algal-and-anaerobic-digestion-technology/">pioneering Europe-wide project</a> dedicated to transforming potentially harmful waste into something positive. In the process, we can help to build a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-a-sustainable-circular-economy-would-look-like-133808">circular economy</a>” that regenerates nature and keeps materials in circulation. And at the centre of this work are some remarkable microscopic organisms – our “green gold”.</p>
<h2>Jewels of nature</h2>
<p>We all know how important trees are in terms of <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-arent-enough-trees-in-the-world-to-offset-societys-carbon-emissions-and-there-never-will-be-158181">sequestering carbon</a>, yet we tend to overlook the two-thirds of our planet that is covered by water. Our seas and oceans are filled with organisms that are equally vital to the Earth’s life cycles, yet because they are individually less visible to the naked eye than land plants, we largely ignore them.</p>
<p>Microalgae – not to be confused with macroalgae (seaweeds) – are massively abundant in our seas, freshwater lakes and rivers. These tiny organisms are important “<a href="http://sites.nd.edu/madelyn-martinez/2019/04/22/the-importance-of-primary-producers/">primary producers</a>” on our planet, acting as biomass factories. They use sunlight through the process of photosynthesis to convert inorganic molecules (carbon dioxide, nutrients and water) into proteins, fats and carbohydrates, plus a host of other organic compounds that help them grow and survive. These tiny microorganisms support all life in our oceans and, with their high turnover rates, contribute to <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.281.5374.237">around 50% of</a> the planet’s primary production.</p>
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<p>There are literally hundreds of thousands of species of microalgae. A commonly occurring group are the diatoms, of which there are an estimated 20,000 species. With beautifully intricate, snowflake-like cell walls made of glass, diatoms are true jewels of nature. Another common group are the coccolithophores, covered in elaborate, frisbee-like calcium carbonate chalk plates. During the Cretaceous period, which ended 66 million years ago, enormous blooms of coccolithophores formed the white cliffs of Dover.</p>
<p>As microalgae do not have roots, leaves and stems, they can use carbon dioxide and nutrients more efficiently than land plants, enabling them to grow more rapidly. They can be relatively easily cultivated and harvested to produce biomass crops (“algaculture”) which can be used as food or for bioenergy. Algal biomass also contains a wide range of useful molecules that can be used in bioplastics, biofuel, health products, cosmetics and food ingredients.</p>
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>My growing appreciation of these fascinating microorganisms, with their amazing ability to grow on waste nutrients and produce something useful, inspired me to want to help address the twin global challenges of sustainability and environmental protection. Using nature’s “green gold” to clean up waste nutrients while also producing sustainable feeds and other products seemed to me a no-brainer.</p>
<p>Back in the 70s, I recall my A-level biology teacher, Mr Montague, introducing us to the carbon and nitrogen cycles and explaining how important the balance of each of these cycles is to life on our planet. I even remember him talking about the greenhouse effect and temperature rise. But we didn’t realise back then just how severe the threat of carbon dioxide-related climate change was – or how nitrogen would emerge as a major contributor to the complex environmental challenges we face today.</p>
<h2>Towards a circular economy</h2>
<p>To have any hope of meeting <a href="https://theconversation.com/glasgow-climate-pact-where-do-all-the-words-and-numbers-we-heard-at-cop26-leave-us-171704">our global climate change targets</a> and achieving a sustainable equilibrium, we need to work towards a circular economy that eliminates waste and pollution, keeps materials in circulation and regenerates nature. This must replace our existing linear “use and discard” model which has led to unbalanced nutrient cycles.</p>
<p>In response to this, farmers, the food industry and waste-water companies are <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/476/1/012074/pdf">increasingly turning to anaerobic digestion</a> (AD) to process their waste. AD is a natural process in which bacteria in large tanks called digestors feed on organic waste – sewage, food waste, farm manure and other agricultural waste – to produce a biogas, rich in carbon and hydrogen, that can be captured and used to generate renewable electricity and heat.</p>
<p>The nitrogen component of the organic waste is retained in a thick liquid called digestate, which can be returned to the land by farmers as a naturally produced fertiliser – preferable to synthetic fertilisers produced using energy-intensive and CO₂-emitting processes. However, as the AD industry has expanded, so the increased production and returning of digestate to the land poses a risk of nutrient pollution.</p>
<p>As a result, many areas in the United Kingdom and Europe are now restricted by the <a href="http://adlib.everysite.co.uk/adlib/defra/content.aspx?doc=18647&id=18649">Nitrate Directive</a> and <a href="http://adlib.everysite.co.uk/adlib/defra/content.aspx?id=000IL3890W.17USYFLDOH012T">nitrate vulnerable zone</a> (NVZ) legislation, introduced to prevent pollution through excessive use of nitrogen returned to the land. Currently, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nitrate-vulnerable-zones">55%</a> of land in England is designated an NVZ, while the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrate_vulnerable_zone#:%7E:text=parties%20and%20farmers.-,Northern%20Europe,as%20well%20as%20marine%20eutrophication.">entirety of Wales</a> is in the process of becoming another such zone.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biofuel-how-new-microalgae-technologies-can-hasten-the-end-of-our-reliance-on-oil-176723">Biofuel: how new microalgae technologies can hasten the end of our reliance on oil</a>
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<p>One way of overcoming this regulatory challenge is through the use of microalgae. And so, in 2017, our Europe-wide, circular economy project <a href="https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/alg-ad-creating-value-from-waste-nutrients-by-integrating-algal-and-anaerobic-digestion-technology/%22%22">called ALG-AD</a> was born. The ultimate goal is to convert nitrogen that poses a risk to the environment into microalgae that can be used in sustainable animal feed, replacing existing, highly resource-intensive sources of feed in the process. Using funding from the <a href="https://www.nweurope.eu/">INTERREG North-West Europe programme</a>, Swansea University partnered with ten other organisations throughout north-west Europe – a densely populated and intensely agricultural area that is particularly vulnerable to nitrate pollution of groundwater. The whole of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrate_vulnerable_zone#:%7E:text=parties%20and%20farmers.-,Northern%20Europe,as%20well%20as%20marine%20eutrophication.">Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark</a> are also already designated NVZs.</p>
<p>By recycling unwanted nitrogen into something useful, we can prevent it escaping into the atmosphere and into waterways, thereby reducing pollution to both land and atmosphere. The microalgae naturally convert the nitrogen into protein and other nutritional molecules which can be used back in the food chain. Five years on from the project’s launch, we have already shown that such a circular economy solution is workable on an industrial scale.</p>
<h2>A new source of protein</h2>
<p>The projected growth of the planet’s population over the next half-century means global food production is <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/global_food_security_how_do_we_feed_a_growing_population_web.pdf">expected to increase</a> by at least 50%. We are also all being encouraged to reduce consumption of meat protein to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation. New sources of protein are therefore a top priority, and microalgae are strong contenders. Companies such as Nestlé are already <a href="https://www.nestle.com/randd/news/allnews/partnership-corbion-microalgae-plant-based-products">researching microalgae</a> as an alternative source of protein, both as animal feed and food for humans.</p>
<p>While the microalgal production industry is still in its infancy, the ability to produce a new source of protein without the issues associated with <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-eating-grass-fed-beef-isnt-going-to-help-fight-climate-change-84237">meat</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/brazils-thriving-soy-industry-threatens-its-forests-and-global-climate-targets-56973">soya</a> is very attractive. Furthermore, being able to cultivate microalgae close to where they will be used by farmers in animal feed offers another distinct advantage.</p>
<p>A big challenge for our European project has been to test this technology for development at full working scale. We have therefore worked directly with the AD industry as it processes food and farm waste, providing us with industrially produced nitrogen (in digestate) to cultivate our microalgae.</p>
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<span class="caption">The 7,000 L Algal photobioreactor, constructed in a heated greenhouse at Langage-AD in Devon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Claudio Fuentes- Grünwald</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>In the UK, just 30 miles from the Devon farm on which I lived as a child, we have built <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APsobJ62_K0&t=4s">a pilot “algae-AD”</a> facility at an AD company sited next to Langage Dairy Farm. <a href="https://www.langagead.com">Langage-AD</a> has the capacity to process 20,000 tonnes of food waste a year, producing biomethane that generates heat and electricity. We were provided with a large, heated greenhouse situated right next to where the waste is processed. This was the ideal location for our “algal photobioreactor”, a series of vertical see-through tubes in which microalgae are grown in an aqueous medium containing nutrients that are exposed to both daylight and artificial light.</p>
<p>Two sister photobioreactor facilities have been built in Brittany in France and Ghent in Belgium. All partners have undertaken in-depth studies to determine how to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.133180">best process</a> the digestate and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X20304797">optimise nutrient uptake</a>. Too much and we found that our microalgae didn’t like it; too little and not much happened.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The algal cultivation facility at Langage-AD.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Promisingly, we have found that microalgae grown on digestate are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960852420316230">richer in protein</a> compared with microalgae grown on more typically-used inorganic nutrients, with protein levels reaching up to around 80% of the total biomass produced. This is well over double the amount of protein contained in meat and soya products. In a world where there is an <a href="https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/07/fao-predicts-global-shortage-of-protein-rich-foods/">increasing protein shortage</a> and alternatives to meat are sought, this is a real bonus.</p>
<p>Currently, around <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/soy">75% of the world’s soya crop</a> is used as a source of protein in animal feed. As with beef production, soya production has come under scrutiny for its role in deforestation, particularly in <a href="https://theconversation.com/brazil-signs-agreement-to-halt-deforestation-but-bolsonaro-cannot-be-trusted-171091">Brazil</a> and Argentina. In addition, the transportation of soya across the globe generates a huge carbon footprint. To top it all, transporting soya to high agricultural areas disturbs the global balance of nitrogen, leading to “nutrient hotspots” and an increase in NVZs.</p>
<p>Our studies have confirmed <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12155-022-10397-2">the potential of microalgae</a> as a protein source to supplement and replace soya protein. However, the scale of microalgal cultivation is currently not big enough to make a significant impact on soya markets. Therefore, our real-life feed trial experiments have so far concentrated on testing microalgae as a food supplement, to improve the health of piglets and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdz2A_qLIHw">of fish</a>. But we know that the market for algae-based animal feed and ingredients is set to <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/algae-based-animal-feed-and-ingredients-market-to-grow-by-usd-750-65-millionkey-drivers-and-market-forecasts17000-technavio-research-reports-301294508.html">grow rapidly</a>.</p>
<h2>Rolling out these novel biotechnologies</h2>
<p>To date in the UK, we have focused on two commonly occurring freshwater species of green microalgae, <em>Chlorella vulgaris</em> and <em>Scenedesmus obliquus</em> (both from the division Chlorophyta). Both species contain good levels of proteins and a host of molecules with beneficial properties for health, which we are still exploring.</p>
<p>But yet another amazing thing about microalgae is their diversity. There are tens of thousands of other species with a breathtaking variety of form and function, still waiting to be explored.</p>
<p>Now, supported by the groundwork of our research, it is up to pioneering businesses, regulators and investors to work together to enable the roll-out of these novel biotechnologies more widely. As we move to a society and economy more circular than linear, which uses its waste while preventing environmental contamination, it seems that microalgae will become more familiar to us all in one form or another.</p>
<p>Our project has already demonstrated that microalgae have strong potential in helping reduce food security-related issues such as land scarcity, climate change and inefficient and unsustainable fertiliser usage, as well as associated nutrient leakage and water pollution. In so doing, they can be used to raise environmental standards in Europe and throughout the world. Indeed, our work supports the recently announced <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_5916">European Green Deal</a>, promoting the circular economy and protection of nature, and the new <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/key-policies/common-agricultural-policy/new-cap-2023-27_en">Common Agricultural Policy</a> with its strong emphasis on environment-friendly farming practices and agro-ecology.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graphic showing Common Agricultural Policy key objectives" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451058/original/file-20220309-25-172ve9y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For the period 2023-27, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will be built around these 10 key objectives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/food-farming-fisheries/key_policies/images/the-10-cap-objectives_en.jpg">EC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, it is still relatively early days. As with any waste-related technology, legislation and regulation needs to be <a href="https://www.nweurope.eu/projects/project-search/alg-ad-creating-value-from-waste-nutrients-by-integrating-algal-and-anaerobic-digestion-technology/publications/the-alg-ad-project-reports-and-deliverables/">carefully considered</a>. For now, the simplest way forward is to use anaerobically digested vegetable-based waste rather than animal-based waste, thereby eliminating the possibility of any animal waste or animal contamination passing back into the food chain.</p>
<p>We would also like to further increase the uptake of digestate into the algae and, like any new and developing technology, we need to balance up the cost and overall environmental benefits. To achieve this, we are gathering results from across the partnership and consolidating our data for use in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12155-022-10397-2">life cycle analysis</a>. This will also enable interested farmers, food producers and other industries to decide <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P_u28_y6RY">if the technology</a> is for them, and what they might best achieve according to their particular needs.</p>
<p>Another way microalgae can be used to help in agriculture is as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0734975021000604">biostimulants</a> – natural products that, when applied in small quantities, enhance nutrition uptake and improve stress tolerance, thus reducing the need for chemical fertilisers. We are also delving further into the many other valuable components within microalgal cells, including molecules that have benefits as human and animal <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/immune-system-modulator">immune modulators</a>, anti-inflammatories and antivirals. The full benefits of microalgae to produce new products are just waiting to be reaped.</p>
<p>Ironically, throughout my working life, I didn’t exactly heed the advice of my mum all those years ago, to stay away from the dangerous mix of nutrients that was brewing in the manure pit at the end of our cowshed. But I would like to think, in not doing so, that I have been part of a revolution in the way we regard and treat waste, ensuring that the valuable nutrients in cow manure and other organic waste can increasingly be used for the benefit of us, and our planet.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-china-combined-authoritarianism-with-capitalism-to-create-a-new-communism-167586?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">How China combined authoritarianism with capitalism to create a new communism</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-my-20-years-in-afghanistan-taught-me-about-the-taliban-and-how-the-west-consistently-underestimates-them-167927?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">What my 20 years in Afghanistan taught me about the Taliban – and how the west consistently underestimates them</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/we-have-nothing-left-the-catastrophic-consequences-of-criminalising-livelihoods-in-west-africa-157454?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">‘We have nothing left’ – the catastrophic consequences of criminalising livelihoods in west Africa</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carole Llewellyn receives funding from the Interreg North-West Europe programme and Welsh Government on the ALG-AD, project, NWE520.</span></em></p>The inside of story of a pioneering programme to convert nitrogen into microalgae that can generate sustainable animal feed.Carole Anne Llewellyn, Professor in Applied Aquatic Bioscience, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1321162020-02-20T13:15:54Z2020-02-20T13:15:54ZBeavers are set to recolonise the UK – here’s how people and the environment could benefit<p>For an animal that looks like a soggy fur ball with the feet of a duck in need of a pedicure and a tail cut from an old tyre, the beaver’s public image is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/01/beavers-uk-estate-owners-reintroduction-conservation-flooding">doing rather well lately</a>.</p>
<p>That’s despite centuries of hunting that caused the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) to disappear from the UK during the 1500s. Now they’re back. In 2015, two beaver families were released on the River Otter in Devon. Researchers followed this reintroduced population and tracked their distribution and health. They also monitored how the amphibious rodents affected river flow and other wildlife, along with any disruption on adjacent land. By 2019, there were at least seven breeding pairs that had spread throughout the river catchment, well beyond the release sites.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1229330697183166464"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/what-we-do/our-projects/river-otter-beaver-trial">The results of the five-year trial are striking</a>. The beavers built dams, creating wetland and ponds that slowed down peak river flows that might have caused flooding. Their engineering holds back water in the catchment area, stopping it from running off the land quickly and overloading the river, creating a bottle neck in towns downstream. </p>
<p>This glowing report on the flood prevention skills of beavers couldn’t be better timed. Two winter storms, Ciara and Denis, have recently brought flooding to thousands of homes in the UK. In November 2019, the National Trust, a charity more associated with stately homes, released beavers on Exmoor, also in Devon, with much of the publicity at the time touting the likely benefits they’ll bring to flood-prone homes nearby.</p>
<p>Wildlife has benefited from the beavers too. The small pools created by the dams had 37% more fish than comparable stretches of the river. That’s helped local birds that eat fish, while rare water voles have been able to find refuge from invasive mink in newly wetted channels. Young trout prefer the faster water of washed out dams and have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/17/beavers-cut-flooding-and-pollution-and-boost-wildlife-populations">spotted leaping over intact dams</a> during high river flows.</p>
<p>The River Otter backs up data from shorter term studies set over smaller areas that show beaver dams <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/fwb.12721">benefit the diversity of freshwater invertebrates</a>, reduce nutrient levels in outflow, filter pollution and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/esp.4398">allow sediment to settle out and bury carbon</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316168/original/file-20200219-11023-13x0uls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beavers build dams – like this one in North America – which help create wetlands, slowing flood water, reducing drought and creating micro-habitats like shallow pools which benefit biodiversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/north-american-beaver-works-on-dam-604904441">Chase Dekker/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reconciling ranchers and rewilders</h2>
<p>Just as importantly, the report doesn’t shy away from raising the challenges of returning a large mammal to a landscape heavily altered by humans. Beavers burrowed and blocked some culverts, while some of the trees they felled blocked paths. They ate some maize crop (£1.33 worth, gross) and gnawed an orchard tree. </p>
<p>The greatest potential drawback was flooding of productive farmland. There’s a risk that these outcomes cause people to rapidly degenerate into two mutually hostile camps – those with an anti-beaver outlook that portray rewilders as naïve townies, trying to force their eco-warrior views on country folk versus a pro-beaver lobby that sees opponents as habitat-wrecking landowners who don’t care about the environment and are only interested in animals they can shoot. Thankfully, there is none of this in the River Otter report. Instead, there’s recognition of concern and examples of rapid action that can deal with problems.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/give-beavers-permanent-residence-wed-be-dam-stupid-not-to-55256">Give beavers permanent residence – we'd be dam stupid not to</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The recent report feels a far cry from the one produced after the first official beaver reintroduction trial, which ran in Knapdale, Scotland from 2009-2014. From start to finish the Knapdale project was circumscribed with cautious language, and the beavers were described as fenced in and heavily monitored. These legally permitted beavers were allowed but only under strict guard. Despite this, illegal beavers started appearing elsewhere, most conspicuously on the River Tay, also in Scotland, perhaps since 2011, according to the “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/freebeavers/">Save the Free Beavers of the Tay</a>” Facebook group.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316159/original/file-20200219-11040-1bwaeff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After a five-year study gave the River Otter beavers and their ecosystem benefits a glowing review, signs like these are likely to pop up elsewhere in Britain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/otterton-budleigh-salterton-devon-uk-15jun2018-1119058253">Paul J Martin/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Their presence caused the usual mix of delight and anger, and in 2010 Scottish Natural Heritage planned to remove them. But the death of a Scottish beaver called Erica that had been rounded up was a public relations mess. Once an animal has a name and can endear human observers, you better be sure it doesn’t die in your custody. Bowing to public pressure, <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/erica-beaver-dies-scottish-wild-2738538">the Scottish government granted beavers full legal protection in 2019</a>.</p>
<p>Beavers look to be <a href="https://beaversinengland.com/">on the way back, all over the UK</a>. Quite how they will get around isn’t entirely clear yet, but there seems to be widespread <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/science/articles-reports/2020/01/28/third-brits-would-reintroduce-wolves-and-lynxes-uk">public</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/01/beavers-uk-estate-owners-reintroduction-conservation-flooding">political</a> support, and it may be that they will spread by themselves.</p>
<p>That will surely be better than the 1948 reintroduction of beavers in Idaho, in the US. Here, the hapless rodents were boxed up and the crates <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/why-76-beavers-were-forced-to-skydive-into-the-idaho-wilderness-in-1948/">dropped by parachute from low flying aeroplanes</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rrOE-m7sX9E?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The plan worked, apart from the one beaver that managed to climb onto the top of its airborne box only to jump off at the last minute. <a href="https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/lion-witch-wardrobe/mr-mrs-beaver">As the Chronicles of Narnia showed</a>, tea and cakes are more a beaver’s thing than extreme sports.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132116/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Jeffries does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coming to a river catchment near you: a rodent crack team ready to reduce flooding and boost biodiversity.Mike Jeffries, Associate Professor, Ecology, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/827982017-08-23T08:22:33Z2017-08-23T08:22:33ZHere’s the blueprint for a global fireball observatory – and why we need one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182802/original/file-20170821-4987-91zqm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C786%2C519&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>Bright shooting stars are one of nature’s great wonders. Like the one in the main image, which was <a href="http://www.devonlive.com/watch-as-a-fireball-lights-up-the-skies-over-south-devon/story-30369572-detail/story.html">visible from</a> Devon in the south-west of England in June, these fireballs are caused by space rocks hitting Earth’s atmosphere. The friction forces them to slow down, producing a tremendous amount of heat at the same time. If the rock is big enough, a fragment will survive this fiery transition and fall to Earth as a meteorite. </p>
<p>Planetary scientists study these rocks to extract clues as to how our solar system formed. But this work is complicated by the fact that we don’t know where in the solar system most of Earth’s <a href="https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/">50,000 or so meteorites</a> came from. </p>
<p>To improve this situation, you have to determine a new fireball’s orbit once it breaches Earth’s atmosphere. This means observing it from multiple angles. You then ideally want to recover the meteorite before the weather changes the chemistry of the sample – usually in the first shower of rain. A new network of cameras is being set up in the UK to help in this endeavour, phase two of a global network that started five years ago in Australia. </p>
<h2>Fireball hunting</h2>
<p>Meteorites are arriving from outer space all the time. About 50 tonnes of extraterrestrial material enters Earth’s atmosphere each year. Most are sand-sized particles known as cosmic dust, including the majority of the <a href="https://www.space.com/37829-perseid-meteor-shower-2017-skywatcher-photos.html">Perseid meteor shower</a> that took place earlier in August. </p>
<p>But even over a relatively small space like the UK, <a href="http://www.lpi.usra.edu/books/MESSII/9021.pdf">about 20 meteorites</a> of a searchable size land each year – of which the Devon fireball was a good example. Most are barely 10g, about the size of a six-sided dice. Two or three will be bigger; usually up to a kilogram in mass or the size of a tennis ball. </p>
<p>This is but a remnant of the 6,000 to 20,000 meteorites in the same size range that we see each year in the land mass of the world as a whole. Yet observing and finding these is still no mean feat. To date, only around 30 meteorites <a href="http://www.meteoriteorbits.info/">have been recovered</a> after their fireball was observed. This has mostly been through remote camera networks including in Canada, France, the Czech Republic, Finland and Australia. </p>
<p>Such networks are continuously imaging the night sky over a huge area, which is ideal for tracking orbits back to space and reaching the landing site fast. I used to work as a researcher for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-find-a-meteorite-thats-fallen-to-earth-52906">Desert Fireball Network</a> in Australia. Since it was set up five years ago, its 52 cameras have found four meteorites. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182826/original/file-20170821-4969-9p19yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182826/original/file-20170821-4969-9p19yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182826/original/file-20170821-4969-9p19yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182826/original/file-20170821-4969-9p19yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182826/original/file-20170821-4969-9p19yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182826/original/file-20170821-4969-9p19yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182826/original/file-20170821-4969-9p19yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182826/original/file-20170821-4969-9p19yd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the cameras in the Nullarbor Desert in southern Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DFN</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The project to extend the Desert Fireball Network has already seen three high-resolution cameras installed in different parts of England in recent months, along with sophisticated image-processing software. A further seven will be in place by next summer, in a collaboration between Imperial College London, University of Glasgow, the Open University, the Natural History Museum and Curtin University in Perth, Australia. </p>
<p>The new network will track any fast-moving object flying across the skies above the UK, including things like satellites. It will complement an existing network of 30 video cameras called the <a href="https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk">UK Meteor Observation Network</a>, which is already run by citizen scientists to spot fireballs and smaller meteors. UKMON focuses on capturing images rather than meteorite recovery. The two operations will share data, enhancing one another’s abilities. There are also plans to extend the new network to the US, South America, New Zealand and Saharan Africa in the next few years. </p>
<p>The challenges facing the UK operation are quite different to those in Australia. Where the Australian network needs to be able to survive unattended in the brutal desert heat, the UK cameras will work in a distinctly colder, wetter climate. </p>
<p>They will have to contend with light pollution, unpredictable weather and significant cloud cover, reducing the number of nights they will be able to take images. But most problematic of all is the ground itself. The Australian outback is ideal for meteorite hunting: uniformly red and with very little vegetation, meaning you can spot a little black rock from several hundred metres. By contrast, the UK’s lush vegetation and woodland can easily camouflage meteorites.</p>
<p>Yet the UK network also has advantages. Most cameras will be within a day’s drive and connected to the internet to provide instant warnings when a camera needs some tender loving care – the Australian cameras tend to be on rougher terrain that takes longer to reach and many are not internet-connected. At the same time, the UK population density is such that quite a lot of people are likely to spot a large fireball and take pictures on their smartphones. </p>
<h2>Apps upside your head</h2>
<p>Unlocking the assistance of these 65m independent autonomous observatories in the UK is part of the project. The Australian fireball team has developed an app in conjunction with US software consultancy ThoughtWorks. Known as Fireballs in the Sky and free for <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/fireballs-in-the-sky/id709019924?mt=8">Apple</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tw.fireballs&hl=en_GB">Android</a> phones alike, it allows anyone to become a citizen scientist. Users can report any fireball, as well as getting details of the next big meteor shower and where in the sky to look for it – and here’s a grab of what it looks like.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182827/original/file-20170821-4938-lfmj1h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182827/original/file-20170821-4938-lfmj1h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182827/original/file-20170821-4938-lfmj1h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182827/original/file-20170821-4938-lfmj1h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182827/original/file-20170821-4938-lfmj1h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182827/original/file-20170821-4938-lfmj1h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182827/original/file-20170821-4938-lfmj1h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182827/original/file-20170821-4938-lfmj1h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The app.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DFN/ThoughtWorks</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The app is already up and running. In fact, the latest recovered meteorite in Australia, called Dingle Dell, was <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-22/meteorite-recovered-with-the-help-of-dedicated-star-gazers/8046880">initially observed</a> by a citizen scientist using it. </p>
<p>This made it possible to find the pristine meteorite before delicate minerals inside it were irreparably altered or washed away by rain, revealing extraterrestrial salts formed early in the solar system that usually quickly disappear on the surface of Earth. These could potentially tell us things about the origins of life and water on our planet. </p>
<p>These kinds of exciting discoveries give a taste of why it will be a race against time to recover the first meteorite tracked by the UK network. So do we have any volunteers?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82798/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Daly’s PhD was funded under The Australian Research Council Laureate fellowship awarded to Professor Phil Bland. Luke is an associate of the Royal School of Mines at Imperial College London, and a member of the Meteoritical Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gareth Collins has received funding from the UK Research Councils (NERC, STFC & EPSRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Suttle receives funding from the STFC. </span></em></p>Ten new remote cameras will soon be scouring the British night skies for meteorites.Luke Daly, Research Associate, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of GlasgowGareth Collins, Reader in Planetary Science, Imperial College LondonMartin D. Suttle, Researcher in Meteoritics and Planetary Science, Imperial College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/575982016-04-18T14:37:03Z2016-04-18T14:37:03ZViking invaders struck deep into the west of England – and may have stuck around<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119093/original/image-20160418-1509-gqs0ub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C1069%2C2580%2C1758&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There's something in the water.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s well chronicled that wave after wave of Vikings from Scandinavia terrorised western Europe <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/overview_vikings_01.shtml">for 250 years from the end of the eighth century AD</a> and wreaked particular havoc across vast areas of northern England. There’s no shortage of evidence of Viking raids from the Church historians of the time. But researchers are now uncovering evidence that the Vikings conquered more of the British Isles than was previously thought. </p>
<p>At the time England consisted of four independent kingdoms: Wessex, to the south of the River Thames, and Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria to the north of it. The latter three were all conquered by Scandinavian armies in the late ninth century and their kings killed or deposed – which allowed expansive Scandinavian settlement in eastern and northern England. However the kings of Wessex successfully defended their territory from the Viking intruders (and eventually went on to conquer the North, creating the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Egbert">unified kingdom of England</a>). </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118343/original/image-20160412-15861-hmkbi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118343/original/image-20160412-15861-hmkbi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118343/original/image-20160412-15861-hmkbi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118343/original/image-20160412-15861-hmkbi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118343/original/image-20160412-15861-hmkbi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118343/original/image-20160412-15861-hmkbi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118343/original/image-20160412-15861-hmkbi7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Un-united Kingdoms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AEgbert_of_Wessex_map.jpg">Mike Christie</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But precisely because <a href="http://www.destinationwessex.org.uk/about-wessex.htm">Wessex</a> remained independent, there has never been much examination of Scandinavian influence in that part of the United Kingdom. But <a href="http://www.devonmuseums.net/Friendly-Traders,-Raiders-or-Settlers-New-Research-on-the-Vikings-in-the-West-Country/Events/1">we’re beginning to get a different picture</a> suggesting that Viking leaders such as <a href="http://www.viking.no/the-viking-kings-and-earls/canute-knud-the-great/">Svein and his son Knut</a> were active as far south as Devon and Cornwall in the West Country. </p>
<p>In 838AD, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded a battle fought at <a href="http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095937795">Hingston Down</a> in east Cornwall in which the local Britons joined forces with the Vikings against King Egbert of Wessex and his attempts to expand his kingdom. The fiercely independent Cornish appear to have held out against West Saxon control and presumably cast around for a strong ally in their fight. But why were Viking leaders interested in aiding the Cornish? Perhaps it was a political move, made in the hope of gaining a foothold in the peninsula in order to use it as a strategic base against Wessex. If so, it was thwarted, as the allied army was soundly defeated. </p>
<p>There are also records of raids for plunder in the West Country. A Viking fleet sailed up the river Tamar in 997, <a href="http://people.exeter.ac.uk/pfclaugh/mhinf/vikings.htm">attacked the abbey at Tavistock</a> and brought back treasure to their ships. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119102/original/image-20160418-1545-18gpq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119102/original/image-20160418-1545-18gpq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119102/original/image-20160418-1545-18gpq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119102/original/image-20160418-1545-18gpq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119102/original/image-20160418-1545-18gpq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119102/original/image-20160418-1545-18gpq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119102/original/image-20160418-1545-18gpq0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cardinham churchyard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASt._Meubred's_church%2C_Cardinham_-_geograph.org.uk_-_750099.jpg">Jonathan Billinger</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is further evidence indicating Scandinavians in the West Country in a close examination of stone sculptures in Devon and Cornwall which has revealed Scandinavian art motifs and monument forms. A Norwegian Borre ring chain ornament decorates the cross in Cardinham churchyard in east Cornwall and a mounted warrior is in one of the panels of the Copplestone Cross near Crediton, mid Devon. Both are matched by examples in northern England in the Viking Age, but seem out of place in the West. Late versions of the “<a href="http://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/arts/news/headline_304911_en.html">hogback</a>” memorial stones, which have a pronounced ridge and look like a small stone long house, are well known in Cornwall too – the best example is at <a href="http://www.cornwalltour.co.uk/lanivet.html">Lanivet</a> near Bodmin. </p>
<p>These sort of memorials <a href="http://www.medievalhistories.com/viking-hogbacks/">were popular with the Norse settlers in Cumbria and Yorkshire</a> and may be the
work of itinerant sculptors bringing new ideas into the West, or patrons ordering forms and patterns which they had seen elsewhere. However, the possibility that the patrons may have been Scandinavian settlers cannot be excluded. </p>
<h2>All in the name</h2>
<p>People with Scandinavian names such as Carla, Thurgod, Cytel, Scula, Wicing, Farman are recorded as working in the mints in Exeter and at other Devon sites from the end of the tenth century – and, although such names became popular in the general population, there is an unusual concentration in these areas. Detectorists operating in the West Country are finding increasing numbers of metal objects from the period, many with Scandinavian connections. Scandinavian dress-fittings, lead weights, coins and silver ingots – and all manner of gear for horses have been identified in the past few years. A woman’s trefoil brooch, probably made in Scandinavia, <a href="http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/news/vikings-wiltshire">was discovered where it had been dropped in Wiltshire</a>. This is the only example of the type yet found in Wessex, whereas 15 have been discovered in northern England.</p>
<p>Like these Viking artefacts, place names with Scandinavian links are well known in northern England – but we would not have previously expected them in the West Country. Yet the islands in the Bristol Channel: Lundy, Steepholm and Flatholme are hybrid names with Old Norse and Old English elements. Spaxton in Somerset was <em>Spacheston</em> in the Domesday Book, that is <em>Spakr’s tun</em> another hybrid. Knowstone in central Devon, recorded as <em>Chenutdestana</em> in Domesday Book_, <em>combines Scandinavian</em> Knut_ with English <em>stana</em> to give Knut’s stone, perhaps named after the Danish king. More intriguing still are the 11 landholders in the Devon section of the Domesday Book with the personal name <em>wichin</em> which means “viking”. These names are rare in England and do not occur at all elsewhere in the West Country, so the cluster in Devon is significant. </p>
<p>A combination of sculptural, archaeological and word usage evidence therefore points to a new appreciation of how far the Vikings travelled within the UK – and the dramatic reach of their influence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57598/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Gore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The reach of the Vikings in England went further than we thought.Derek Gore, Teaching Fellow of Archaeology, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/553352016-02-26T09:36:58Z2016-02-26T09:36:58ZBattle site shows the Norman conquest took years longer than 1066 and all that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112940/original/image-20160225-15134-1e9nc5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Like 1066 all over again: William had his work cut out to subdue the Saxons.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bayeuxtapestryscene52.jpg">Lucien Musset</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The possible discovery of the site of a 1069 “sequel” to the Battle of Hastings is a reminder that the Norman Conquest wasn’t just a case of 1066 and all that. In fact William the Conqueror faced repeated threats to his power from both inside and outside the kingdom during his reign.</p>
<p>Writer Nick Arnold <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-35633783">claims</a> to have identified the site of a battle in 1069 which marked the last major attempt of Godwine and Edmund, the sons of the Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinson, to regain power following their father’s defeat at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Historical sources tell us that the 1069 encounter took place at the mouth of the River Taw in North Devon and, by combining this with scientific data, Arnold has narrowed down the location to a spot between Appledore and Northam. While an interesting piece of historical detective work in its own right, the potential identification of this site is a reminder that the Norman Conquest took years, not days. </p>
<h2>Challenges to William’s rule</h2>
<p>Admittedly, in the history of medieval military encounters, the Battle of Hastings was unusually decisive. This hard-fought battle resulted in the deaths of King Harold and a large portion of the English aristocracy. With the removal of much of the ruling elite, William the Conqueror and his Norman allies (in reality a mixture of men drawn from various regions of France and Flanders) took over the controls of a remarkably centralised Anglo-Saxon state. </p>
<p>But it would be wrong to think that the Norman Conquest ended there. While much of the population probably accepted that the country was, in effect, under new management, not everyone welcomed the change. The late 1060s and 1070s saw significant challenges to William’s rule in England, of which the attempted invasion by King Harold’s sons in 1069 was just one.</p>
<p>Our most reliable witness to events at this time, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, tells us that in 1069 “Harold’s sons came from Ireland at midsummer with sixty-four ships into the mouth of the Taw”. The naval force mentioned was almost certainly supplied by the Norse kingdom of Dublin and reflects previous ties between King Harold and Dublin’s overlord, King Diarmait of Leinster.</p>
<p>This was the second attempt by Harold’s sons to mount an invasion and the second time that they had targeted the south-west. In 1068 they had attacked Bristol and ravaged Somerset, before being seen off by English forces under <a href="http://www.historyextra.com/qa/anglo-saxon-official">Eadnoth the Staller</a>, who was killed in the encounter. They were repelled again in 1069, this time by a Breton lord, Count Brian, who seems to have taken over responsibility for defence of the area.</p>
<h2>‘Harrying of the North’</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112931/original/image-20160225-15165-mfi5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112931/original/image-20160225-15165-mfi5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112931/original/image-20160225-15165-mfi5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112931/original/image-20160225-15165-mfi5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112931/original/image-20160225-15165-mfi5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112931/original/image-20160225-15165-mfi5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112931/original/image-20160225-15165-mfi5qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The north of England paid a price for rebelling against William.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BayeuxTapestryScene47.jpg">Ulrich Harsch</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The brief return of the Godwinsons in 1069, however, was a mere sideshow compared to the full-scale rebellion in the north later that year. This was led by English earls in support of <a href="https://www.royal.gov.uk/pdf/wessex.pdf">Edgar the Ætheling</a>, who claimed the throne as the closest male relative of William and Harold’s predecessor, Edward the Confessor. Like the attempted invasion by Harold’s sons, this rebellion was made possible through an alliance with a foreign power: in this case, King Sweyn of Denmark, who provided a fleet of 240-300 ships. William’s response was to gather his army and “utterly ravage and lay waste” to the region in what became known as the <a href="http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/NormanConquest/a/The-Harrying-Of-The-North-1069-70.htm">Harrying of the North</a>, forcing the northern earls into a truce. </p>
<p>The Danes, meanwhile, remained a disruptive force in England until the following summer, when they left laden with plunder largely taken from the abbey at Peterborough. All of which underlines that the events playing out in England were part of political struggles in the context of her European neighbours. For the Normans, conquest was an ongoing campaign that lasted years, not something that was handed to them by virtue of Harold’s death at Hastings. </p>
<h2>Battleground England</h2>
<p>Although Arnold’s purported discovery of the 1069 battle site can be admired as an ingenious piece of detective work, only archaeologists will be able to prove his claims. In reality, this announcement adds only a limited amount to our current knowledge of historical events, which means any identification of the site in which the Godwinsons made their last great bid for power is probably of more significance to a local audience than to a national or academic one. </p>
<p>But if anything it should remind us of the turbulent years after 1066, when the Norman conquest was by no means assured – and it seemed as if Hastings’ immediate legacy had been to turn England itself into a battleground.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55335/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Birkett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Anglo-Saxon opposition to the Norman conquest lasted for years after the Battle of Hastings.Helen Birkett, Lecturer in Medieval History, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/229192014-02-06T14:51:10Z2014-02-06T14:51:10ZInvest in railway lines like one at Dawlish before they wash away<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40918/original/gpfjkzxt-1391696966.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some of our railways are missing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben Birchall/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The assault on British coastlines by storm, flood and sea this winter is a taste of things to come. Rising sea levels and a greater risk of coastal flooding are a significant future threat. Britain is an island nation, and a great deal of important and expensive infrastructure, from ports and harbours to power stations and industry, lies along the coast. Roads and railway links are also vital – some entire coastal regions’ economies depend on key highways or rail links.</p>
<p>The coastal section of the London-Penzance railway line that runs between Dawlish and Teignmouth in Devon is a perfect example. As the main railway connection for the southwest of England to the rest of Great Britain, it is a vital transport link for the Devon and Cornwall economy. Several sections of the line have just been washed into the English Channel by storms, leaving the tracks hanging suspended in space over the waves. Network Rail’s first repair estimates are 4-6 weeks work, with engineers calling it the “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26044283">worst damage they’ve seen in their careers</a>”.</p>
<p>Lying so close to sea level, just a few metres above the waves, the line has been susceptible to frequent closure during high seas and storms ever since it <a href="http://www.southwestcoastpath.com/walksdb/printable-walk/602/">opened in 1846</a>. The past 30 years have seen the problem worsen, coinciding with rising sea levels, but the current damage is the most severe in its entire 178 years of service. It is currently estimated that sea-level will by 2020 have risen <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818111000920">between 5-7cm from 2010 levels</a>, which by my estimates could double the amount of disruption on the line. By 2050 services could be affected for <a href="http://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/912">several months of each year</a>.</p>
<p>It is not a case of if but when the railway will be lost completely to the sea. It is vital that the region prepares for this eventuality, and although Dawlish is arguably the most iconic coastal railway, there are others in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-25794295">North Wales</a>, northwest England and in Scotland that will face similar problems in years to come.</p>
<h2>Rising tides</h2>
<p>Coastal flooding is most likely when strong storms and low atmospheric pressure combine to drive storm surges towards the coast. Coupled with high tides the effects can be devastating, as shown by the destruction in East Anglia and the Netherlands during the record <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_3749000/3749771.stm">storm of 1953</a>, when tide levels rose to two metres above the predicted high.</p>
<p>So with sea levels set to rise over the next century, these extreme events could become more frequent. Hard-engineered sea defences such as sea walls, rock armour, and breakwaters have been built to protect coastal communities and the services upon which they depend. Around 1,200km of coastline is protected, around a third of the total coastline of England and Wales. This is particularly evident in southern England.</p>
<p>Defence structures are built to a design standard based on the statistical chance of extreme water levels (such as one in 100 years). But it’s estimated that even small changes in sea level can produce a significant upwards trend to those chances. Other factors such as storminess and frequency of surges, and wave characteristics (known as wave climate) that cause coastal flooding are difficult to predict. Yet even with no changes in these factors the coastal threat, like the sea, is rising.</p>
<h2>Living with change</h2>
<p>And as tides rise, budgets shrink. Large cuts to national flood defences have been made and are expected to continue, raising serious fears for the funding of planned flood defence improvements along the coast. In the Southwest, plans to re-route the line have been dismissed as too costly. Taken from a purely transport economics or engineering perspective this may well be correct, but this evaluation does not take into account the wider socio-economic benefits of transport connectivity, such as access to employment, productivity gains, increased business opportunities and improved quality of life. </p>
<p>There is an urgent need to improve how the wider socio-economic benefits of transport can be translated into language that beancounters understand. Without investment, the future of Britain’s transport infrastructure services are at risk of failure and collapse, just as surely as the Dawlish-Teignmouth stretch of railway. The cost of clawing back from that eventuality will far outweigh the admittedly high costs of early intervention and adaptation. </p>
<p>While agenda-setting national plans like <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-is-it-possible-to-forecast-hs2s-benefits-20164">HS2</a> and Crossrail steal the limelight, the regional and local lines where infrastructure and services are dense, highly interlinked, and heavily relied upon (especially in rural areas) are slowly abandoned. We must invest in the regional networks to tackle the problems specific to them, such as the Southwest Mainline, as by doing so will improve the resilience of Britain’s transport infrastructure overall.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22919/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Dawson receives funding from the EPSRC and ESRC.</span></em></p>The assault on British coastlines by storm, flood and sea this winter is a taste of things to come. Rising sea levels and a greater risk of coastal flooding are a significant future threat. Britain is…David Dawson, Research Fellow, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.