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GLENN IASON - (coordinator)
An ecologist with 23 years experience of research, mainly
in plant-herbivore interactions. He has experience of
work with a broad range of animal species (hares and
rabbits, African buffalo, moose and domestic species)
in a range of ecosystems including Arctic and Boreal
forests, including pine forests, moorland, African savanna
and agricultural environments. Glenn has research interests
in the chemical ecology of tree-browsing by mammalian
herbivores, and the broader community and ecosystem
consequences of the phyto-chemical variation and plant-herbivore
interaction. He is a member of the editorial boards
of Journal of Applied Ecology and Forest Ecology and
Management.
email: glenn.iason@hutton.ac.uk
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DR. COLIN CAMPBELL is a soil microbiologist
with 16 years experience of research mainly in environmental
microbiology and ecology. He has experience of work
with a broad range of ecosystems, including pine forests
and moorland. He is an expert on microbial community
analysis using physiological and molecular methods using
such approaches to investigate ecosystem functioning
with respect to the decomposition of organic matter
as well as their response to perturbation and pollution.
Colin's current research includes studies of the
peatlands, montane habitats, moorland colonisation by
pine and birch and invasion of moorland by grasses.
In Native Pine ecosystems he is interested in the role
of monoterpenes in selecting rhizosphere microbial populations,
their interactions with ectomycorrhiza and the consequences
for nutrient cycling.
email: colin.campbell@hutton.ac.uk
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DR. PETER DENNIS is an ecologist
with entomological expertise and has worked primarily
on habitat - species associations. He is interested
in how land use affects the interactions between native
species and their habitats, both locally and over larger
geographical areas, where patterns of habitat can
be
an important consideration. Peter has studied how various
insect, spider, bird and small mammal species or assemblages
respond to the management of their habitats, ranging
across native woodlands, farm woodlands, moorlands,
upland grasslands, arid savannas to remnant habitats
of farmland. In forest ecology, he has worked on a
number
of government forest and woodland wildlife research
projects and has been involved in the Native Woodland
Discussion Group, Forestry Research Co-ordination Committee
and co-authored the Habitat Action Plan on Wet and
Riparian
Woodland for NE Scotland.
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PROF. ROBIN PAKEMAN is the acting
leader of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute's programme on Ecology
of Grazed Ecosystems. His current work is focused on
understanding the relationships between vegetation structure
and diversity and the ecological requirements of species
to regenerate by seed. The effects of grazing animals
are an integral part of this research, particularly
how they control the opportunities for dispersal and
the provision of niches. He has also been involved in
a wide range of projects that deal with the management
of vegetation for conservation and sustainable land
use
email: robin.pakeman@hutton.ac.uk
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DR. JACK LENNON is an ecologist
with 17 years experience in analysing and modelling
species distribution, climate and biodiversity patterns.
He is particularly interested in relationships between
species distribution patterns and climate, fractals
and the role of spatial scale in ecology, and how species
fit together to make biodiversity patterns.
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DR. IAN ANDERSON is a fungal ecologist.
His main interests lie in the ecology of fungi in native
ecosystems with an emphasis towards using molecular
approaches for investigating the taxonomic and functional
diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi. He is also interested
in the interaction between ectomycorrhizal and saproptrophic
fungi and the respective roles they play in
decomposition and nutrient cycling processes. Ian’s main
areas of expertise include the application of molecular
techniques for
studying soil fungal communities.
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DR. VERA THOSS is a chemical ecologist
with a strong background in analytical chemistry. The
focus of her research is plant-derived secondary metabolites,
in particular phenolics and terpenes, and the transformations
within the environment. She obtained her PhD in 1999
on the 'chemical characterization of dissolved
organic matter in natural matrices'. Since then
Vera has investigated the production of secondary metabolites
in plants and the effects that environmental conditions
have upon these in terms of production by the plant
itself and for humification dynamics.
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JOAN BEATON graduated from the
University of Aberdeen in 1998 with an Honours degree
in Ecology and has spent time working on research projects
including invertebrate biodiversity on farm land and
farm-scale evaluations of GM crops. She has been working
as an Ecologist on the PROBECO project since January
2002 where she is mainly involved in fieldwork such
as vegetation recording and small mammal trapping
email: joan.beaton@hutton.ac.uk
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JENNI STOCKAN graduated in 1998
from the University of Aberdeen with an honours degree
in Ecology. She has worked as a research assistant on various
projects including the evolutionary development of centipedes
at Sunderland University. Jenni joined the PROBECO project
in 2002 to undertake work on insect herbivory and has
recently completed a MSc in Wildlife Biology
and Conservation at Napier University.
email: jenni.stockan@hutton.ac.uk
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PROF. IAN ALEXANDER FRSE is Regius
Professor of Botany in the Department of Plant and Soil
Science at the University of Aberdeen. He is an Ecologist,
with a particular interest in the ecology and physiology
of mycorrhizal symbioses. He has worked on Scottish
moorland and forest vegetation, as well as in the
Arctic and in the tropical rainforest.
email: i.alexander@abdn.ac.uk
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DR. STEVE CHAPMAN has 30 years
of experience in research in microbiology; his particular
expertise lies in determining the role of microbial
processes in nutrient cycling within the
plant-soil-microbe ecosystem. He has contributed to
investigations on soil organic matter turnover,
quantifying and determining the influence of chemical
structure and soil conditions on the decomposition
processes. Current studies are concerned with soil
quality as applied to organic soils and its assessment
using microbial parameters, particularly novel measures
of microbial activity and biodiversity using
multi-substrate techniques. He is co-ordinating an EC
project on peatland restoration and is also involved
with a project on C and N modelling in organic soils
and the influence of land use change.
email: steve.chapman@hutton.ac.uk
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DR. GRAHAM OSLER is a community
ecologist working on soil fauna, particularly mites.
He
is interested in the determinants of community structure
and the role of soil fauna in processes such as
decomposition and nitrogen transformations. Graham
previously worked in native and agricultural systems
in Australia and Canada where he investigated the
effects
of different plant species on soil mites and the
interaction between soil mesofauna, decomposing residues
and other elements of the soil biota.
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DAVID SIM has 27 years experience
in animal related research. His previous work focused on improving the reproductive
performance in hill and upland sheep. Having worked with
Glenn Iason for 16 years he is now involved in studying
the relationship between nutrition, behaviour and diet
diversity in mammalian herbivores. Dave is also involved
in studying the effects of herbivore browsing on
woodland regeneration. He has been involved in the
PROBECO project since the outset and his main activities
include tree measurements and small mammal trapping.
email: dave.sim@hutton.ac.uk
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