Partner 11 – Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (NERC)

NERC, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), carries out large-scale and long-term research in the terrestrial, freshwater and coastal sciences to support a broad user community. We address key environmental issues through integrated monitoring, process studies and predictive modelling. The proposed project directly complements Challenges V of the CEH’s research strategy5 by quantifying the risks of exposure of ecosystems and humans to a biological threat (Challenge V) and by developing a risk-assessment framework to help us identify strategies and control measures to mitigate impacts of environmental change on human and animal health (Challenge VI). The proposed project would run parallel to existing research on UK mosquito communities and mosquito-borne pathogens, human microbial pathogens and tick-borne infections of seabirds. Within EDENext, CEH will be primarily responsible for the development of regional scale phenological and biological population model frameworks for Culicoides vectors with which to evaluate the impacts of environmental factors and vector control measures on midge populations and BTV. CEH will help coordinate modeling activities and knowledge exchange across the Culicoides team and ensure integration of model outputs into the R₀.