Welcome to the first e-newsletter of ialeUK. We are hoping that this along with our other innovations will make the website much more of a centre for ialeUK activity and idea-sharing. Please ensure you long-on and create a profile for yourself and get involved with the various aspects of landscape ecology to be found there.
This edition has been almost ready to go for a while and just scrapes into the Autumn window as finding time to work on it has been difficult. This period has been one of the most turbulent for a while for many organisations as they come to terms with the implications of the comprehensive spending review. Here in academia it is no exception and has resulted in lots of meetings and discussions about the implications for the future - this means that those of us who are left are all busier than we have ever been.
From a personal perspective I have been running a landscape ecology module for the first time (hooray!) and it has been really interesting seeing students move towards relaxed in-class discussions of patches, corridors, networks etc. Hopefully they will go out into the big wide world with a fuller appreciation of how it all fits together and will spread the word top the unconverted. This is all good stuff and particularly timely as it has coincided nicely with all kinds of landscape-scale activity including the Wildlife Trusts living landscapes initiatives, the RSPB’s futurescapes and also the publication of the Lawton Review – all key drivers for those interested in UK landscape and biodiversity conservation.
As usual all your feedback and any contributions are welcome for the next edition.