26 August 2026

EXEC’S CORNER

Welcome to the August issue of ECT’s two-monthly newsletter packed with our usual mix of corporate ECT news, and events, activities and publications connected with the long-term experiments (LTEs) on our national register. The image above is a very recent picture taken during ECT’s July filming visit to the BIFoR-FACE long-term climate change experiment in Staffordshire. Set up in mature oak woodland close to Norbury, BIFoR-FACE is one of the most awe-inspiring LTEs anywhere in the world, simulating in the canopy the predicted atmosphere of the 2050s at 550ppm carbon dioxide. Learning how both individual trees and the woodland ecosystem as a whole responds over almost 20 years of treatments is the aim. You can read more by following the link above.

ECT filmed the experiment in 360 degrees in July as preparation for our latest virtual reality (VR) tour of the LTEs on our register, one of two such projects we are delivering this year. Featuring on-the-ground immersive video interviews with Rob Mackenzie and Kris Hart from BIFoR, together with virtual hot-air-balloon flights over the canopy and experimental infrastructure based on drone 360 filming, the tour will first be available in our VR headsets to delegates at this year’s Annual Meeting of the British Ecological Society (BES) in Birmingham in December. The second VR tour will be for the Loughgall agroecology LTE in Northern Ireland, for which we will be filming in early September with PI Rodrigo Olave from the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI).

When the time comes, do stop by ECT’s exhibition stand at the BES annual meeting this year and be the first to try out these two new VR tours. They really are akin to being at the sites themselves. See also this documentary video about ECT’s ongoing VR work.

Ben Sykes

MIGNEINT BOG WEBINAR

A recording of our previous webinar ’15 Years of Research at Migneint Bog Peat Rewetting Experiment in Wales’ featuring Mike Peacock (University of Liverpool) is now available to watch on YouTube.

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 ‘out there’ 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. Access our LTE Registration Form.

BSSS WEBINAR ON LONG-TERM EXPERIMENTS

In partnership with ECT, the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS) is hosting its next webinar on 27 August 12-1pm. This will be focused on LTEs with a short introducion to ECT from our Executive Director Ben Sykes followed by two longer LTE talks from consultant John Quinton on Colt Park Meadows and Robin Walker (SRUC) on Tulloch. Register here.

If you are communicating to the media about an LTE on our register, please kindly acknowledge ECT’s contribution and role.

BRIGNANT PLOTS SEMINAR

On 28 September at 3pm, Mariecia Fraser (IBERS) who manages the Brignant Plots LTE in Wales will be speaking at the North Wyke Rothamsted Research seminar. This will be taking place both in person (Wilkins Room) and on Teams. Mariecia’s talk is titled: ‘What’s happening in the hills? Current research at the Pwllpeiran Upland Research Centre’.

PARK GRASS IN THE NEWS

Back in July, the BBC reported on the Park Grass LTE Why scientists watched grass grow for 170 years, outlining its history and explaining how its focus has shifted towards understanding the long-term impacts of climate change.

Save the date for a conference next year at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Hosted by the Association of Applied Biologists, this conference ‘Long Term Experiments 2027: Lessons Learnt and Future Sustainability’ will take place from the 22- 24 June.

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: North Wyke, England

Running since: 1982

Experimental goal: To investigate the effects of draining grassland plots on ecosystem productivity

PI: Prof. Adrian Collins, Rothamsted Research

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.