Alan Watson Featherstone

A new tanaupodid mite, Lassenia newelli sp. nov. is described based on a larva parasitising the aphid Myzocallis coryli (Goeze, 1778) (Aphididae) in Scotland, Great Britain. It is the ninth species of Lassenia known from the larval stage, the second host association for the genus and the first one for which the specific affiliation of both the para...

There has been much recent interest in the concept of rewilding as a tool for nature conservation, but also confusion over the idea, which has in turn limited its utility. We outline a unified definition and a series of ten guiding principles for rewilding, drawing on a global advisory group of rewilding experts. These were developed through a surv...

Collembola (Springtails) collected from the Dundreggan Conservation Estate, Scottish Highlands north of Loch Ness, during restoration of the Caledonian Pine Forest are reported. Fifty-three species were found, many typical either of tree bark (Entomobrya spp.), or of wet upland habitats Folsomia quadrioculata (Tullberg), (Isotomurus spp.). Most of...

New sequencing technologies allow development of genome-wide markers for any genus of ecological interest, including plant genera such as Betula (birch) that have previously proved difficult to study due to widespread polyploidy and hybridization. We present a de novo reference genome sequence assembly, from 66× short read coverage, of Betula nana...

Freeing up the ecological processes within a renewed Caledonian forest is a 250 year project. This article describes progress with the first phase.