The lowland tropical rainforests of South-east Asia are complex ecosystems best known for their evergreen forests dominated by the towering dipterocarp trees and unique wildlife. The rainforests are among the most threatened ecosystems on the planet due to climate change, deforestation, logging and agriculture. Many key areas of South-east Asia are also located on the tectonically active Pacific Ring of Fire, which consists of a ‘ring’ of active volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions can be explosive, caused by pressure that has built up over time sending ash, rock and gas into the atmosphere. These eruptions can have an immediate destructive impact on the surrounding environment, negatively affecting forest systems; however, volcanic ash also contains nutrients such as phosphorus, which is essential for plant growth and productivity.  

Ancient environmental DNA

To understand the response and recovery of these tropical forest systems after a volcanic event, I am using lake-sediment cores to explore past records of volcanic activity and forest productivity.  

Lakes act like stores of environmental information, as the sediments found on lake floors are composed of organic and inorganic materials that have accumulated over time. These sediments can provide insights into past nutrient dynamics through geochemical analysis. By extracting ancient environmental DNA (aeDNA), which is genetic material derived from plant material and cells from animals and microorganisms, we can discover how forest biomes have responded to environmental change over time.  

Ancient environmental DNA is typically highly degraded, vulnerable to hydrolysis and oxidation, and easily contaminated by modern DNA. It is therefore crucial to work in a clean environment where the risk of contaminating the samples is minimal.  

Sample handling 

Before splitting the lake sediment core and subsamples for aeDNA extraction, it was first radiographically scanned at the Core Scanning Facility at the BGS campus in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire. Radiographic scanning was also carried out to identify past volcanic events without opening the core, to avoid any potential contamination. I then travelled with the lake sediment core from BGS to the Globe Institute, part of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, which specialises in geogenetics, for aeDNA extraction. 

The institute is located in the heart of Denmark capital city. It is surrounded by the Botanical Garden, the National Gallery for Arts, and the King Garden, where Rosenborg Castle is located. On arrival, you are met by one of the largest iron meteorites in the world, before entering the Centre for Geogenetics, where the clean aeDNA laboratories are.  

A strict protocol must be followed to avoid any form of modern contamination when working in these laboratories. This includes wearing a full protective outfit consisting of a hazmat suit, face mask, gloves, overshoes, extra protective sleeves and an extra pair of gloves. After suiting up for working the in laboratory, everything must be cleaned in bleach (and washed in ethanol afterwards). The selected samples and all laboratory equipment are then placed in a special clean fume hood, where the aeDNA can be extracted and prepared for sequencing.  

The core was not cut open until it arrived at the Globe Institute, where aeDNA samples were taken at 1 cm intervals using sterile syringes. The samples were taken from intervals pre-eruption, right after the eruption, and several intervals post-eruption, to help understand the forest system response to volcanic events. The selected samples were incubated overnight and purified the next day, after which the concentration was measured. Finally, the samples went through another preparation process, the crucial step that converts raw DNA into a library of adapter-ligated, standardised fragments that have been amplified to ensure enough copies are available for genetic sequencing.  

Next steps 

While the prepared DNA samples are awaiting sequencing, the final work for geochemical analysis and stable isotopes measurements is being completed at BGS laboratories back in Keyworth. These analyses will help explore the history of past nutrient inputs from volcanic events and improve our understanding of how such inputs influence the tropical rainforest system.  

Copenhagen, Denmark 

From working intensely in the laboratories to exploring the city surrounding the Globe Institute, I enjoyed my time in Copenhagen. It a vibrant city known for its blend of historic charm and modern design, exceptional cycling culture and world-class food. The city offers attractions like Tivoli Gardens, Amalienborg Slot (the royal castle), Nyhavn and Free Town Christiania, which are, in my opinion, places you must see while walking around with a Ristet med det hele (a hot dog with the works) and a cocio (Danish chocolate milk). And of course, you can never go wrong by entering one of the many bakeries to make the impossible decision of which pastry to choose… 

Thanks 

A big thank you goes to Dr Ana Prohaska for hosting me at the Globe Institute, training me in new skills in molecular biology, and giving me the tools to help me understand the processes of the work. Another big thanks must go to the rest of the team at the Globe Institute for making me feel a part of the group, even though I was only there for a short amount of time.  

Pesticide pollution can be extremely damaging to the environment. Pesticides are intrinsically toxic chemicals capable of inflicting a wide range of effects on wildlife, which can in turn cause lasting damage to wildlife populations and ecosystems. Despite these concerns, more research needs to be undertaken to understand the level of pesticide pollution in English rivers.

New research has assessed the , which are currently on the market and being used in various applications, including agriculture. The research also evaluated the pollution by such pesticides in the waters and sediments of two English rivers; the River Tone in Somerset, which runs through Taunton, and the River Wensum in Norfolk, which runs through Norwich. The data generated by the study represents one of the most comprehensive assessments of pesticides in any English river catchment to date and is widely applicable to other river catchments across the UK.

Water, sediments, fish and invertebrates were collected along the two rivers and analysed for 52 pesticides. The study, undertaken by BGS in collaboration with the University of Nottingham, found that the veterinary pesticide fipronil was measured at high concentrations. Fipronil is commonly used by vets as an anti-flea treatment for dogs and likely gets into our rivers by dogs accessing these waterways. In addition, propiconazole (a systemic fungicide commonly used in agriculture) was found at elevated concentrations in sediments from the rivers Tone and Wensum.

Neonicotinoids, a group of neuro-active insecticides, are used in agriculture to help prevent crops from being eaten by pests and were found in both of the rivers. At one-third of the sites sampled, the level of neonicotinoids exceeded the chronic threshold for aquatic invertebrates, meaning they will be affecting the health of these organisms.

Modern chemical pesticides have positive applications, such as veterinary medicines helping prevent fleas in domestic pets and in UK agriculture where herbicides, insecticides and fungicides can help prevent food shortages by protecting crops from various pests.

However, our research has highlighted that these pesticides are now present in English rivers and could potentially pose threats to the local wildlife. To help mitigate the risk to ecosystem health, additional protective measures are needed to promote more environmentally sustainable practices, alongside the introduction of stricter regulation around the most high-risk pesticides to help protect our rivers from further impact.

Christopher Vane, head of BGS Organic Geochemistry.

The research has highlighted that further studies need to be completed in order to determine the effects that modern pesticides could have on ecosystems of rivers. BGS will also complete additional research in other countries over the next few years, which will continue to assess which pesticides are present in rivers.

The research paper, ‘, is available to read.

The UK summer drought in 2022 produced significant speculation concerning how its termination could affect the national soil resource. It also highlighted a knowledge gap regarding the wider effects of drought on soil properties and functions in temperate soils. BGS scientists have contributed to a recently published review bringing relevant information together to address the knowledge gap and aid policymakers.

The paper focuses on agricultural and ecosystem drought in the UK, which is when soils experience dry periods that affect agriculture production and ecosystem function. However, each individual drought has its own characteristics with respect to length and intensity, with antecedent conditions particularly important to its overall impact.

Vegetation dieback is the most widely recognised effect of drought, often demonstrated in the media using satellite images. Questions frequently concentrate on crop yields, the impact of drought on food production and likely increases in retail prices. Another observable effect of drought in the UK (and globally) is that of soil cracking, which occurs when expansive clay minerals dehydrate and shrink, which may lead to undermining of foundations of houses and infrastructure. The process is of major economic consequence, with damage to infrastructure in the UK estimated at around £100 million a year, sometimes reaching £400 million in very dry years (Harrison et al., 2022).

Responses of soils and catchments to drought termination

Beyond the impact of drought on agricultural production and ecosystem function, a major concern is how the breakdown of soil may affect the soil resource in terms of runoff and potential erosion. This may influence surface-water quality through the transfer of sediment and nutrients. However, theoretically, dry soils should have the greatest potential for infiltration and, when the infiltration rate remains greater than the precipitation rate, erosion of the soil through the generation of runoff is less likely to occur. The response of both soils and catchments to drought termination in the short term will therefore initially be determined by the intensity and duration of precipitation, with intense storms more likely to generate conditions where rainfall exceeds infiltration capacity.

Impact of drought on soil properties

As we can have no long-term prior knowledge as to whether a drought will occur, evidence on how it affects soil properties is hard to obtain unless the drought coincides within the time frame of longer-term monitoring experiments of soil processes. However, experiments examining wetting and drying cycles provide some insight into the range of impacts on biological, chemical and physical processes in soils.

Infiltration depends heavily on soil structure, with many interactions occurring between the biological and physical components of the soil system, particularly in the production of sticky substances that help particles bind together in aggregates. The activity of bacterial and fungal communities in soil is generally negatively impacted by dry conditions and this may lead to some loss of soil structure, potentially affecting infiltration rates of precipitation. In addition, the activity of soil macroinvertebrates with body widths generally between 2 and 30 mm (such as earthworms, woodlice and millipedes) may decrease. These creatures are commonly seen as soil ecosystem engineers, as they create pathways for water drainage.

The biogeochemical cycles of major nutrients, including the production of greenhouse gases, may change due to the effects on the microbial communities that decompose organic matter. This can lead to flushes of nutrients and greenhouse gas emissions upon re-wetting.

Other effects may include:

• more pronounced shrink–swell behaviour than usual in soils containing expandable clays, leading to deep cracking and possible damage to infrastructure
• an increase in the water repellency of soils, particularly those soils high in organic matter, leading to greater surface runoff
• plant responses to drought that can severely reduce the plants’ protective effect, leaving soils exposed to erosion processes and degradation

Soil resilience to and recovery from drought

One focus of soil research in recent years has been exploring its resilience to and recovery from perturbations, of which drought is an obvious major one. ‘Resilience’ relates to the resistance (degree of change) coupled with the recovery (rate and extent) from a disturbance (Constanje et al., 2015).

The nature of precipitation, its intensity and frequency will help determine how soils initially respond to and recover after drought termination. It is likely that the physical, biological and chemical recovery from drought will happen over a variety of time scales, and some parts of the system may reflect an ongoing altered state.

The management of soil organic matter (SOM), a fundamental influence on soil moisture and structure, through cultivation practice and cropping will be important. Higher SOM concentrations offer greater resilience, at least in initial drought periods.  However, increased information is required regarding how biological soil communities, soil moisture dynamics and soil structure recover and how these affect biogeochemical cycles.

Conclusions

The paper reports on how the large number of interactions present between physical, chemical and biological soil properties helps explain soils’ response to drought. However, the results reviewed are drawn largely from experiments examining wetting and drying cycles.

Unlike UK ground and surface waters that have been continually monitored over historical periods, thus allowing assessment of the effects of droughts, soil data collected during actual drought periods from existing experiments are few. This means that knowledge relating to how key soil properties such as soil structure and biogeochemical cycling respond before, during and after a drought is needed for greater understanding. Collecting this data requires long-term experiments. The use of sensors, particularly to monitor soil moisture and shallow groundwater, along with the development of novel sensors could provide the basis of these experiments, allowing drought impacts to be placed into wider contexts.   

In addition, further gaps in our knowledge exist regarding soil water repellancy, the impact of wildfires on soils, multiple stressors (heat; moisture) and the effects of successive extreme events on soil systems, for example drought followed by flooding. On a planet that is experiencing more extreme climate events, addressing such questions will help identify actions that can be taken to build more resilient soil ecosystems.

The research paper, ‘’, is now available to read in full online. 

About the author

Improving our ability to predict how coastlines will change is an essential part of quantifying risks from coastal erosion and flooding. Coastal Modelling Environment, or CoastalME, is a free tool created by BGS in partnership with the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton.

CoastalME is being used in the UK and internationally to provide improved predictive capability for coastal adaptation. Modellers can use CoastalME to simulate the interaction of coastal landforms and human interventions for open coast systems. This enables users to model and visualise coastal landscape changes more effectively using commonly available spatial data.

The operational tool is being used to inform decision making at regional, international and global levels and was named as a as part of the Government Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management research and development programme. At the regional level, the tool is being used as part of the Resilient Coast (RC) project, funded by the Government’s .

The RC project explores the concept of a sediment circular economy for coastal adaptation in East Anglia, in which the release and transit of sediment is mapped and value is assigned where benefits accrue. CoastalME is used to quantify the movement of sand, gravel and fine material along the coast and to determine its value as a nature-based resource. Early results suggest that allowing a 1Ìým landward recession of less than 10Ìým of the cliffs between Felixstowe and Caister would release around 1.8ÌýmillionÌým³ of sand.

At an international level, CoastalME has been used in Spain to assess the risk of flooding and erosion for the whole of Andalusia coastline, which extends for 1200 km, measured at a scale of 1:25 000, and traverses five of eight provinces. This study represents the first attempt to map the spatial distribution of sediment thickness along this coastal zone by integrating various publicly available datasets. It demonstrated the flexible design of CoastalME by incorporating representations of geomorphological features such as ‘ramblas’ (a dry riverbed used as a road or thoroughfare) that are important sources of sediment during heavy rainfall events.

After years of developing CoastalME, we are pleased to see that it now been officially released and is freely available to support coastal engineers and decision makers to better assess the risk of compound flooding and erosion more accurately than ever before.

Dr Andres Payo Garcia, head of BGS Coasts and Estuaries.

Funding

This research was initially funded by the NERC iCOAST project as a proof of concept, NE/J005584/1 (2012 to 2016).

The workflow to create the sediment thickness model was developed between 2016 and 2022 thanks to funding from BLUEcoast, NE/N015649/1.

It is being operationalised (2022 to 2027) as part of the ongoing CHAMFER project NE/W004992/1 and is being extended to gravel-dominated coastal environments as part of the 2024 to 2028 UKGravelBarriers project, NE/Y503265/1.

Contact

For more information, please contact 51ÁÔÆæ press (bgspress@bgs.ac.uk) or call 07790 607 010.

51ÁÔÆæ first-of-its-kind online tool, , predicts which roads create the most run-off pollutants and how road pollution can be tackled with nature-based solutions. The tool helps local authorities to prioritise water-quality improvement interventions at roads where major road run-off pollution is occurring and in the greenspaces that lie between the roads and the rivers. It is now being extended to estimate the number of pollutants, including fertilisers and pesticides, that are transported into rivers in rural areas.

°Õ³ó±ðÌýfirst online map was launched in 2023 in LondonÌýand was partly funded by the Mayor of London, Transport for London (TfL) and the Environment Agency. It now highlights more than 280 miles (450km) of the capital roads that have a higher risk of road run-off pollution. In total, the tool now covers roughly 3862.3 km (2400 miles or 10 per cent) of London major roads.

What causes the pollution?

Fertilisers, pesticides and animal waste in rural areas can run off into rivers, introducing chemicals and excess nutrients that can cause algal blooms, depleting oxygen and harming aquatic life. Similarly, run-off from roads can carry oil, heavy metals and other toxic substances into waterways, contaminating the water and affecting ecosystems. These pollutants not only harm wildlife but also threaten the quality of drinking water for communities.

How does the tool work?

The tool combines pollutant emission factors, local rainfall conditions, surface area and the make-up of traffic on particular routes, using official data to predict where pollution hotspots are likely to occur. Results are shown on an interactive map. The tool then suggests potential nature-based solutions, such as wetlands, ponds and rain gardens, alongside roads to manage pollution before the water discharges into streams or rivers.

The new, expanded tool

The expanded tool will be tested across the catchment of the upper River Thames, above Dorchester-on-Thames. This area is predominantly covered by arable crops and grassland, but it has varied geology and soils that affect the movement of water and pollutants through the landscape. It also includes urban areas and sections of the M4 and M40 motorways, which generate pollution in road run-off.

The project, which is funded by the Government Office for Technology Transfer, will last for 18 months.

The Road Pollution Solutions Tool, which was only launched just over a year ago, is already showing just how beneficial it is in highlighting which roads in London are at risk of road run-off pollution.
Expanding this tool further to include an integrated assessment of agricultural pollution risks means that we can assess these pollution sources and explore what can be done to reduce them.

Chris Jackson, head of BGS Environmental Modelling.

Road Pollution Solutions is built on years of research by environmental charity and its partner , as well as the . The charity started its initial road runoff project identifying key polluting London roads in 2019, with funding help from the , and the .

They presented their findings at a stakeholder workshop in Kisumu at the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI). Stakeholders were gathered from academia, research institutes and government, along with community representatives and they were all invited to share their experiences in land and lake management.ÌýÌý

Changes to Kenyan land-management practices are urgently needed for sustainable agricultural productivity and to reduce the growing problem of soil erosion and transfers into Lake Victoria, which compromise the growing economic and food security dependence on fisheries aquaculture. The goal of the workshop was to find a way to better coordinate disparate research and create partnerships to improve communications that will better inform land-management decision makers. 

The workshop 

The workshop covered three exercises across three groups, with the first two set up as ice breakers and to help participants consider how they could translate research findings into impact. These exercises directed discussion towards the preparation of policy briefs: what they are, who reads them and how they can be effective, alongside examples of community engagement to change behaviour or practice.  

The third exercise generated the most discussion on how data and research should be coordinated and shared, with examples of good practice being quite rare owing to a lack of resources and expertise. Additionally, the exercise discussed whether there could be a process to enforce the delivery of research harmonisation, improved reliability of data quality and the ability to consider multiple research outcomes from numerous projects. Again, examples of good practice were limited, although less direct means of communication to policy decision makers were discussed; for example, via media or a community bottom-up approach.Ìý

Overall, the workshop demonstrated that the key to enabling a positive change in behaviour and practice for land and lake management is ensuring community engagement from the outset of a research project, such as engaging with focus groups, having community representatives or enabling citizen science participation. The workshop participants agreed that a committee was essential to share research outputs with relevant stakeholders in the Lake Victoria basin. A virtual platform is also essential to a functional framework, so that research outcomes are better shared, data is used in multiple ways to realise efficiency gains and long-lasting impact is created from research. However, such a platform would require adequate resourcing and continued support from stakeholders, alongside engagement from policy decision makers.  

Joint research with the University of Eldoret and KMFRI 

Research shared with this group was funded via previous Royal Society and NERC grants. It initially involved mapping the geochemistry across the Winam Gulf catchment of the Lake Victoria basin, to model the areas at greatest risk of soil erosion and identify more precisely the locations within a river catchment suitable for targeting limited resources to train farmers and test intervention methods to reduce soil erosion.  

Secondly, sediments and sediment cores were surveyed across the Winam Gulf catchment, to generate a chronology of sediment run-off over the past 100 years, as well as the extent of metal and nutrient land-to-lake transfers. This will help us to better understand the effects of poor land management on the lake environment.  

Field collections, measurements, and digitisation and modelling of data were described in previous blogs, with partnerships cemented by the exchange of technicians, early career researchers and principal researchers. The opportunities created by this collaborative project collectively and individually demonstrate the potential for scientific research to address environmental issues whilst developing scientific capacity in Kenya and the UK. The two-way exchange of staff and paired UK/Kenya PhD students provided an enriching experience for all involved. 

Continuing partnerships  

Ongoing efforts will see improvements to modelling the risk associated with soil erosion, including translating a machine-learning model for predicting risk at the sub-catchment scale to other similar land-lake environments, to determine changes in soil losses/sediment transfer at historical scales (100 years) and through dynamic modelling (within few years). Funding to support an advisory forum for Lake Victoria has the potential to set a template for the region on how to better coordinate research data. This will be of particular value to developments in machine learning, which can analyse vast amounts of data quickly. Machine learning could provide a broader, more effective perspective beyond the typical scope of a research project but is dependent on harmonised approaches to data capture and quality. 

Data and information are very expensive due to their endless nature and the value attached to them; thus, quality collaboration between KMFRI, BGS and UoE has created a unique platform to provide baseline and useful data and information on lake-land interphase, which will form the foundation of lake-basin management, planning and conservation in the region. 

Data and information are very expensive due to their endless nature and the value attached to them; thus, quality collaboration between KMFRI, BGS and UoE has created a unique platform to provide baseline and useful data and information on lake-land interphase, which will form the foundation of lake-basin management, planning and conservation in the region. 

Acknowledgements 

We would like to thank: 

• Olivier Humphrey and Andy Marriot, who provided expertise in machine learning, and sampling strategy and fisheries, respectively (BGS)Ìý

• Job Isaboke and Sophia Dowell, joint UK/Kenya PhD studentsÌý

• Staff from all three institutes that supported laboratory and field work, logistical arrangements and community engagementÌý

• Collins Ongore, Job Mwamburi and George Basweti (KMFRI)ÌýÌý

• Elliott Hamilton and Amanda Gardner (BGS)Ìý

• Prof William Blake for guidance on soil erosion sampling strategy and translation of data outcomes into useful data tools to advise on land management (University of Plymouth).Ìý

Funding 

This work was financially supported by:  

• Natural Environment Research Council (grant numbers NE/R000069/1, NE/X006255/1, NE/S007334/1 and GA/19S/017)Ìý

• Royal Society (grant number ICA/R1/191077])Ìý

• British Academy (grant number WW21100104] )Ìý

• Commonwealth Scholarship Council UK for professional fellowshipsÌýÌý

About the authors 

Dr Christopher M Aura: Director of Freshwater Research at the Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute. Chris was a co-PI on the joint research, with oversight on the lake management, sampling and community engagement. 

Prof. Odipo Osano: Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Eldoret.  Odipo was a co-PI on the joint research, with oversight on the land sampling and community engagement, overall coordination of Kenyan activities. 

Dr Michael Watts: Head of Inorganic Geochemistry and Lead for International Geoscience R&D at BGS.  Michael was the PI for UK funded grants and overall coordinator for the project. 

51ÁÔÆæ scientists have discovered significantly elevated concentrations of several elements in the soil within many urban areas of the UK. The findings are based on the most extensive snapshot of the UK topsoil chemical data ever produced, which has now been made available to the public for free as part of a world-leading BGS project.

Over four decades, several hundred scientists collected around 58 000 topsoil samples from rural and urban areas across the country to create the most in-depth and exhaustive map of its kind available globally. The data revealed that several elements, including antimony, arsenic, cadmium, calcium, copper, lead, tin and zinc, are present in soils of many of the UK urban areas as a result of environmental pollution.

This is the first time that such a large-scale dataset has been used to evaluate environmental pollution in the UK. It provides a vital reference point for establishing the distribution of several potentially harmful elements (PHEs) in the urban environment. It will enhance the understanding of interactions between people and ecosystems and help to focus further research into the effects the soil chemical environment may have on human and ecosystem health.

This mapping project represents one of the most detailed datasets of its kind anywhere in the world. This data is useful for a multitude of purposes and will help to pave the way for enhanced decision making around the planning and development of the communities in which we live.

Through a greater understanding of the mix of geochemical elements, the UK can enhance its strategic land use planning. This will have a significant effect on decision making around land use, environmental hazards, food production, soil health assessments, identifying new opportunities for mineral exploration and continuing to identify and quantify human impacts on the environment.

Paul Everett, geochemical survey expert at BGS.

The ability to pinpoint the distribution of 41 different chemical elements and identify areas where human activities have affected soil geochemistry gives us invaluable insights and forms a key baseline for researchers from a wide range of disciplines.

The data is available for all to view and download for free on the and will likely prove an essential resource for scientists, developers, local authorities and environmentalists for centuries to come.

About the project

The dataset is provided and to be used at national (1:2 500 000) to regional (1:1 000 000) scales; in the surveyed 25 urban centres, the dataset can be used at larger scales up to the resolution of the 500 Ã— 500 m prediction grid cell; that is, a nominal scale of 1:500 000 with a zoom in up to 1:250 000 scale only.

The UK Compiled Topsoil dataset will provide a resource for research into the effects the soil chemical environment may have on people health, though this is a specialist area for health professionals and researchers that is not directly within the remit of the BGS. For answers to health-related questions, please contact your local authority or your local Health Protection Agency health protection unit.

For more information, please contact BGS press (bgspress@bgs.ac.uk) or call 07790 607 010.