Research description

The research in Environment - Land Use and Rural Stewardship (Programme 3) will

• determine key factors linked with ecosystem function and resilience which lead to sustainability


• improve knowledge of hazard identification and the threat that global change presents the wider rural environment


• provide solutions to mitigate and adapt to environmental change to make rural landscapes and communities more sustainable

Our research is linked across the component natural resources (waters, soils, natural heritage/ biodiversity and landscapes) that make up the environment, through three Cross Cutting Themes:

1) Responding to Climate Change,
2) Protecting Biodiversity,
3) Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability of Rural Scotland,

These Cross Cutting Themes are centred on issues which also provide a way to link with the other three Programmes under the Strategic Research for SEERAD Environment, Biology and Agriculture 2005-2010