New project: experimental drought on field plots





Knowledge of the effect of severe weather events is a major uncertainty in models that aim to predict the effect of climate change on agricultural systems. As part of the EU-funded AnimalChange experiment, we are testing the effects of severe weather events on grassland production, and the potential role of multi-species mixtures as a mitigation/adaptation measure.

Field margins for grassland biodiversity

Field margins and beetle banks have featured for quite some time as a conservation action for farmland wildlife in arable systems. They have well-documented benefits for plant diversity, invertebrate diversity and as habitat and feeding area for a variety of mammals and birds. Our research group is also interested in field margins - but in grazed grassland systems.

Publication on freshwater pearl mussel

How many people can spend a day in the sunshine, dipping in and out of streams and rivers in a beautiful landscape, and call it work? That's exactly what we did in a survey of freshwater pearl mussels in Co Cork. The results of the survey were published in the Royal Irish Academy's Biology and Environment.