Ecological Continuity Trust  
 
The Park Grass Experiment 2005 (c) Rothamasted Research Anthoxanthum odoratum
Lake District

Looking to the future

In a world where most environments are changing rapidly and unpredictably in response to climate and human influence, long-term ecological experiments like Park Grass (above), started in 1856 at Rothamsted, give us unique insight into what is happening and how.

 

The purpose of the Ecological Continuity Trust is to initiate and maintain a new generation of long-term experiments that are specifically designed to help future generations understand and manage the legacy of ecological change that they will inherit from us. Our vision is to provide for the next 150 years.

 

 

Why new experiments?

The handful of experiments that survive from the 19th Century are irreplaceable, but they are relatively small and were not designed to study environmental change. New experiments, to complement the classical ones, can be designed with the benefit of 21st Century ecological science. They can also be placed in the environments which we know will experience the greatest change in the future.

 

Why a Trust?

Financial security is essential to the continuity of long-term experiments. This cannot be provided by public funds which are subject to changing

scientific, political and economic priorities.

 

 

 

Aims of the Ecological Continuity Trust

  • To acquire the ownership, or legally-guaranteed control in perpetuity, of land to be designated ‘Ecological Continuity Reserves’, on which long-term ecological experiments will be conducted.

 

  • To provide the infrastructure for establishment and permanent maintenance of experiments on Trust land.

 

  • To ensure that experiments are continued indefinitely and that no developments predjudicial to this aim take place.

 

  • To facilitate scientific research and ecological monitoring within the Trust’s reserves.

 

  • To encourage long-term ecological research

 

  • To raise funds for and manage an endowment in order to achieve the Trust’s aims.

 

Financial Support

 

Consulting organizations

 

English Nature

The Forestry Commission

The Lawes Agricultural Trust

The National Trust

Rothamsted Research

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

UK Popnet

Registered Charity no1126122

Company Registration no 6652160

Registered Office: Bircham Dyson Bell, 50 Broadway, London SW1H 0BL

 

Last updated June 5, 2009  
 webmaster@ecologicalcontinuitytrust.org