Climate Change: how Scotland's research institutes are facing the challenge
Leading scientists from around the world agree that our climate is changing. In Scotland, this is expected to lead to warmer, drier summers and milder, wetter winters. Floods and periods of drought are likely to become more common.
These changes have profound implications. Higher temperatures and new pests and diseases may endanger native crops and plants and affect the health of animal livestock and wildlife. There may be risks to the availability and quality of clean water. Land use may need to change, affecting the viability of some rural communities unless they can adapt. All of this could have serious economic impacts.
Scotland is world renowned for the quality of its environmental, agricultural and biological research. This report shows how the main research institutes funded by the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Research and Analysis Directorate (RERAD) are improving our understanding of climate change while developing novel ways in which we can respond.
The Scottish Government is consulting on a Climate Change Bill to set a mandatory target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. Scientific research has a vital role to play in producing the knowledge and tools to help predict how Scotland will be affected by climate change, mitigate its impact and adapt, where necessary, to its effects.
The institutes benefit from core funding from the Scottish Government which helps them to attract other research grants, leading to the highest quality of scientific output. Much of the work described here involves close collaboration between the different institutes. Crop and soil research and work on animal and plant diseases, for example, is carried out across the institutes. The shared knowledge gained from this work is helping Scotland to meet the greatest environmental challenge facing the world today.
Monitoring change
Monitoring the changes that are taking place today will help us predict what will happen tomorrow.
The Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI), based at Invergowrie, is analysing long term climate records for the local area. This analysis will be extended to examine crop yields and outbreaks of emerging diseases to provide a detailed assessment of the impact of climate change.
Scientists at the Moredun Research Institute are investigating a range of sheep and cattle diseases many of which are caused by internal and external parasites. The numbers of these parasites are increasing due to milder winters and warmer summers. Moredun scientists are leading research into parasitic roundworm infections in sheep. This will allow a picture to be built up of which parasite species are present in the UK and how they are changing over time. They are also investigating resistance to anti-parasitic drugs as part of a wider effort to reduce over reliance of such drugs which has led to the emergence of drug-resistant parasites.
The Macaulay Institute has a number of sites around Scotland that are collecting long term data on how climate change is affecting the water cycle. Scientists are also assessing the impact of future temperature and moisture changes on the release of dissolved organic carbon into rivers and streams. This can significantly increase water treatment costs. Increases in erosion due to climate change can potentially damage salmon spawning areas and other sensitive freshwater species such as freshwater pearl mussels.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is involved in research to predict and monitor the impact of climate change on Scotland's native plants. This work is helping to show which species or vegetation types might be threatened by climate change and require protection. Plants such as mosses, lichens and ferns are often extremely sensitive to climatic conditions. In addition, flora on our highest mountains such as snow-bed bryophytes are likely to be excellent indicators
The Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) is involved in various aspects of monitoring and surveillance. This includes surveillance of disease in domesticated and wild animals to understand disease trends and detect emerging new diseases. It was one of the SAC's laboratories that discovered that a dead swan found in Fife in 2006 was infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus - the first case of its kind in the UK. SAC also monitors the occurrence of weeds and pests and diseases of plants to understand developing trends.
SAC's Rural Policy Centre uses a combination of science and policy to help rural businesses and communities understand the economics of mitigation and adaptation decisions.
Climate change is recognised as one of the most important threats to the survival of species and the conservation of biodiversity. Research at the Macaulay Institute and SCRI is modelling how the distributions of plant and animal species may change in the future.
One consequence of climate change is that the seasons may alter, with spring arriving earlier and autumn beginning later. A project at the RBGE is studying seasonal events such as flowering and leaf fall in plants and hibernation and migration in animals. This will provide a record over time of changes in plant life cycles.
Climate change is threatening the future of the giant panda. There are fears that the bamboo on which the panda depends for food may be threatened by climate change. Botanists at the RBGE are collaborating with colleagues in China in a project that seeks to help secure the long term survival of the giant panda. They are identifying and surveying areas of key bamboo species in the mountains of China. Climate data will then be used to predict how these areas will be affected by climate change as where pandas will be able to survive in future. The results of this work will be presented to government officials in China.
Mitigating the impact
The build up of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere is responsible for increasing global temperatures. Action to reduce emissions of these gases is central to any successful strategy to combat climate change.
Ruminants such as cattle and sheep are major producers of methane. Around 60 per cent of global methane formation is due to agricultural activities and just under half of that is produced by ruminants. Scientists at the Rowett Research Institute are developing a feed additive that can inhibit the production of methane that occurs naturally as part of the animal's digestive process. Results of trials in lambs have proved very encouraging showing that a reduction of up to 70 per cent of methane production can be achieved. It was found to improve feed efficiency, resulting in the lambs gaining weight faster.
Soil is a reservoir of carbon. There is 80-90 times more carbon in Britain's soils than in all its vegetation. Scotland has approximately 50 per cent of the whole of the UK's soil carbon. Studies suggest that, as soil gets warmer, more carbon will be released in the form of carbon dioxide, adding to climate change. Research at the Macaulay Institute is investigating ways of reducing this problem. Scientists are using some of the 40,000 soil samples within the Institute's National Soils Archive to examine how soils have changed over the past 20 years. They are looking at the way land is managed to determine if this contributes to climate change. Another project is investigating the genes found in soil organisms that regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
SCRI is developing a series of research projects focused around reducing plant and soil-based emissions. This includes investigating the role of plants in effecting carbon transfer to soils; examining how carbon losses to the atmosphere and nitrogen losses to water courses can be minimised; and improving the efficiency of nutrient use by crops to reduce gaseous and leaching losses.
Burning fossil fuels is a major contributor to climate change. Scientists at the Rowett Research Institute are trying to develop an alternative power source. They are investigating the potential of using anaerobic bacteria to ferment waste plant material. This would, in turn, produce organic compounds such as ethanol and butanol, or hydrogen, which can then be used as fuels. The use of anaerobic bacteria means that carbon dioxide is not produced as a by-product of the fermentation. There is potential to extract the genes which engineer the enzymes responsible for these processes from the anaerobic bacteria. This means that micro-organisms such as yeasts, which are relatively simple to grow, could be used on an industrial scale to produce organic fuels.
Fermentation also lies at the heart of work at the SCRI designed to improve the efficiency of bioethanol production. SCRI scientists are developing novel means of fermenting plant biomass to achieve this objective. If successful, it will reduce the need for fossil fuel consumption.
SAC has a series of research projects that seek to develop new approaches and practices in animal and crop production systems to mitigate climate change. These include:
- evaluating new environmentally-benign dairy production systems with special attention given to energy balances, nutrition and the environment;
- assessing of the impact of livestock farming on the environment and the use of livestock breeding, selection and modelling to identify "best environmental practice";
- developing modified management practices and better targeted use of fertiliser, grass and clover varieties with improved adaptation to climate change;
- developing crop production systems based on successful adaptation of existing pest/weed/disease control approaches;
- research on livestock housing, transport and the care of animals in different environmental conditions.
Adapting to change
SAC offers a range of practical support including knowledge transfer, consultancy, education and training to help land-based industries adapt to the impact climate change may have on their sector. This includes measuring carbon footprints on farms and identifying ways of improving energy management. Other work involves assessing the social impact of climate change on peripheral communities. International summer schools are held at the SAC to train young scientists from across Europe.
Warmer summer temperatures and wetter, milder winters will produce conditions in which new pests and diseases are more likely to thrive, threatening both plants and animals. Scientists at the Moredun are already recording increased cases of a sheep disease called louping ill which is spread by ticks. Other threats to livestock include liver fluke and parasite infections. Two human infections - Lyme's disease and West Nile virus - may also become a greater risk in Scotland due to climate change. The Moredun is involved in research that takes a number of different approaches to this problem. It includes looking at land management strategies that can reduce the breeding grounds for ticks; selective breeding of animals to make them more resistant; animal feed with bioactive material that is harmful to parasites; targeted treatment to ensure that only those animals that are infected need to be given drugs; and in the longer term, vaccines to prevent infection. The aim of all of this is to ensure the sustainability of Scottish farming in the face of the threats posed by climate change.
SCRI is involved in identifying threats from new plant pests and pathogens. Knowledge of how these organisms work will be used to deploy cost effective control measures that are environmentally benign. SCRI has already deployed solutions to combat root rot in soft fruit and late blight on potatoes. These techniques will be deployed to combat new and emerging disease threats. Another area of research is the development of new crops and plants that are more resilient to stress from heat or drought and can survive in such conditions. This work will help to sustain rural economies and food-based industries.
The wider goals of reducing the impact of climate change can conflict with the need among farmers to make a living. Farmers may have to change some of their working practices to help reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. It is vital that any such issues are addressed now if progress is to be made. The Macaulay Institute is working closely with the farming community to examine these dilemmas and provide support to help farmers plan for the future to take advantage of the possible benefits of climate change, and be prepared for the risks. This includes producing information on the impact of future climate change tailored to local areas; showing the effects of implementation of positive changes at the individual farm level; and demonstrating the impact of changes in land use.
Plant research at a molecular level is making an important contribution to understanding how species survive in different conditions. One project at the RBGE is looking at native and non native bluebells and examining the competitive performance of different species in different climatic conditions. The RBGE is working with the Macaulay Institute and SCRI in a project examining the diversity in species in Scotland's Caledonian pinewoods.
Research at RBGE is examining the way in which changing landscapes and climate may interact to affect biodiversity. This research will present opportunities for nature conservation such as building new habitats for migrating species in response to changing climate.
For further information on specific science research institutes work contact:
More information on the Scottish Government's science research programme.
News Archive