We are delighted to unveil two new episodes of our ever-popular Laboratory of Leaves videos, a series of short films about the research at Wytham Woods.
The Climate Time Machine
Beneath our feet is a rich biodiverse landscape – grasslands store carbon beneath the surface similar to a rainforest, yet you could be forgiven for not picturing grass when you think of the climate. As Andy Hector, Professor of Ecology explains, ‘we’ve lost 97% of species-rich grasslands in the UK since WWII’. With an increasing number of extreme weather events occuring, what will the impact be to the ground we walk on? The experiment at Wytham funnels water away from some areas and provides it to others, with fascinating results. Graduate Plant Ecologist Sara Middleton has observed plants slowly ‘creeping’ away from the drought-ridden areas, as extreme weather comes ever closer.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/a4J5Kd6YZTw
Ash - a Silent Extinction in the Woods
What do you do when the nature that surrounds you is inevitably, and slowly, dying? If you’re a researcher at Wytham Woods, you respond with devastation and practicality in equal measure. A ‘silent pandemic’, as described by Professor Yadvinher Malhi, ash dieback (hymenoscyphus fraxineus) has infected canopies of ash trees, not only in Wytham Woods, but across Western Europe since 2012. Cecilia Dahlsjö’s research is facing the loss head on – by running experiments which ask what the impact of this could look like in the immediate future, and the next decade and beyond. The dappled light and the soft leaves of these gentle giants are still savoured by the team at Wytham, even while science acknowledges their fate.
