High, often nutrient-enriched, sediment loads in highly modified agricultural landscapes cause great ecological damage to receiving surface waters and expense in water resource management. With their unique dam-building behaviour, the return of beavers (Castoridae) to their former ranges provides channel restoration and eroded sediment trapping potential. However, rates of sedimentation in beaver wetlands vary widely between studies. Further, as rates have generally been determined by averaging multi-year deposit thickness, finer temporal scale sedimentation dynamics and causal relationships are poorly understood. We build upon a previous proof-of-concept study using sonar to monitor changes in the thickness of sediment and organic matter deposits in beaver ponds, over distances of metres and timescales of months. These spatial and temporal resolutions are finer than those previously published for active beaver ponds.Of the five study ponds in three separate enclosed beaver cascades in south-west England, three showed net sediment accretion and two ponds showed net erosion during the study. Total Carbon and Total Nitrogen content were higher than similar non-beaver ponds. All ponds showed spatial (<= 5 m) and temporal (within 2-4 months) variation in accretion and erosion rates. The position of ponds in the beaver dam cascades, and the maximum antecedent rainfall accounted for 76% of the variation in average daily elevation change. All ponds showed net accretion between surveys with rainfall intensity <12 mm hr-1. Above this intensity, first ponds in the cascades increasingly showed net erosion, whereas second ponds showed negligible change, and the third pond in a sequence showed increasing accretion. The results help explain the impacts and dynamics of sediment and associated carbon and nutrient storage in beaver wetlands. Future research can build on these findings over a wider range of non-enclosed, wild beaver cascades to test hypotheses around beaver wetlands' potential to mitigate sediment and nutrient transport, particularly in intensively managed catchments.
Global biodiversity loss is accelerating, threatening ecosystems and our society. Because biodiversity underpins all economic activities, organisations need robust methods to understand both their impacts and dependencies on nature. We applied a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework to conduct a screening-level analysis of biodiversity impacts associated with the operations of the National Trust, the largest conservation charity in Europe. The organisation's carbon account data were integrated into the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), distinguishing between economic and non-economic components. Biodiversity impacts were quantified using ReCiPe2016 endpoint indicators, expressed as the 'potentially disappeared fraction of species'. Land use dominates the Trust's biodiversity footprint, accounting for 68-69% of total impacts across the 2020-2022. This was followed by global warming impacts on terrestrial ecosystems (15-16%) and terrestrial acidification (8-9%). Tenant agricultural activities were the principal driver, contributing approximately 84% of total biodiversity impacts in the reference year (2022), largely associated with livestock grazing and feed production. Construction-related activities within purchased goods and services also represent a substantial upstream contribution. Our findings demonstrate the value of applying LCA at organisation scale to identifying biodiversity hotspots and inform targeted mitigation strategies. We discuss methodological constrains, including data availability, spatial resolution, and the treatment of positive biodiversity outcomes. Despite these limitations, organisational LCA provides a transparent and practical starting point for organisations seeking to assess and reduce their nature-related impacts on their journey to becoming nature positive.
Centuries of river modification, particularly straightening and incision, have severely reduced lateral connectivity between rivers and their floodplains. As a result, Stage 0 riverscapes, characterised by high lateral connectivity (e.g., anastomosing or wetland riverscapes), are now rare in anthropogenic landscapes. Restoration to a Stage 0 condition is gaining international momentum but remains relatively untested, particularly in human-modified landscapes with novel constraints and challenges. Here, we provide a perspective on lessons learnt from restoration to Stage 0 in anthropogenically constrained settings. We draw on experience from the design, construction, and monitoring of two UK restoration projects, among the first valley-floor reset rivers in Europe: the River Aller and the River Witham. Through infilling incised channels and regrading the floodplain, valley-floor reset transformed the single-thread, incised channels into multi-thread, river- wetlandscapes and substantially increased river-floodplain connectivity. In response, the water table elevation rose by about 1 m and baseflow wetted width increased by 9- to 20-fold; for example, average baseflow wetted width at the Aller increased from 4 to 81 m (maximum baseflow width increased from 7 to 147 m). We summarise six lessons learnt: (1) Restoring dynamic riverscapes means embracing uncertainty and navigating societal expectations, (2) Stage 0 and valley-floor reset are not appropriate everywhere: informed restoration is required, (3) Space exists for restoring river lateral connectivity, even in anthropogenically-constrained catchments, (4) Interrupting long-profile connectivity with grade-control structures needs careful design, (5) Restoring lateral connectivity creates multi-functional landscapes for water, wildlife and people, and (6) Structured, transdisciplinary research is needed to align restoration of natural processes with societal needs in a changing climate, and unlock the potential of river lateral connectivity to enhance biodiversity, river ecosystem services and climate resilience.
Within tourism studies, attention has repeatedly returned to the nature and strength of the relationship between tourism and weather. For many tourism organisations operating multiple units, the scale of this challenge is amplified, not least because the weather is spatially variable and its effects are context-contingent. This paper reports on a large-scale study of 65 visitor attractions operated by the National Trust in the United Kingdom. Informed by 63,225 sets of day-observations over three financial years before the Coronavirus Pandemic, multi-level modelling of weather and other locational data was conducted. Weather - with location and nature of offer - accounted for 43.6% and 52.4% in the variance of daily visitor numbers and sales, respectively, over the period. Methodologically, the paper demonstrates, for the first time, the value of applying multi-level modelling to complex organisational research problems in tourism requiring simultaneously portfolio- and property-level perspectives. It argues for more nuanced thinking about, and strategic management for, weather in tourism property portfolios involving clearer differentiation of visitor- and revenue-based performance; closer consideration of how the effects of weather are related to quality of offer; and greater recognition that changes in weather take place as other key operating parameters and market conditions evolve.
This special issue paper highlights the role of Chartwell - the country house purchased by Winston Churchill in 1922 - as a site of informal diplomacy. During the decade of his 'wilderness years' (1929-39), Churchill used Chartwell as a site to both cultivate and deploy international contacts. As the paper shows, these encounters could serve a variety of purposes for, from gaining information on ongoing international developments to exercising political influence in spite of the absence of a formal diplomatic role. Set against the backdrop of growing international tensions, the rise of Nazi Germany and the spectre of war, the article highlights a series of visits that involved guests from Germany, the United States, France, the Soviet Union and China. It shows that, at a point when he held no ministerial office, Churchill compensated for his political isolation at home by leveraging Chartwell as a resource to strengthen his connections with international elite networks.
