Conducting research on ancient castle grounds

Katie Pita, a PhD candidate in SERS, has spent time the last two summers conducting research in the UK in the area of historical ecology with the objective of accessing how traditional woodland management strategies can sustainably benefit people today.

Under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Trant, Katie is conducting research in the ancient woodlands of Herstmonceux Castle Estate, UK. While research at a castle is certainly unique, and boasts some amazing views, Katie has also had to navigate the complexities of international fieldwork. She manages a small team of undergraduate and graduate students from Canada to assist with data collection.

Katie has completed two field seasons at the estate and is engaged in both the analysis of this large ecological dataset as well as the evaluation of specific changes over space and time. The data collected will provide important long-term outcomes and results on the association between landscape management, biodiversity, and carbon storage. Overall, this combination of the use of long-term ecological records with contemporary field data collection can be expanded to reflect the impacts of climate change and long-term landscape management.

This research is funded by a SSHRC Partnership grant with the interdisciplinary project Environments of Change.

This material was originally published by Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs.