Wytham Woods, UK, to be European base for international climate change research programme

Over the next five years Wytham Woods near Oxford will become the European hub of an ambitious global research programme into the impacts of climate change on forests.

Earthwatch, an Oxford-based environmental charity, has announced the opening of its Europe Regional Climate Centre as part of the HSBC Climate Partnership.

The Climate Centre will be the base for a five-year climate change and forestry research programme that Earthwatch is running with the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) and two local partners, the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), and Oxford University’s Wildlife and Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU). The new centre is one of five throughout the world. The others are located in Brazil, India, China and North America.

Teams of HSBC employees from all over Europe and members of the local Oxfordshire community will spend time working alongside scientists in Wytham Woods. They will look at many aspects of forest ecology from the flow of carbon within woodlands to the response of populations of small mammals and insects to changes in weather patterns. Between them, the teams will clock up an impressive 40,000 hours of field work, equivalent to a single scientist working alone for 21 years.

Dr Mike Morecroft of CEH said, "We are pleased to be a partner in this innovative project with Earthwatch, HSBC and Oxford University. CEH research at Wytham Woods has given new insights into the way trees take up carbon dioxide and regulate water loss. We have also monitored climate change impacts on biodiversity at Wytham since 1992. This new project allows us to expand our work to small woods and copses across the surrounding landscape, helping us to better understand the effects of fragmentation on forests. It also provides a great bridge between the worlds of science, commerce and the voluntary sector: something that will be crucial to meeting the challenges of climate change.”

The research that will be carried out in Wytham Woods fits into the wider global research programme and results will be shared with scientists and forest managers.

Dr Dan Bebber, Head of Climate Change Research at Earthwatch said, “Oxfordshire’s woodlands are typical of many temperate European forests. They have been heavily impacted by forestry and agriculture over the years, potentially rendering them vulnerable to climate change. The data that we gather here in Oxfordshire will be relevant to similar forests throughout northern Europe and will help us to predict how these ecosystems will respond to climate change.”

For more information please see the CEH website.