Tropical forests are one of the most important and diverse ecosystems on Earth; they act as a vast store for living carbon and, in doing so they help mitigate climate change by lowering atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. However, in recent years, research has revealed an increase in the rate of tropic tree mortality, with the consequence that the strength of the carbon sink provided by tropical forests is reducing. It is therefore vital that we understand why tropical trees die and how this might change with climate change. This project will provide the very first assessment of the number of trees that are killed by lightning in tropical forests. We know that lightning can, and does, kill large trees. We also know that lightning strikes are most powerful and frequent in the tropics. Our estimates indicate that lightning strikes could affect trees containing over 1 % of the tropical forest biomass every year. If all these trees died it would indicate that lightning was a major controlling factor of tropical tree mortality rates. Worryingly, research has predicted that the rates of lightning strikes will increase significantly with climate change. Based on the most recent climate model simulations, lightning could increase by as much as 22 % to 60 % by 2100; Such an increase in lightning could substantially increase tree mortality, altering forest dynamics, and reducing the efficacy of tropical forests as a carbon store. Despite the potential significance of lightning induced tree mortality, very little is actually known about this process. This lack of knowledge arises from the simple fact that it is impossible to predict exactly when and where lightning will strike. This uncertainty makes the effects of lightning extremely hard to observe. An added complication is that trees damaged by lightning may not show any external signs of damage, making it impossible to attribute their death to lightning solely on the basis of visual observations. We propose to address the knowledge gap about lightning induced tree mortality with a revolutionary approach to observing lightning strikes on trees. To study the impacts of lightning on trees we have selected two high biomass tropical forest sites located in regions of high lightning activity in Nigeria and Cameroon. Unlike past studies that relied on visual observations, we will, for the first time, deploy sensors on 20,000 trees to provide an unambiguous record of lightning strikes over a 4 year period. We have adapted a sensor commonly used by electrical engineers to monitor electrical current and lightning strikes (called the Rogowski Coil) to make it inexpensive and easy to deploy in the field in large numbers. We have successfully tested our new version of this sensor in Cardiff University's unique lightning laboratory. By tracking a large cohort of trees we will be able to capture a large number of lightning strikes on trees and study these individuals to work out what happens following a lightning strike. We will use this information to determine which trees are struck by lightning, what happens to surrounding trees, how many trees are killed by lightning and how the carbon storage of the forest is affected. We will combine this information with environmental modelling to determine how lightning damages trees and induces mortality. Finally, we will estimate the tropical loss of biomass due to lightning strikes, and predict how biomass loss will be influenced by climate change. This research will be the very first systematic study on the rates of lightning induced tree mortality in the tropics. This information is vital to our understanding of the terrestrial carbon cycle and its continuing efficacy as a carbon sink. Therefore, this research is a priority for making informed global policy decisions on climate change mitigation.

The question - whether we should think of the world as consisting of entities statically defined by essential properties (i.e. in philosophical jargon, "substances"), or as processes, that undergo and persist precisely because of change - is a fundamental metaphysical dichotomy, debated since the pre-Socratics. Since the rise of atomism in the seventeenth century the substance view has dominated scientifically grounded philosophy. John Dupré's ERC-funded project, A Process Ontology for Contemporary Biology, develops the thesis that for biology, at least, this has been a profound mistake (Dupré 2012: Nicholson and Dupré, in press). Dupré argues that living systems are always dynamic at multiple spatial and temporal scales and their persistence, far from being merely the continued possession of essential properties, is the result of the finely articulated interplay of multiple processes. Visual representation is essential both to the practice and the communication of science. However, whereas drawing in the past played a central role in fields such as morphology and embryology, the rise of photographic and digital technologies and the growing emphasis on molecules as opposed to whole organisms have increasingly marginalized drawing practices. A serious problem faced in the development of a fully processual biology is that most visual representation strongly suggests a realm of static things. For example, the presentation of an organism will be of a particular developmental 'stage', typically the mature adult, which confounds the fact that this is a momentary temporal stage of the developmental process. Even where representation of something as plainly dynamic as metabolism, for example, will include arrows representing time, the natural reading will be of transitions between a fixed array of things (instances of chemical kinds). Moreover, while visual images or 'visual explanations' (Tufte 1997) in science depend on a variety of graphic devices ranging from the use of video, and photography to the use of computational graphic software, simulation and hand-drawing, these means of making images largely depend on mechanistic models (for, or of, their objects) which are already intertwined with their methods of production. The decline of drawing in scientific practice is epitomised by Wakefield's research field, cell division and mitosis. Whereas 20 years ago, as a PhD student, his learning was centred around direct participation, through microscope-based observation and drawing of cells, his own PhD students are now further removed, watching 2D representations of cells on computer screens and printing out screen-shots. For the last 5 years, his interest in this distinction has grown, leading to an exploratory collaboration with the PI and, through this application, the Co-I. Anderson's work over a number of years has highlighted the epistemic costs of the decline of graphic skills in the Life Sciences. She has researched the ways in which scientists have used drawing as a way of developing deep insights into their subject matters, and in her own practice, under the rubric of 'Isomorphology', she has developed classificatory methods that highlight formal parallels cutting across the traditional boundaries of animal, mineral and vegetable. This work has been carried out in collaboration with a variety of scientists and museum curators and has resulted in residencies, exhibitions, talks and workshops.Building on the Isomorphology project, her more recent work, guided in part by extensive discussions with Dupré, has begun to explore ways of representing biological process, under the new rubric of Isomorphogenesis. In line with the growing interest in process-centred understandings of biology, the present project will address the need for novel image-making practices to provide more intuitively dynamic representations of living systems through an innovative collaboration between art, biology and philosophy.

Tropical rainforests are one of the planets most important stores of carbon, as well as being essential to water cycling at large scales. Within tropical forests the largest trees, with diameters exceeding 70 cm, store between 25-45% of the carbon, yet represent <4% of the total number of trees. These large trees also transport disproportionately more water than smaller individuals do, making them a conservation priority for the future. Large tropical trees are likely to be very old, with many between 200-500 years and some estimated to be >1400 years old. Therefore, they have survived historical extreme climate events, including drought. Yet, recent evidence suggests water transport limitations are likely to make larger trees more vulnerable to the more extreme, more frequent drought events, which are predicted for the future. However, we still do not understand how large trees manage to overcome the huge resistances associated with transporting water such large vertical distances, against gravity, which substantially increase the hydraulic stress the tree experiences in a given climate. This information is essential to understanding how vulnerable these iconic tropical trees will be to the predicted future increases in drought frequency and intensity. Large trees can minimise the effects of increasing resistance to water transport with height through changing multiple leaf and stem hydraulic traits vertically through their stem and canopy. However, data on these vertical changes are rare and do not exist for tropical trees. Consequently, there is limited knowledge concerning whether trees can or cannot compensate for the negative effects being taller has on their water transport capacity and therefore their vulnerability to future drought events. In this project we will combine novel measurements of vertical changes in tree anatomical, structural and hydraulic properties on the world's tallest tropical trees, in two different tropical regions - Amazonia and Borneo - to achieve the following aims: Aim 1: Determine how vertical changes in tree hydraulic and anatomical traits regulate the capacity of tall trees to maintain water transport to their leaves under different environmental conditions. Aim 2: Determine if key structural and architectural properties of tropical trees control the vertical gradients of plant hydraulic and anatomical properties. Aim 3: Determine how accounting for vertical gradients in hydraulic properties in tall tropical trees alters predictions of tropical forest water and carbon cycling. To achieve these aims we will study the tallest tropical trees in the world. This will include trees in Amazonia discovered in 2019 that reach 88.5 m tall, ~30m taller than any other tree recorded in the neotropics. We will compare these to equivalent sized trees in Borneo from the dipterocarp family, the family containing the tallest angiosperm species in the world. On these trees we will measure vertical gradients in hydraulic and anatomical traits on 60 trees varying in height from 20-90 m. These trees will come from eight dominant species in Brazil and Borneo, allowing us to contrast the hydraulic adaptations of trees species from drier, more seasonal climates (Brazil), to those of species that have evolved in wetter, a-seasonal climates (Borneo). To realise the three aims above, our novel vertical hydraulic trait measurements will be combined with measures of whole-tree water transport and storage, tree architectural data derived from state-of-the-art ground-based laser scanning and vegetation models. Combining these techniques will allow us to make a step-change in our current understanding of the limits to water transport in the world's tallest tropical trees and the impact this may have on carbon and water cycling under future climate scenarios.

The water, energy and food systems (the WEF) of the planet are under strain, sometimes described as the "perfect storm". They are all intrinsically linked and inter-dependent (the nexus), and humanity needs to plot a course to ensure sustainability and in an ideal world, equity of access to resources. The WEFWEBs project will examine the data and evidence for the water, energy and food systems and their interactions and dependencies within the local, regional and national environment. We need to maintain a balance between the three sometimes opposing directions that our primary systems are moving in to ensure that we safeguard our ecosystems, while still being able to live sustainably, in a world where demands are increasing. To study these systems and their dependencies and interactions, we need to bring together a multitude of different disciplines from the physical, environmental computational and mathematical sciences, with economics, social science, psychology and policy. Each of the three systems needs to be studied through the data that exists concerning their flows, resources and impacts, but also through individual and civic understanding of the systems. We will collect, synthesise and assimilate existing data, and models with new data that will be collected using new sensing technology and social media. We will examine each of the multiple dimensions of the nexus in three place based studies where we can explore and examine the outputs from data analysis, process and network models, and social perceptions. This project delivers multiple dynamic WEF nexus maps with spatial level spanning the dimensions of the problem, reflecting current status and changes, and the interactions in the primary systems in space and time. There is currently no critically systemic, participatory, multi-stakeholder mapping of the entire multi-scale WEF nexus for the UK and this project offers innovation in terms of the multi-disciplinarity and variety of methods including systemic intervention, data analytics and crowd sourcing techniques to mapping the WEF nexus. Ultimately, WEFWEBs will provide a better understanding to citizens and policy makers alike of the effects of choices and decisions to be made.

eViz uses innovative digital techniques to transform energy decisions and behaviour. People's behaviour can cause energy use to be 30-40% higher than Building experts anticipate. Generally, people are keen on saving energy for financial as well as environmental motives. However, uncertainty remains about the exact benefits of installing energy-efficiency measures and changing household habits. Despite a long tradition of energy advice, energy efficiency measures remain pallid and unconvincing, removed from people's day-to-day experiences. There is a gap between abstract, invisible energy flows and people's desire to understand their energy use and become more energy efficient. We offer a solution that bridges this gap. Our previous work has shown that visualising energy loss by means of thermal images led householders to install more energy-efficiency measures and reduced their energy bills when audited a year later, compared to a conventional energy audit (Goodhew et al., 2012). Building on this, the present research will take a major step forward by using novel digital data visualisation techniques to present intuitive, easily graspable representations of energy flows. Using our virtual reality and data visualisation expertise, we will produce sophisticated interactive 3D and 4D representations of energy flows. We will add and overlay scientific projections of future states to direct observations and employ a range of approaches including webcams, simulation, smartphones, and social media such as facebook. Energy flows will be visualised as a function of house type (e.g., detached), any retrofits undertaken (e.g., loft insulation) and occupant behaviour (e.g., opening windows). Visualisations will be developed with users to evaluate their intuitiveness and motivational properties. We will include interactive tailored visualisations as well as generic "walk-throughs" for domestic and public buildings. The Energy Saving Trust and other partners have agreed to disseminate visualisations through their web-site and dedicated events. The best visualisations will be used in field trials with our UK and International partners to evaluate financial and carbon savings over time. Social media (e.g., facebook) will be exploited to engage a wider range of people with this information. We will evaluate which types of visualisations and data people are willing to share (and which attract most attention and debate in their social network) and examine how people use these to discuss and reduce energy use. Our research programme will increase understanding of energy dynamics as a function of occupant behaviour and building characteristics. It will allow experts to make better predictions of energy efficiency and design buildings around human behaviour, and it will help occupants to change their habitual behaviour (e.g., open windows) to reduce energy use as well as motivate them to take up offers of energy-efficiency measures (e.g., loft insulation). All of these together will contribute to energy demand reduction and help people take charge of their energy use to future-proof their buildings in the face of rising energy cost and climate change. UK newspaper headlines report two issues just as we are finalising the eViz research progamme. First, the UK's carbon emissions have increased for the first time since 2007, one reason being increased home heating in the winter of 2010 (Guardian, 8th February 2011). Second, average household energy bills have doubled in the past six years and are expected to rise by up to 60% more by 2020 (Independent, 10th February 2011). The present research is dedicated to helping people stay warm in the context of attaining the UK's carbon reduction targets.