Did you know that over 25% of all marine species live in coral reefs despite the fact that they occupy less than 1% of the ocean floor? If all of the coral reef cover (to a 15m depth) was put together in one area, it would take up a space…

It is well known that there is higher biodiversity near the equator than there is at the poles. You may see the trend referred to as the LDG in some literature, which refers to the latitudinal diversity gradient. The complete explanation for this gradient is still…

This summer, I had the privilege of accompanying 22 of our Year 12 and 13 students, along with two other members of staff, on a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to Madagascar with Operation Wallacea (Opwall). Opwall is a conservation research organisation that runs biodiversity…

What are mangroves? These salt-tolerant trees grow around coastal waters in the tropics and subtropics. Ranging from shrubs to majestic trees, they have extraordinary adaptations to cope with salt water and saturated soils. These include foamy aerenchyma tissue in root systems to…

Short answer: No, not yet, BUT this is a question of when. Let me break it down first by giving some context to the issue of ocean plastics. The last hundred years are attributed as the main period of ocean plastic pollution….

GIS stands for Geographic Information System, and may be something you’ve heard of if you’re studying an environmental subject. It is software which we use to visualise data using maps, and to analyse it to find geographical patterns. We take “spatial” data…

As many people are becoming more aware of our impact on the planet, in this blog we are going to look into how fortunate we are to be able to get lots of natural products & ingredients from tropical rainforests, and how…

Spring is a brilliant time of year, when the flowers start blooming and the lambs start skipping across the fields! We can do our bit to support wildlife at this time of year too, so here are some ways to give nature…

Purchasing Your Binoculars When purchasing binoculars, you are choosing something that will, if chosen carefully, work for decades. A poorly chosen cheaper pair will often frustrate you and waste money. It’s worth considering what you want and the advantages of spending a…

What does the phrase ‘green finance’ mean to you, if anything? A colleague made this for the finance team recently (I think he takes orders, if you’re interested), so perhaps this is his interpretation of ‘green finance’? There are three of us…

Spending 4 weeks as a research assistant in Krka, Croatia surpassed my expectations. Within just a few days I formed strong connections with fellow research assistants and staff – relationships that enriched both my learning and overall experience.     My first…

Deforestation is when forests and woodlands are purposefully cleared, usually resulting in permanent change to the habitat and land-use of the area. The main driver is usually space for farming and agriculture, though others include logging, mining, settlements and wildfires. Deforestation impacts…