The purpose of this project is to develop a user-friendly model that can be used to predict how environmental change (for example, caused by climate change, habitat loss, land use change, harvesting by humans or habitat management) influences animal populations. The model will be developed by adding a user-friendly interface to a novel, specialist model that has to date only been used within the scientific modelling community. This existing model has been successfully applied by the research team to a wide range of European intertidal and coastal sites, and used to predict how environmental change influences the wading bird and wildfowl populations that feed in these areas, and hence advise coastal policy and management for these species. The model has been used to advise management of coastal shellfisheries to maximise profit to the shellfish industry, while ensuring that bird populations that also consume shellfish are not adversely affected. It has been used to predict the effect of habitat loss through port development, and the most effective way of mitigating the negative effects of this habitat loss through habitat creation schemes. The model has been used in the marine environment to predict the relative impact of offshore windfarms on populations of diving ducks, and identify the developments that have the minimum effect on wildlife. Although the existing model has successfully advised coastal policy and management, it has had the major drawback that due to the technical difficulties of running the model and understanding its output, it has only been used by specialist modellers within the scientific community. This is unsatisfactory, as this tool should really be accessible to those who have a direct interest in coastal management and policy. For example, shellfishery regulators collect data on the abundance of shellfish from which they need to set quotas for the amount of shellfish that can be removed, whilst leaving enough to ensure the survival of co-dependent bird populations, and could do this in-house with a suitable model. Likewise, the model could be used by developers to compare the ecological impacts of alternative port construction sites, or by conservation agencies to assess the relative impact of development schemes to prioritise which, if any, schemes to object to. This project will provide such a user-friendly and accessible software tool. The new model will reduce the complexities of running the current model to a sequence of simple steps to develop a model for a system and define the required outputs. The new user-friendly model will be developed and tested for coastal birds, collaboratively between the research team and project partners from a range of conservation, government and industrial organisations, with an interest in predicting the effect of environmental change on coastal birds, and with whom the research team have worked successfully in the past. The new software, and associated user guide, will be developed, by an iterative processes of development, followed by testing by the project partners, a strategy designed to ensure that the partners have a full involvement in the project, and ultimately obtain the tool they require. Although, during the project, the user-friendly model will be applied to coastal birds, it will be constructed in a general way, such that it is not restricted to these systems, and can be applied to a wider range of systems in the future. These priority systems will be identified during the project. A workshop and scientific paper will be used as a platform to advertise the existence of the new model as a tool for addressing environmental conflicts both within the coast and the additional priority systems. Additionally, to allow the model to be distributed as widely as possible, and to ensure that updates can be made available after the end of the project, a website will be constructed, from which the model and updates can be freely downloaded.

Access to digital services is unevenly distributed across the UK and the urban-rural divide is particularly pronounced. A great deal of effort is being invested in providing universal access, but the development of services that meet rural demand is also needed to engage rural communities in Digital Britain and enhance their stake in the Digital Economy. This project seeks to bridge the rural divide through the development of novel mapping services that augment a broad range of activities underpinning the rural economy; activities such as walking, cycling, canoeing, bird-watching, and other everyday activities that sustain the rural economy. Specifically, the project seeks to develop community-based maps that enhance our engagement with the countryside and novel data services that enable individuals to input and/or access digital content in the field. By developing these services in the wild through direct user participation, the research will provide a blueprint for broader roll-out and provision of services that meet rural need.Current digital mapping services largely focus on urban environments. Google Maps, for example, offers rich street views of urban settings but such views of rural space are largely absent. Google My Maps offers users tools to map out their own routes and add content, such as photographs, video, and textual descriptions, but these are laborious and lack a great deal of contextual relevance. New developments in mobile, location and sensor-based or 'ubiquitous' computing now make it possible for users to move beyond the urban fringe and herald the spatial expansion of computing out from the city and into rural locations that have long been marginalised due to technological limitations, and the development of new online 'Web 2.0' services open up new possibilities for augmenting and sharing field-generated content. This project seeks to leverage new developments in ubiquitous computing and Web 2.0 to enhance our engagement with the rural environment and augment the activities that drive the rural economy.The project seeks to meet its aims through the interdisciplinary and user-led development of a 'rural ubicomp toolkit' that will enable people to create and share community-based maps that represent their distinctive interests and concerns. Thus, and for example, the toolkit will enable users to sketch routes out to indicate interesting pathways through rural space. Sketches will be augmented by GPS data generated in the field. When in the field, users will be able to access community content based on their location, in order to have contextually relevant information fed to them at appropriate points in their journey. Users will also be able to add to the evolving corpus of community knowledge by uploading geo-tagged content via mobile devices. The toolkit will also support more immediate social aspects of our engagement with the rural landscape by enabling content to be accessed, added to, and viewed via situated displays and mini-projectors in visitor centres.The results of the project will be an Open Source toolkit that provides a blueprint for the broader deployment of DIY sensor hardware, software APIs for mobile experience capture, representation and sharing, and tools for ordinary users to create engaging public events. The project is supported by the RCUK Horizon Digital Economy Hub, Ordinance Survey, the Countryside Council of Wales, Mark Williams MP, and the Minister for Rural Affairs in Wales.

By 2020, 15% of the UK's energy is to be generated from renewable sources, according to the government's Energy Strategy. This is necessary to reduce the UK's reliance on fossil fuels, and to meet international targets for CO2 emissions. This application investigates conflicts between green energy production and wildlife conservation, and will develop guidance and mitigation strategies. It falls within NERC studentship priority areas 2 and 6 (but has public sector partners). Wind energy is the major contributor to renewable electricity production in the UK (one of the most suitable locations in the EU for wind turbines). A massive expansion has occurred over the past decade: there are now 268 operational 'wind farms', and a similar number have planning consent. Yet it is recognised in Continental Europe and N. America that turbines can cause ecological damage to bats and birds by both direct mortality and behavioural disruption. The PI is already funded to conduct the first major study of the effects of British wind farms on bats. The present application widens this work by investigating another type of unstudied wind-energy system, mid-sized, single-turbine installations (50-300kW; 25-50m high). There is virtually no evidence available about the potential effects of these installations on wildlife. Yet construction has increased dramatically over the last two years, reflecting technological advances and alterations to subsidy schemes. Later this year they are will become 'Permitted Developments' which will require less planning scrutiny. However, particularly in rural areas, they may adversely affect local bat populations because: i. While formal surveys are only just beginning, there are anecdotal reports by qualified ecologists of noctule and soprano pipistrelle deaths at 3 large 'wind farms' in suboptimal bat habitat in the UK; and mortality in other countries is established. ii. Mid-sized turbines have lower heights and could therefore present a greater risk, since most species fly below 50m. iii. Single mid-sized turbines are commonly sited on agricultural land, often close to features of high value for bat commuting or foraging. Pilot data collected by the PI in South West England has already recorded protected Annexe II species at target sites for turbines. iv. Mid-sized turbines are designed to work efficiently even at low wind-speeds, when bats are likely to be flying. Impact Through national and EU law, all bats are protected from actions leading to mortality and from disturbance likely to affect local populations. Several species with strongholds in South-West England and Wales are also protected under Annexe II of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010. Uncertainty about the mortality and disturbance caused by wind turbines compromises the ability of Statutory Nature Conservation Organisations (SNCOs), local planners and professional ecologists to discharge their responsibilities and this study will address that deficiency. Effective guidance on mitigation and siting of turbines, and on pre-and post-construction monitoring protocols will be produced. This may allow continued construction of turbines which could otherwise be prevented. Methods This project will use methods developed in the DEFRA/CCW/SNH/Renewable UK-funded project on commercial wind farms and bats to evaluate mortality rates and bat activity levels. In addition, we will investigate whether there are behavioural differences in bats at wind turbine and control sites using acoustic monitoring. Deliverables Determination of whether mid-sized wind turbines cause bat mortality Estimation of effect size, with confidence intervals indicating level of uncertainty Estimation of effect of wind turbines on bat foraging and commuting Contributions to clarify legal position regarding wind turbines and bats Guidance on mitigation and and protocols for pre-/post-construction monitoring

Access to digital services is unevenly distributed across the UK and the urban-rural divide is particularly pronounced. A great deal of effort is being invested in providing universal access, but the development of services that meet rural demand is also needed to engage rural communities in Digital Britain and enhance their stake in the Digital Economy. This project seeks to bridge the rural divide through the development of novel mapping services that augment a broad range of activities underpinning the rural economy; activities such as walking, cycling, canoeing, bird-watching, and other everyday activities that sustain the rural economy. Specifically, the project seeks to develop community-based maps that enhance our engagement with the countryside and novel data services that enable individuals to input and/or access digital content in the field. By developing these services in the wild through direct user participation, the research will provide a blueprint for broader roll-out and provision of services that meet rural need.Current digital mapping services largely focus on urban environments. Google Maps, for example, offers rich street views of urban settings but such views of rural space are largely absent. Google My Maps offers users tools to map out their own routes and add content, such as photographs, video, and textual descriptions, but these are laborious and lack a great deal of contextual relevance. New developments in mobile, location and sensor-based or 'ubiquitous' computing now make it possible for users to move beyond the urban fringe and herald the spatial expansion of computing out from the city and into rural locations that have long been marginalised due to technological limitations, and the development of new online 'Web 2.0' services open up new possibilities for augmenting and sharing field-generated content. This project seeks to leverage new developments in ubiquitous computing and Web 2.0 to enhance our engagement with the rural environment and augment the activities that drive the rural economy.The project seeks to meet its aims through the interdisciplinary and user-led development of a 'rural ubicomp toolkit' that will enable people to create and share community-based maps that represent their distinctive interests and concerns. Thus, and for example, the toolkit will enable users to sketch routes out to indicate interesting pathways through rural space. Sketches will be augmented by GPS data generated in the field. When in the field, users will be able to access community content based on their location, in order to have contextually relevant information fed to them at appropriate points in their journey. Users will also be able to add to the evolving corpus of community knowledge by uploading geo-tagged content via mobile devices. The toolkit will also support more immediate social aspects of our engagement with the rural landscape by enabling content to be accessed, added to, and viewed via situated displays and mini-projectors in visitor centres.The results of the project will be an Open Source toolkit that provides a blueprint for the broader deployment of DIY sensor hardware, software APIs for mobile experience capture, representation and sharing, and tools for ordinary users to create engaging public events. The project is supported by the RCUK Horizon Digital Economy Hub, Ordinance Survey, the Countryside Council of Wales, Mark Williams MP, and the Minister for Rural Affairs in Wales.

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will provide for the first time from space two-dimensional high-resolution maps of surface water levels globally over ocean and inland waters. If SWOT meets its performance targets, it will represent a major milestone in our ability to observe, study and understand the nature and evolution of the Earth's marine and land surface water systems, globally. The UK Space Agency invested in SWOT jointly with the US NASA, French CNES and Canadian Space Agency to enable the implementation and launch of this mission. The SWOT-UK project proposes a comprehensive programme of campaigns and multidisciplinary research centred on the Bristol Channel and River Severn region as the UK contribution to the international SWOT Science Team validation efforts. In accordance with the requirements of the NERC/UKSA SWOT CalVal call, SWOT-UK takes an open and inclusive approach, putting special emphasis on disseminating value-added SWOT validation datasets and engaging with the wider UK science and stakeholder communities to raise awareness of the SWOT capabilities.