SAGES
  • About
    • SAGES in a nutshell
    • Find an expert
      • Join SAGES ‘Find an Expert’ service
    • People
      • Directorate
      • Executive Committee
      • Research & Innovation Committee
      • Advisory Board
      • Members
    • Facilities
    • International Partnership: Geoverbund ABC-J
    • SAGES Funding Awards & Reports
    • Photo Gallery
  • Impact & innovation
    • Internships
    • Impact & Innovation Training
    • Impact & innovation case study
    • Case Study / Scottish Energy Strategy
    • Case Study / SUCCESS
    • Case Study / WEFWEBS
    • Case Study / Windfarm-CAT 
  • Themes
    • Landscape Form, Use and Change: a dynamic Earth
    • Carbon and Biogeochemical Cycles: Sustaining Life
    • Atmosphere, Oceans and Climate: the fluid Earth
    • Transformations in Society and Environmental Policy
    • Centre for Earth System Dynamics
  • Fora
    • FIORD – Forum for Ice-Ocean Research Development
    • Integrated Water Cycle Management
    • Pollinating wellbeing
    • Source to Sea
    • Volcanoes: VAlIDATE
  • Funding
    • COVID 19 Post Graduate Support Scheme (PoGSS)
    • International Conference Support Scheme (ICSS)
    • International Collaboration Scheme (SICS)
    • Large Proposal Preparation Scheme (LPPS)
    • PEER & PECRE
    • Small Grants Scheme (SSGS)
    • Training Support Scheme (STSS)
  • Graduate School
  • Latest News
    • Calendar
    • Events
      • Meetings
    • Newsletter archive
  • Join SAGES
  • SAGES ASM 2020 OnLine
    • 2020 OnLine ASM – Photo competition
Select Page

Dr Lydia Cole

Institution: University of St Andrews
Theme: Carbon and Biogeochemical Cycles: Sustaining Life
Theme: Landscape Form, Use and Change: a dynamic Earth
Theme: Transformations in Society and Environmental Policy
Department / group: School of Geography & Sustainable Development
Email: [email protected]
Institution URL: https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/lydia-cole388c145e-fee4-4346-a6d2-231f8b04438b.html
Personal URL: https://lydiaescole.com/
Google Scholar URL: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&view_op=list_works&gmla=AJsN-F6_upbCWu6Wp-NGtmj8J3BQfwcLjrkodcrVVCZhd0R9RX9LXivqn2MnWDktgJwWna7-IKt5in8JmvnA0RWlASso_bp5quJ4FpHA6kyNLNFjV6y-IEQ&user=Dul3tKUAAAAJ

Research interests:

Valuing Intact Tropical Peatlands

Career history:

2012-2013: Stipendiary Lectureship at St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford
2012-2013: Postdoctoral Research Assistant in the Department of Zoology and Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
2013-2018: Ecologist for Rezatec Ltd.
2018: Knowledge Exchange Assistant and Landscape Analyst at the University of Liverpool
2019 on: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ecology at the School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews

Active research projects:

I am a Conservation Ecologist with a keen interest in how tropical ecosystems can be managed sustainably in the face of agriculture expansion and the other pervasive impacts of population growth and globalisation. I am particularly interested in peat-scapes, and how they can be responsibly managed through an understanding of their unique hydrological requirements. Past projects of mine, involving time in both academia and industry, have included: creating a mapping and monitoring system for peatlands in the UK, Malaysia and Indonesia; reconstructing past vegetation change and assessing future prospects for the coastal peatlands of Malaysian Borneo; exploring the dynamics of human-wildlife interaction in northeast India; and training Government, research and NGO partners in Ghana, Indonesia and Malaysia on the use of a decision support tool for restoring connectivity in landscapes for biodiversity under climate change.

I am currently working as the Ecologist on a two year Leverhulme Trust-funded project entitled: Valuing intact tropical peatlands – an interdisciplinary challenge. With the expertise of an interdisciplinary team of physical and human geographers, we are exploring the range of values associated with some hydrologically intact peatlands within the Peruvian Amazon. One of the major goals of the project is to assess which and where values assigned through a western scientific perspective align or differ from those perceived by people living in the locale of these peatland environments. This knowledge can then be used to help inform how these unique ecosystems might be effectively protected from ongoing development in the Amazon basin.

In order to engage with the next, and multiple generation(s), with industry and with the wider scientific community, I am engaged in the following roles:
– Chair of the Conservation Ecology Special Interest Group of the British Ecological Society
– Coordinator of the Expert Group: Peatlands and Biodiversity, within the Peatlands and Environment Commission of the International Peatland Society’s Scientific Advisory Board
– Volunteer for Action for Conservation (https://www.actionforconservation.org/)

Recent publications:

Cole, L.E.S., Bhagwat, S.A. & Willis, K.J. (2019) Fire in the swamp forest: palaeoecological insights into natural and human-induced burning in intact tropical peatlands. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 2(15): 48.
Thornton, S., Cook, S., Astiani, D., Hapsari, K., Varkkey, H., Cole, L., Dargie, G., Sjogersten, S., Zawawi, N. & Page, S. (2019) “Pushing the Limits”: Experiences of Women in Tropical Peatland Research. Marine and Freshwater Research.
Wijedasa, L., Jauhiainen, J., …. Cole, L.E.S., et al. (2016) Denial of long-term issues with agriculture on tropical peatlands will have devastating consequences. Global Change Biology, 23: 977-982.
Cole, L.E.S., Bhagwat, S.A. & Willis, K.J. (2015) Long-term disturbance dynamics and resilience of tropical peat swamp forests. Journal of Ecology – Special Issue on Forest Resilience.
Cole, L.E.S., Bhagwat, S.A. & Willis, K.J. (2014) Recovery and resilience of tropical forests after disturbance. Nature Communications, 5: 3906.

Related

Latest posts

  • SAGES New members – January 2021
  • COP26 – Face the Facts
  • SAGES New members – December 2020
  • SAGES 2020 Online – Photo competition
  • SAGES 2020 Online

Categories

  • Conference funding
  • Events
  • Funding
  • Graduate School
  • Latest News
  • Meetings
  • Opportunities
  • PEER & PECRE funding
  • Small Grants Support Scheme

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • View ScotSAGES’s profile on Twitter
SAGES logo
  • Landscape Form, Use and Change: a dynamic Earth
  • Carbon and Biogeochemical Cycles: Sustaining Life
  • Atmosphere, Oceans and Climate: the fluid Earth
  • Centre for Earth System Dynamics
  • Transformations in Society and Environmental Policy

Contact

SAGES Administrative Secretary
  • Twitter

© 2021 | Proudly crafted by Academic Digital | Privacy Policy | Equality & Diversity