Tag: biodiversityPage 3 of 5

Professor Kirsty Park, University of Stirling

Essential empirical data for effective ecological restoration. Human activity can have both positive and negative impacts on biodiversity, often playing out over long timescales. Professor Kirsty Park’s research…

Dr Antje Ahrends, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

A radical approach to forest degradation and destruction. The role of plantation agriculture in deforestation – and hence biodiversity loss and climate catastrophe – has been widely publicised,…

Dr Caroline Lehmann, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and University of Edinburgh

Exploring open ecosystems through a lens of environmental and social justice. Dr Caroline Lehmann describes her research as a “bridge between evolutionary and ecological science to understand the…

Professor Mathew Williams, Chief Scientific Adviser

In the run-up to the global biodiversity conference, COP15, we present a series of posts in partnership with Scottish Government and NatureScot, showcasing Scotland’s innovative, high-impact research supporting…

Scotland’s Leaders in Biodiversity Conservation Science

In the run-up to the global biodiversity conference, COP15, we present a series of posts in partnership with Scottish Government and NatureScot, showcasing Scotland’s innovative, high-impact research supporting…

COP26 – What Now?

It was a heady fortnight of frantic networking and tough negotiating in the Glasgow rain. But did the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations…

RBGE 1970-2020

Rediscovering a fifty-year old article prompted us to explore RBGE’s last half-century at the forefront of science, conservation, horticulture and learning. 2020 will inevitably go down in history…

Climate change threatens the survival of one of Scotland’s most biodiverse marine habitats

Maerl beds are one of the world’s most biodiverse habitats – but most people haven’t even heard of them! Maerl, a free-living red seaweed with a hard calcium…

Learning on the job: students make valuable scientific discoveries

“Hey Zoë, we’ve found a Pinguicula!” “I doubt it, they don’t grow in Belize.” “Well, this is definitely a Pinguicula.” With that conversation shouted across a hillside, we…

Hot, steep and spiny – Exploring the forgotten forests of Latin America

Working in the dry forests of the Marañón valley in Peru can be pretty intense. Firstly, as you might expect, it can get exceptionally hot. While clouds might…

Climate Emergency: Tropical Forests Approach Tipping Point

RBGE scientists contribute to a landmark study suggesting that increasing global temperatures may cause both Amazon and African rainforests to become net sources, rather than sinks, of carbon…

Evidence, action, inspiration – how nature-based solutions help combat the climate emergency

This week (7th-13th October 2019) is Scotland’s Climate Week, which this year comes at a decisive time for our planet, its people and its biodiversity. As UN Secretary-General…

Orchid appears in Living Lawn

Next to the Front Range and within sight of the Library and Herbarium two small squares of lawn have been transformed into flower-rich ‘living lawns’ as part of…

Enlisting the crowd to unlock our specimen data!

The herbarium at RBGE holds around 3 million herbarium specimens. Each specimen consists of pressed plant material and a collection label mounted on archival card. They are used…

The Urban Kingfisher

One of our wildlife recorders, Lucy Cooke, gives you tips on how to spot kingfishers in the city centre!

The Big Botanics BioBlitz and the 1000th Species

A damselfly basking in the sun photographed Philip Gillespie. One of the ways the garden has already celebrated nature and biodiversity this year was to hold the Big…

Upcoming Talks during the Big Botanics BioBlitz this Saturday

As part of our BioBlitz festivities, we are hosting four fabulous speakers to talk on a range of wildlife-related topics.   999 and counting… Recording Biodiversity at RBGE…

The Big Botanics BioBlitz presents Botanics Wild

  To coincide with our wonderful event taking place on Saturday the 9th of June, the Big Botanics Bioblitz, we present, Botanics Wild. Two fantastic opportunities to experience…

Big Botanics BioBlitz

Saturday the 9th of June Calling nature enthusiasts, experts, recorders, learners! Can you help us to discover and celebrate the biodiversity of the Edinburgh garden? RBGE is hosting…

The Sweet Chestnut project (The Afterlife of a Tree)

Building on the biodiversity the garden supports  Regular visitors to the garden will have noticed a mature Sweet Chestnut in the later stages of its life with only a…