Author: Ambroise

Climate Change and Maize Farming in Belize – Reflections on my PhD field work

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PhD Raquel Chun shares reflection from her field work:

“Now in 2021, data collection is starting up again but with extra careful planning and adhering to strict protocols to ensure both myself and my farmers are safe. I have been out in 5 farms already doing soil collecting and conducting 4 interviews. My farmers are happy to see me again but they are also very concerned about Covid-19. All of our lives are different from the last time we spoke in 2019.

Reminiscence

As I progress- albeit a bit slowly – on data analysis, the memories of my adventures during fieldwork come back with surprising clarity. In 2019, I trudged barefoot across a river, tripped over farm debri, drove – slipping and sliding in my 2-wheel drive, sturdy little SUV- over muddy roads and partook in simple, local meals over a period of 6 months in southern Belize.

First of all, my project under the Global Challenges Research Fund Centre for Doctoral Training at Durham University and co-supervised by Dr Lisa Baldini at Teesside University is to research the impact of climate change in the decision making of indigenous Maya farmers in three villages in southern Belize. This involves monitoring changes in weather and climate utilizing weather station and historical data, conducting ethnographic interviews with Maya farmers as well as soil monitoring and crop yield measurements. My research seeks to offset the lack of information on the impact of climate change on smallholder farmers by studying the impact of changing weather patterns on the decision making of Belizean Maya farmers in the Toledo District over the long and short term.

My first year of data collection in 2019 started with a metaphorical bang. Initially, I was arranging meetings with the local leaders of three Maya communities as per cultural protocol in order to introduce the project and find farmers who were willing to participate. The community leaders of the first community I approached were very eager for their farmers to participate in my study so I was off like a shot, arranging meetings with interested farmers and planning farm visits to start soil sampling with the knowledge I had gathered since I had begun my studies in February 2019.  The data collection was a challenging yet fulfilling journey that yielded new friendships and knowledge.  

As I started this journey, I was unaware of how much it would truly impact my life and help me learn more about the lives of smallholder Maya farmers. Although I am an indigenous Maya woman, I grew up in a more urban setting, 3 miles from the capital city of Belmopan. Therefore, as I went along my fieldwork visits, I learnt about local beliefs surrounding farming as well as the struggles these families go through as they make their living. It made me gain more perspective on the issue of climate change and how it affects the livelihoods of the most vulnerable people. I have been welcomed with open arms and a lot of curiosity due to the fact that I am a Mopan Maya female studying for a PhD in the field of agriculture and climate change which is mostly foreign to them as well. This dynamic has made for some interesting conversations with farmers’ and their families.

At the end of 2019, I had two data collection rounds doing soil sampling of farms, conducting interviews with farmers and taking crop yield measurements after harvest.

COVID19 Pandemic – impact on my work

Well we all know what happened in 2020 with a global pandemic almost bringing the world to a standstill. This, of course, included my fieldwork which was both a blessing and a curse. In April of 2020, I became the mom of a bright-eyed, curious baby boy. Motherhood itself has been a whole other journey. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, there was no soil sampling. There was no conversations with farmers especially with Covid19 cases rising steadily in the country. The entire world had changed and we needed to figure out how to live in it. Luckily, I was able to return to my country before the pandemic caused lockdowns and before my baby was born.   ” 

New Output: Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation

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Orr, C.H., Williams, R., Halldórsdóttir, H.H. et al. Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK. Sci Rep 11, 15837 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94853-7

Published: 04 August 2021

Abstract: Waterlogged burial conditions impact upon artefact preservation. One major determinant of preservation is presence and behaviour of microorganisms, however, unravelling the mechanisms, especially in waterlogged conditions is challenging. In this study, we analysed elemental composition, bacterial diversity and community structure from excavation trenches at the Roman Site of Vindolanda, Northumberland, UK, using pXRF and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Excavation trenches provide information of different occupation periods. The results indicated that microbial communities were dominated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria at a phylum level. Samples which also had visible vivianite presence showed that there were marked increases in Methylophilus. Methylophilus might be associated with favourable preservation in these anaerobic conditions. More research is needed to clearly link the presence of Methylophilus with vivianite production. The study emphasises the need for further integration of chemical and microbiome approaches, especially in good preservation areas, to explore microbial and chemical degradation mechanisms.

New paper: Heterogeneity enables coexistence of native and invasive aquatic plants

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Salgado, J., Sayer, C. D., Willby, N., Baker, A. G., Goldsmith, B., McGowan, S., Davidson, T. A., Bexell, P., Patmore, I. R. & Okamura, B. (2021) Habitat heterogeneity enables spatial and temporal coexistence of native and invasive macrophytes in shallow lake landscapes. River Research and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3839

First published: 15 July 2021
Abstract:
Macrophyte invasive alien species (IAS) fitness is often hypothesised to be associated with beneficial environmental conditions (environmental matching) or species-poor communities. However, positive correlations between macrophyte IAS abundance and native plant richness can also arise, due to habitat heterogeneity (defined here as variation in abiotic and native biotic conditions over space and time). We analysed survey and palaeoecological data for macrophytes in satellite lakes along the Upper Lough Erne (ULE) system (Northern Ireland, UK), covering a gradient of eutrophication and connectivity to partition how environmental conditions, macrophyte diversity and habitat heterogeneity explained the abundance of Elodea canadensis, a widely distributed non-native macrophyte in Europe. E. canadensis abundance positively correlated with macrophyte richness at both the within- and between-lake scales indicating coexistence of native and invasive species over time. E. canadensis was also more prolific in highly connected and macrophyte-rich lakes, but sparser in the more eutrophic-isolated ones. Partial boosted regression trees revealed that in eutrophic-isolated lakes, E. canadensis abundances correlated with water clarity (negatively), plant diversity (positively), and plant cover (negatively) whereas in diverse-connected lakes, beta diversity (both positively and negatively) related to most greatly E. canadensis abundance. Dense macrophyte cover and unfavourable environmental conditions thus appear to confer invasibility resistance and sufficient habitat heterogeneity to mask any single effect of native biodiversity or environmental matching in controlling E. canadensis abundance. Therefore, in shallow lake landscapes, habitat heterogeneity variously enables the coexistence of native macrophytes and E. canadensis, reducing the often-described homogenisation effects of invasive macrophytes.

Lecturer in Environmental Science (2 Posts)

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Our Department is advertising for two permanent positions of lecturer in environmental science. The newly appointed lecturers have an opportunity to take a leading role in our Earth, Ecology and Environment research collective and bring their own research and/or consultancy expertise.

The job ad can be found following the two links below:

Job.ac.uk

Teesside HR

If you would like to discuss how your research could fit within the Earth, Ecology and Environment research collective – please get in touch with Ambroise a.baker@tees.ac.uk.

Research grant to study geochemical and microbial conditions underpinning turf preservation at the Roman site of Vindolanda, UK

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Drs G Taylor and C Orr won a new grant to carry out the work as follows.

The Roman Fort site at Vindolanda is known for the exceptional preservation of its finds, among them wooden writing tablets and leather shoes. A recent study into Roman construction practices at the site demonstrated that this preservation extends to the turf ramparts, with plant fibres and seed heads still visible and microbes seemingly surviving within the soils. While that earlier project focused on turf in building, this new one will evaluate what this same material can reveal about the ancient environment. As a pilot study, it will assess the geochemical and microbial conditions, which underpin this preservation, and evaluate the turf blocks’ potential as environmental archives to reconstruct the landscape around the fort through time. Results will inform four smaller-scale follow-on analytical packages and three large-scale interdisciplinary funding applications to investigate the economic and ecological impacts of turf sourcing and turf’s potential as a zero-carbon building material for the future

Geographies of Comfort

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A volume edited by McNally, Price and Crang.

Bringing together conceptual and empirical research from leading thinkers, this book critically examines ‘comfort’ in everyday life in an era of continually occurring social, political and environmental changes.

Comfort and discomfort have assumed a central position in a range of works examining the relations between place and emotion, the senses, affect and materiality. This book argues that the emergence of this theme reflects how questions of comfort intersect humanistic, cultural-political and materialist registers of understanding the world. It highlights how geographies of comfort becomes a timely concern for Human Geography after its cultural, emotional and affective aspects. More specifically, comfort has become a vital theme for work on mobilities, home, environment and environmentalism, sociability in public space and the body. ‘Comfort’ is recognized as more than just a sensory experience through which we understand the world; its presence, absence and pursuit actively make and un-make the world. In light of this recognition, this book engages deeply with ‘comfort’ as both an analytic approach and an object of analysis.

This book offers international and interdisciplinary perspectives that deploys the lens of comfort to make sense of the textures of everyday life in a variety of geographical contexts. It will appeal to those working in human geography, anthropology, feminist theory, cultural studies and sociology.

New Paper: Dung fungal spores for the study of past megaherbivores

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Van Asperen, E.N., Perrotti, A., Baker, A. (2020) Coprophilous fungal spores: NPPs for the study of past megaherbivores. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 511, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP511-2020-41

Published online on Dec. 2020 /Jan. 2021

This publication, lead by my colleague Eline van Asperen, will be an invaluable resources to scholars researching past populations of megharbivores or other aspects of palaeoeology using non-pollen palynomorphs, whether be it for the MSc dissertation, PhD, postdoc or at any point of their career. It is supplemented by an open-access key to the identification of dung fungal spores, which supersedes that previously provided on this blog (but some may find useful to still have access to both!):

https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5240664

Abstract:

Spores from coprophilous fungi are some of the most widely used non-pollen palynomorphs. Over the last decades, these spores have become increasingly important as a proxy to study the Pleistocene and Holocene megafauna. Although the number of types used in palaeoecology is relatively small, there is a wide range of coprophilous fungal taxa whose utility in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction remains under-researched. However, environmental and taphonomic factors influencing preservation and recovery of these spores are still poorly understood. Furthermore, our understanding of whether and how spores are transported across the landscape is limited.

Dung fungal spore presence appears to correlate well with megaherbivore presence. However, depending on the site, some limitations can remain to quantitative reconstructions of megaherbivore abundance from dung fungal spore records. The presence of dung fungal spores is often more significant than their absence and variation in in abundance with time should be interpreted with caution. Correlation with other proxies may provide a promising way forward.

The majority of studies using dung fungal spores as an indicator for large herbivore abundance are of records of Late Pleistocene and Holocene age, with a focus on Late Quaternary megafaunal extinction. However, more research could potentially extend records further back in time.

Next fortnightly meetings

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The dates for our next Earth, Ecology and Environment Research Collective fortnightly meeting can be found below.

Agendas/program to follow. let us know if you would like to come and speak to us or if you would like to join!

Scheduled Earth, Ecology and Environment fortnightly meetings: Wednesdays 1-2pm

  • Jan 6th
  • Jan 20th
  • Feb 3rd
  • Feb 17th
  • March 3rd
  • March 17th
  • March 31st
  • April 14th
  • April 28th
  • May 12th
  • May 26th
  • June 9th
  • June 23rd

Lisa Baldini providing expert climate opinion

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Teesside Lecturer in Environmental Science, Dr Lisa Baldini was recently asked to comment on a new study in Nature highlighting the increased risk of landfalling North Atlantic hurricanes tracking further inland under climate change. Here is the article for more details:  https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13112020/hurricanes-climate-change-extreme-weather-climate-science.