Nature and Science

Research relating to Nature and Science. Undertaking research in this area supports the National Trust's ambition to improve the state of nature in the UK.

Research in this area helps us understand what actions make the biggest difference to nature and create more joined up landscapes for wildlife. It will drive the best ways to revive and restore our woodlands, wildflower meadows and waterways.

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Aligning strategic and participatory approaches to agri-environment scheme design and implementation to enhance nature recovery outcomes
(2025-01-19)
Baker, D. J.
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Nye, C.
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Wheeler, R.
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Masquelier, C.
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Binner, A.
1. Nature recovery requires the provisioning of resources in the right place and in sufficient quantities to support wildlife populations and improve ecological processes. Agri-environment schemes (AES) have been a major mechanism for delivering environmental management across EU-farmed landscapes, but measured benefits to nature are often negligible in large part due to a lack of strategic spatial targeting of management actions. 2. As an example, AES in England are often delivered using a participatory strategy, typically at individual farm scale, with types of management agreements and uptake reflecting the business model and interests of each farm. However, this implementation model can result in poorly distributed conservation resources and, consequently, a failure to recover nature across larger scales, even if individual agreements are delivered well. 3. Achieving effective, large-scale nature recovery through AES requires aligning its implementation with spatially targeted approaches that prioritise specific conservation goals. We discuss the rationale for, and major barriers to, aligning AES design and implementation to these approaches. We then highlight how, through the framework of systematic conservation planning, both the strategic and participatory components of AES could be aligned better to enhance nature recovery outcomes. 4. To ensure AES help achieve nature recovery goals, clear and measurable targets must be set with the type and spatial configuration of actions designed to enable meeting targets. Strategic spatial targeting must also be carried out with the implementation phase in mind, accounting for socio-economic opportunities and barriers to engagement and acknowledging that uncertainties around farm-scale implementation mean plans must be adaptable. Participatory approaches for AES design and implementation that support the delivery of spatially targeted management actions are required, most notably by facilitating collaboration or cooperation across farm holdings. 5. For AES to contribute effectively to nature recovery goals, aligning strategic and participatory approaches in its design and implementation is crucial. This requires uniting knowledge across disciplines and cultures and ensuring that information is shared to support progressive refinement of scheme design and guidance towards achieving overall nature recovery goals.
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Paws for Thought: Adopting a standardised, holistic approach towards managing the impacts of dog walking on the environment in the UK
(2025)
Bavin, David
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Crowley, Sarah L
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Beynon, Gary
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Bissell, Clare
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Twena, Michelle
Dogs are important to the lives of many people in the UK, and dog walking is a popular activity that encourages people to exercise, providing physical and psychological benefits to them and their animals. Ownership of a dog is positively associated with the amount of time people spend outdoors. However, the presence or behaviour of dogs can have adverse effects on wildlife and ecosystems. With an estimated 12.5 million dogs in the UK this impact could, in some places, be substantial. Managing interactions between dog walkers, wildlife, other domestic animals, and other people is a major priority for land managers. In this document, we highlight considerations and make recommendations intended to support a more consistent approach towards facilitating and managing sustainable and equitable coexistence. These were co-developed with experts, practitioners, policy makers and professional bodies and individuals.
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Paws for Thought: towards environmentally friendly dog walking in the UK
(2025-04)
Bavin, David
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Crowley, Sarah
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Bissell, Clare
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Twena, Michelle
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Heard, Matthew
Paws for Thought: An ExCASES mission Towards environmentally friendly dog walking in the UK ExCASES is part of the RENEW project – a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded partnership between the University of Exeter and the National Trust that takes a ‘people-in-nature’ approach towards the challenges of biodiversity renewal. The role of ExCASES is to undertake agile, focused work (which we term ‘missions’) on pressing biodiversity renewal issues. This report, with its supporting outputs, are outcomes of the ExCASES’s mission, ‘Paws for Thought’.
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Agroecological farming promotes yield and biodiversity but may require subsidy to be profitable
(2025-07-01)
Woodcock, B. A.
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Cook, S.
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Hulmes, L.
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Hulmes, S.
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Torrance, M.
1. Intensive arable agriculture uses agrochemicals to replace ecosystem services (e.g. pest control and soil health) while simultaneously degrading others (e.g. pollination). Agroecological farming aims to reduce this reliance on agrochemicals. Whether these practices maintain yields at a scale relevant to farm business viability is unclear. 2. In a 4-year replicated study across 17 English farms we assessed the ability of farmer co-designed agroecological systems to support regulating services, beneficial invertebrates, crop yield and profitability. We test three management systems: (1) ‘business-as-usual (BAU)’ control; (2) ‘enhancing-ES’ supporting beneficial invertebrates with wildflower field margins and protecting soils with cover crops; (3) ‘maximising ES’ with the further addition of soil organic matter and in-field strips to bring beneficial invertebrates into the crop. 3. Soil carbon stocks were highest in the maximising-ES system. Predation and pollination ecosystem services were higher in the enhancing-ES and maximising-ES systems, as were earthworms and other populations of beneficial predatory and pollinating invertebrates. Pest snail biomass was also lowest in the enhancing-ES and maximising-ES systems, although aphid numbers were higher. 4. The enhancing-ES and maximising-ES systems increase yields of cereals and oilseed rape. However, the loss of productive agricultural land and establishment costs exceeded the value of increased yields. Only enhancing-ES breaks even with agri-environmental subsidies. 5. Synthesis and applications. These results highlight that while evidence for the role of ecosystem services in supporting crop yield can be found, overcoming economic constraints within conventional farming systems is likely to be a key barrier to widespread uptake. Agri-environmental subsidy payments can offset these costs, but only for moderate interventions. Transition to more sustainable farming systems needs to overcome these economic constraints with new policy interventions.
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