Prof. Melanie Smith
Visiting Professor
I have a background in landscape ecology and biodiversity management spanning nearly thirty years, working primarily in academia, but also the public and charitable sectors. My research interests have focused on understanding long term ecological change (especially in upland and woodland habitats), and species population dynamics to inform monitoring and management for biodiversity conservation. My roles in academia started in 1994 developing a Landscape Ecology degree, moving to focusing on developing and leading in tertiary education and research, most recently with UHI Inverness from 2003-2023, where I led the development of a successful research capacity (evidenced by a strong REF result in 2021), including two research centres; the Institute of Biodiversity and Freshwater Management (formerly the Rivers and Lochs Institute) and the Centre for Living Sustainability. In 2022 I achieved a professorial chair position with UHI in Biodiversity Conservation and Education, and I hold an Honorary Professorial position with the SCENE, University of Glasgow. My role in UHI Inverness as Vice-Principal Academic and Research from 2021 was the strategic lead for tertiary education and research. Since early 2023 I have returned to my roots to work in biodiversity restoration with the Atlantic Salmon Trust, focused on leading research and monitoring projects to inform landscape and seascape restoration.
Research Interests:
- Long term ecological change and management
- Atlantic Salmon and sea trout ecology and conservation management
- Landscape ecological processes to inform biodiversity restoration and long-term ecological monitoring
- Socio-ecological interdisciplinary research
- Woodland history and forest management
Current and recent projects:
The Atlantic Salmon Trust, together with partners in the Missing Salmon Alliance, have funded and developed The Likely Suspects Framework working with researchers at the University of Stirling and University of Strathclyde. This is a whole life cycle approach to modelling the response of salmon populations to pressures (likely suspects) across the life cycle. This complex model has a decision support tool which will help inform fisheries management actions.
The AST is, in partnership with a number of organisations and agencies, developing a network of core rivers. Monitored rivers and catchments for salmon and sea trout. The first of these rivers are the Laxford in NW Sutherland (Project Laxford) and the Deveron (Project Deveron) in NE Scotland.
Past projects:
The AST has led the delivery of significant salmon and sea trout telemetry projects:
The West Coast Tracking Project
The Moray Firth Tracking Project
These have tracked, using acoustic telemetry, the movement of salmon smolts from rivers into the marine environment. The analysis of results from this work is ongoing, but the results from the West Coast Tracking Project will help to inform the sea lice management framework for west coast aquaculture.
COST ACTION CLIMO – Climate Smart Forestry in Mountain Regions
Flagship publications:
Rodger et al. (2024) Determinants of riverine migration success by Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) smolts from rivers across the UK and Ireland, J.Fish Biology 1-16 https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15884
Davies, A., Smith, M.A., Froyd, C.A., McCulloch, R.D. (2017) Microclimate variability and long-term persistence of fragmented woodland. Biological Conservation, 213, 95-103
Braidwood, D., Taggart, M., Smith, M., Anderson, R. (2017) Translocations, conservation, and climate change: use of restoration sites as protorefuges and protorefugia. Restoration Ecology, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 20–28
Martin, A., Fischer, A., McMorran, R., Smith, M. (2021) Taming rewilding - from the ecological to the social: How rewilding discourse in Scotland has come to include people. Land Use Policy, 111.
Anderson, D., Binney, H., & Smith, M. (1998) Evidence for abrupt climatic change in northern Scotland between 3900 and 3500 calendar years BP. The Holocene 8,1. 97–103
Bowditch, E., Santopuoli, G., Binder, F., del Río, M., La Porta, N., Kluvankova, T., Lesinski, J., Motta, R., Pach, M., Panzacchi, P., Pretzsch, H., Temperli, C., Tonon, G., Smith, M., Velikova, V., Weatherall, A., Tognetti, R. (2020) What is Climate-Smart Forestry? A definition from a multinational collaborative process focused on mountain regions of Europe. Ecosystem Services, 43, 101113
Bowditch, E. McMorran, R., Bryce, R. Smith, M. (2019) Perception and partnership: Developing forest resilience on private estates. Forest Policy and Economics, 99, 110-122
Studentships supervised:
Ph.D.
Director of Studies
2007 – 2010 Barron, E. Quantitative analysis of active compounds found in Arnica montana and Arnica chamissonis in relation to varied provenance, environmental and agronomic factors.
2011 – 2016 Bowditch, E. Walking the Land: Examining an Ecosystem Approach through the lens of woodland expansion.
2015 - 2022 Bence, S Factors controlling the abundance of pine-tree lappet moth, Dendrolimus pini, in north-east Scotland.
2018 - 2023 Martin, A. Governance and land ownership in rural Scotland and implications for, and of, rewilding.
Supervisor
2016 – 2020 Sybenga, J Seeing the Woods for the Trees: A palaeoecological investigation of past woodlands to inform present and future woodland conservation management strategies in northern Scotland.
2013 – 2017 Coker, H. Understanding Pedagogic Collaboration in the Online Environment.
2014 – 2019 Braidwood, D. Remediation and restoration of ocean exposed cliff-top in the context of Dounreay (Scotland) nuclear power plant decommissioning.
2015 – 2018 Hospitality in adventure tourism: Being, dwelling, guiding.
1998 – 2005 Carlisle, B. Modelling the spatial distribution of DEM Error.
MRes completed
Director of Studies
1999 - 2001 Biological control for Malus domestica var. pests (University of Greenwich).
2017 – 2019 Crutchley, N Evaluation and optimization of molecular methods to monitor and survey Najas flexilis (Willd.) Rostk. & Schmidt.
Supervisor
2019 - 2022 Fitzpatrick, D. Spatial ecology of grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in an urban environment.