27 October 2026

EXEC’S CORNER

A very warm welcome to the latest issue of ECT’s two-monthly newsletter. Pictured above you will see Laurence Jones of UKCEH Bangor alongside one of the grazing exclosures at the Newborough Warren long-term nitrogen addition and grazing experiment on Anglesey. ECT has just funded the design and installation of two new interpretation boards at this experiment, which you can read about in this issue. It is a timely reminder of the importance of science communication, one of ECT’s primary charitable objectives. There remain plenty of people out there who do not know what long-term experiments (LTEs) are all about.

LTE design is of course very important to the ECT, and experiments need to meet certain design standards to be eligible for our national register and the privileges that come alongside that - such as eligibility for our Small Grants Scheme. Projects at the landscape-scale (over 500ha), however, face unique design challenges to suit context and objectives, and there is no doubt that the two communities can learn from one another, particularly with respect to monitoring frameworks. With that in mind, those of you who manage LTEs might well be interested in attending the next annual symposium of the Resilient Landscapes & Seas (RLAS) partnership taking place in Manchester on 3-4 February 2027. The two-day event is titled ‘Designing landscape projects for impact: developing, monitoring & defining outcomes at scale’ and delegate registration is now open at an early bird rate. Read more about this further below.

Ben Sykes

INTERPRETATION BOARDS AT NEWBOROUGH WARREN

We are pleased to announce that two new interpretation boards were installed this summer at the Newborough Warren LTE on Anglesey, Wales. ECT collaborated with Laurence Jones (UKCEH), and Graham Williams (Natural Resources Wales) to produce the interpretation boards which are presented in English and Welsh.

RESILIENT LANDSCAPES & SEAS (RLAS) SYMPOSIUM 2027

A reminder that the annual RLAS symposium for 2027 is being held in Manchester on 3-4 February. There are only a few days left to book tickets at the early bird price of £79. From 1 November, the price will go up to £99. Featuring six themes around landscape project design, the RLAS Symposium 2027 aims to help build a more cohesive community in landscape transformation, share knowledge and best practice, and to connect and provide mutual support to landscape-scale projects across the UK. Book your early bird ticket.  

RLAS ONLINE SEARCH TOOL

Created by the RLAS Partnership and developed with funding from Natural England, the RLAS Search Tool is an open-access, self-managed public resource to share information on landscape-scale transformation projects over 500 hectares across the UK. Anyone can explore and search for projects, and registered users can submit or update existing projects at any time. See how it works, and submit your project.

REMINDER CALL FOR LTE REGISTRATIONS: UNREPRESENTED HABITATS

We wish to invite LTE registration applications from across the UK in habitats that are either currently under-represented on our national register or not represented at all. These include the following habitats in particular:

• Atlantic rainforest

• Coastal saltmarsh

• Coastal dune

• Marine

Recent experience has shown us that there may well be LTEs across the UK that are unknown to ECT and that may well qualify against our assessment criteria for inclusion on our register. Registration brings many benefits to LTEs including privileged access to our small grants scheme. Download the LTE Registration Form.

If you receive a grant from us, please remember to acknowledge the ECT in papers. Thank you!

PHD OPPORTUNITY AT BIFOR-FACE

A PhD opportunity at the University of Birmingham will examine the effects of high temperatures on mature oak trees. Applications deadline: 9 November 2026. Learn more.

NBN TRUST CONFERENCE

This year’s NBN Annual Conference is taking place on Thursday 19 November in Leeds. The theme is ‘Nature as National Resilience: turning biodiversity data into action for people, place and a changing climate’. With four themed sessions, the programme will speak to communities, decision makers, and organisations that need credible evidence to plan, manage, and respond to change. There will also be technical updates from the NBN Trust team and a panel discussion on verification challenges and opportunities. Learn more and book.

NBN TRUST CONTEST - IMPROVING SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELLING

Accurate forecasting of species distributions can help improve our understanding of how species respond to environmental change. These forecasts can subsequently support more effective environmental monitoring, inform conservation practice, and help identify emerging trends in the spread of invasive species.

Species distribution modelling typically combines species occurrences with environmental data to predict where species are likely to be found across space and time. Advances in modelling approaches, combined with increasingly comprehensive datasets such as the NBN Atlas offer new opportunities to generate more accurate forecasts.

As part of the SPHERE-PPL project, and in collaboration with the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Trust, researchers from Imperial College London, Dr Will Pearse and Dr Alex Rabeau have launched a new forecasting contest focused on improving species distribution modelling for nine key UK species. Using data from the NBN Atlas, participants are invited to develop models that forecast species occurrences within a given UK region for 2026.

The contest launched on 1 October and runs until 14 December. Anyone with a background in data science, statistics or machine learning and an interest in ecology is encouraged to participate. See the contest GitHub repository to enter.

LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY UK’S BUNCE LECTURE 2026

This year Landscape Ecology will be joined by Frans Vera for the talk: ‘The wilderness, it is staring us in the face, and yet we do not see it’ on 19 November. Frans will challenge conventional interpretations of Europe's ecological past and explore how language, history, and cultural assumptions have shaped our understanding of wilderness. This will be followed by a panel discussion with renowned experts. More information and register.

A paper in Academia Biology has shown that drones can detect fine-scale differences in vegetation structure.

Two LTEs on ECT’s register have been noted in a report on public investment in UK agricultural research (State of Agricultural Research & Innovation 2026). The report acknowledges the value of, and inherent challenges in, the longevity of experiments, with reference to the significant contribution provided by North Wyke Farm Platform and Broadbalk LTEs. Additionally, it also highlights that preserving ecological experiments is crucial to maintaining research infrastructure.

If you like what we do, would you consider donating to the ECT?

Help us preserve long-term experiments so that the evidence from them can lead to changes in policymaking, sustainable land use and education.

Habitat: Grassland

Location: Wales

Running since: 1994

Experimental goal: To examine the effectiveness of introducing a range of different land management regimes

PI: Mariecia Fraser, IBERS Aberystwyth

See: Our webpage on the experiment

The LTE User Group is a network of stakeholders passionate about LTEs and the results they generate. Find out more and how to join on our Join Us page.

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ECT receives core funding from the British Ecological Society.