Collaborators
To carry out our research strategies, we have partnered up with a group of both local and UK-wide conservation organisations, ecologists and scientific specialists to develop our surveying methods, that will ultimately inform our intervention plans and recommendations for rewilding.
Collaborators include:
Prof Yadvinder Mahli, Professor of Ecosystem Science, Prof Nathalie Seddon, Professor of Biodiversity, and others across the university, are leading a team at the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery in a broad and deep 10-year collaboration with Highlands Rewilding. Our estates are one of three sites globally where the Oxford Team are focusing their in-depth nature-recovery research.
https://www.naturerecovery.ox.ac.uk/
Research is underway or planned by several departments. Dr Steven Hancock, lecturer in 3D data capture in the Department of Earth Sciences, is co-ordinating projects on Bunloit and Beldorney by students on his MSc remote sensing course.
https://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences
Jeremy is Entrepreneur in Residence at SRUC. Highlands Rewilding has close relationships with academics at SRUC, on research spanning natural capital, regenerative agriculture, forestry and community benefits.
https://www.sruc.ac.uk/
Prof Roxane Anderson, professor of Peatland science, has incorporated the Bunloit bogs into her team’s world-leading research on peat, carbon and climate.
https://www.uhi.ac.uk
Prof Pete Smith, Professor of Soil Science, has toured Beldorney and will be lead contact at the university in our ongoing research.
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/
Agricarbon specialise in measuring soil organic carbon in large areas of farmed land or other soils. They follow a globally respected scientific protocol for sampling and analysis, but use mechanisation, automation and economies of scale to reduce costs.
https://agricarbon.co.uk/
NatureMetrics collaborated with Highlands Rewilding to capture the diversity of life in soils collected from different habitats around the Bunloit Estate. By using environmental DNA technology, they uncovered the hidden biodiversity in the estate, including an impressive 1,168 fungi species and 352 soil fauna species from only 42 soil samples. They were also able to confirm that soil fauna was most diverse in the peat bog habitats that are usually considered to be of low biodiversity value. Highlighting these biodiversity patterns will give us the data needed to assess the impact of our restoration efforts, including species that would otherwise be difficult to survey.
https://www.naturemetrics.co.uk/
Peatlands are one of Scotland’s largest degraded ecosystems. When peatlands are degraded the benefits they bring are lost, in fact they become sources of carbon instead of sinks – contributing to climate change rather than mitigating it. In late 2012, the Scottish Government allocated funds to an NatureScot-led peatland restoration project ‘Peatland ACTION’ to kick-start the restoration challenge.
Plantlife coordinate the plant surveys at Bunloit, working with expert botanists and lichenologists to understand the plant diversity on the site. We use this information to develop recommendations to help maximise the plant diversity as part of the restoration process.
https://www.plantlife.org.uk
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We are aiming to demonstrate that natural capital can be grown verifiably for planet, people and profit both in wildland and actively managed land.
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Nature-based solutions are at the natural forefront of climate mitigation and recovery. Learn more about our research aims and methodologies.
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Interested in rewilding? See how you can get involved by contributing to our research through volunteering and citizen science.