Remembering Bob's legacy
In 2022, we were deeply saddened by the death of our beloved colleague, and founding member of ialeUK, Bob Bunce. Bob made an outstanding contribution to the landscape ecology community throughout his long career, including the UKCEH Countryside Surveys.
In memory, ialeUK and UKCEH organised a memorial symposium on Wednesday 7 September 2022 in Lancaster to celebrate Bob's academic contributions and remember how he influenced colleagues in the UK and beyond. We were delighted to have a packed programme with 20 speakers from eight countries covering a diversity of topics (see below).
Following the symposium there was an evening meal in Grange-over-Sands and the next day (Thursday 8 September 2022) there was a guided walk from Grange over Hampsfell to Cartmel, following a route Bob has led people in the past.
Memorial symposium & recordings
Over 45 delegates joined the symposium in person at UKCEH Lancaser Environment Centre, including participants who travelled from The Netherlands, Sweden, France, Belgium, Estonia, Switzerland and Italy. Recordings of the talks are available on the ialeUK YouTube channel. Link to the recordings of the three sessions and timings for individual talks within each session are included in the programme below.
Morning session - link to the recording
[00:00:00] Welcome - David Howard & Simon Smart
[00:04:43] Key note – Rob Jongman
[00:21:40] UK monitoring
[00:22:23] Countryside Survey: a national treasure trove – Lisa Norton
[00:32:32] The ecology of linear features – Simon Smart
[00:45:30] Landscapes are more stable than we think – Pete Carey
[01:02:30] The latest news from the ‘Bunce’ Woodland Survey of Great Britain – Claire Wood
[01:16:22] Vegetation and trees of Chillingham Park – Stephen Hall
[01:41:30] Viewing the Ecological Character of the Landscape – Steven Warnock
Afternoon session 1 - link to the recording
[00:00:00] International monitoring
[00:01:00] Bob Bunce's influence on habitat mapping in Europe – Geert De Blust
[00:18:55] Mapping Mediterranean habitats – Philip Roche
[00:35:05] Mapping landscapes and vegetation Sweden – Helle Skånes
[00:50:28] Farmland biodiversity monitoring in Switzerland – Felix Herzog
Modelling
[01:04:45] How 'Bunce' land classification conquered the world – Marc Metzger
[01:21:25] Modelling agriculture and energy using CS data – David Howard
Afternoon session 2 - link to the recording
[00:00:00] IALE
[00:00:33] Towards a European Landscape Ecology – Emilio Padoa-Schioppa
[00:09:05] ialeUK - the early years – Peter Dennis
[00:18:45] ialeUK - Bob's continued legacy – Jonathan Porter
Teaching and mentoring
[00:23:45] Bob in Tartu: supervising PhD students, mentoring and socialising – Kalev Sepp
[00:34:07] Bob in the Picos: 30 years of inspiration to many – Nigel Dykes & Heather Prince
[00:50:46] Reflection and closing – Marc Metzger
Memorial walk
A guided walk by Simon Smart (UKCEH) started at Grange-over-Sands railway station and then went up and over Hampsfell taking in limestone woodland, species-rich grassland and the rare priority habitat, limestone pavement. The route was loved by Bob and he led colleagues many times across this spectacular mosaic of habitats.