Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society

Landscape Form, Use and Change: a dynamic Earth

The theme is led by Dr Rebecca Wade, Abertay University, and Dr Jamie Stevenson, University of Aberdeen.

SAGES Theme 1 explores three overarching questions:

  • 1. How did our physical landscape form?
  • 2. How do our physical landscapes and ecosystems respond to changes in land-use and climate?
  • 3. How do humans and societies shape, adapt and respond to landscape, land-use and climate change?
  • Our aim in this Theme is to understand how our current landscape came to be, how it is changing and how past, current and future land use and climate changes will impact ecosystems and societies. Consequently, our research spans from millions of years before present to decades in the future, on timescales ranging from hundreds of years to a matter of hours; utilising analytical facilities built up over 30 years. By leveraging inter-disciplinary methods we look to more fully understand Earths previous and current evolution and how best to protect the ecosystem services we all rely upon.

    Specifically, we focus on aspects such as tectonics, geomorphology, rivers, water, soil, glaciers, coasts, landslides and societies. Actively researching these areas allows us to answer questions around, for example, the behaviour of ice sheets, the effects of land use on hydrological dynamics, and the utilisation of nature-based solutions. Our researchers work across spatial scales ranging from global to local, in urban, rural, coastal and upland settings and across timescales ranging from millennia to milliseconds.

    Out now! Listen to the SAGES Climate Science Podcast on every major platform!

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