Category: SciencePage 8 of 33

Latest science blog posts from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

After the flood; an update from the RBGE Archives one year on.

On the 4th of July 2021, water ingress from a burst drainpipe above the reception of our Science building on Inverleith Row made its way into the RBGE…

Professor Jaboury Ghazoul, University of Edinburgh and ETH Zürich

Understanding the interplay between landscapes and people. Professor Jaboury Ghazoul is plant ecologist studying the bidirectional impacts of land-use decisions and ecological processes. Previously focused on the tropics…

Dr Kerry Waylen, James Hutton Institute

Championing joined-up approaches to socio-ecological systems. “Broadly, what I want to do,” says Dr Kerry Waylen when asked to describe her research, “is save the world!” More specifically,…

From a single tree to a BioBlitz

On the 17 and 18 June 2022 naturalists and the public came together at Little Sparta, a garden in the Pentland Hills 25 miles southwest of Edinburgh, to…

Biodiversity at Little Sparta

The artist Ian Hamilton Finlay created a garden in the hills near Biggar that he called Little Sparta in response to the characterization of Edinburgh as the Athens…

Professor Kirsty Park, University of Stirling

Essential empirical data for effective ecological restoration. Human activity can have both positive and negative impacts on biodiversity, often playing out over long timescales. Professor Kirsty Park’s research…

Giants, genomes and true grit

We assign human qualities to animals without a second thought. The wise owl and the cunning fox will produce a smile, even though we know this is just…

Stories from the Biomes: Data Capture

In an age where 40% of the world’s plants are faced with extinction, the recording of data is more important now than ever. Documenting, describing, and researching the properties of plants enhances their chances of survival; how can we protect what we don’t know we have?

Dr Antje Ahrends, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

A radical approach to forest degradation and destruction. The role of plantation agriculture in deforestation – and hence biodiversity loss and climate catastrophe – has been widely publicised,…

Dr Caroline Lehmann, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and University of Edinburgh

Exploring open ecosystems through a lens of environmental and social justice. Dr Caroline Lehmann describes her research as a “bridge between evolutionary and ecological science to understand the…

Professor Mathew Williams, Chief Scientific Adviser

In the run-up to the global biodiversity conference, COP15, we present a series of posts in partnership with Scottish Government and NatureScot, showcasing Scotland’s innovative, high-impact research supporting…

Scotland’s Leaders in Biodiversity Conservation Science

In the run-up to the global biodiversity conference, COP15, we present a series of posts in partnership with Scottish Government and NatureScot, showcasing Scotland’s innovative, high-impact research supporting…

An Update on the Flora of Myanmar Project

A collaborative effort has seen the complete digitisation of herbarium specimens of vascular plants from Myanmar, complemented by data standardisation and georeferencing.

Harry’s Gates

Every day, hundreds of visitors pour into the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, many of them through our East Gate. To do this, one must pass through two sets…

The David Douglas Telescope – what can one object tell us?

The RBGE Archives do not just hold papers – correspondence, administration and photographs – we also have a number of objects; plant models, gardening tools and camera equipment…

Naming of Primula species from the 1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition to Mount Everest

In Wade Davis’ account of the ‘Mallory’ expeditions to Mount Everest1, there is a brief but intriguing reference to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. In a section describing…

Choose your transcription path through people and plants

The RBGE Herbarium and citizen research Since 2017 the RBGE Herbarium has enlisted the help of volunteers to undertake the transcription of collection label information from herbarium specimens….

Ross Eudall (1924-2021)

Ross Eudall was born in London on the 29th December 1924, an only child. Ross’s father was a butler, which led to Ross spending time in Kilmarnock, Inverness…

Apple Hunting in Scotland

Scotland’s native wild apple tree (Malus sylvestris) is an attractive, solitary and often unassuming tree with a big history. It is a key player in the domestication of the apple, with Malus domestica, and all its many cultivars, boasting M.sylvestris as one of its progenitors.

COP26 – What Now?

It was a heady fortnight of frantic networking and tough negotiating in the Glasgow rain. But did the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations…