Phillip Williamson

University of East Anglia | UEA · School of Environmental Sciences

Achieving net zero CO2 emissions requires gigatonne-scale atmospheric CO2 removal (CDR) to balance residual emissions that are extremely difficult to eliminate. Marine CDR (mCDR) methods are seen increasingly as potentially important additions to a global portfolio of climate policy actions. The most widely considered mCDR methods are coastal blue...

Background Ocean-related options (OROs) to mitigate and adapt to climate change are receiving increasing attention from practitioners, decision-makers, and researchers. In order to guide future ORO development and implementation, a catalogue of scientific evidence addressing outcomes related to different ORO types is critical. However, until now, s...

Greenhouse gas removal (GGR) technologies can remove greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Most of the current GGR technologies focus on carbon dioxide removal, these include afforestation and reforestation, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, direct air capture, enhanced weathering, soil carbon sequestration and bioch...

The Conversation, 29 July 2022 https://theconversation.com/climate-change-why-we-cant-rely-on-regrowing-coastal-habitats-to-offset-carbon-emissions-185726

Mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and tidal saltmarshes are vegetated coastal ecosystems that accumulate and store large quantities of carbon in their sediments. Many recent studies and reviews have favorably identified the potential for such coastal “blue carbon” ecosystems to provide a natural climate solution in two ways: by conservation, reduc...

The Conversation, 29 July 2022 https://theconversation.com/pourquoi-on-ne-peut-pas-se-fier-a-la-restauration-des-habitats-cotiers-pour-ralentir-le-changement-climatique-187788

Can experimental studies on the behavioural impacts of ocean acidification be trusted? That question was raised in early 2020 when a high-profile paper failed to corroborate previously observed responses of coral reef fish to high CO2. New information on the methodologies used in the “replicated” studies now provides a plausible explanation: the ex...

Can experimental studies on the impacts of ocean acidification be trusted? That question was raised in early 2020 when a high-profile paper failed to corroborate previously-observed impacts of high CO2 on the behaviour of coral reef fish. New information on the methodologies used in the replicated studies now provides the explanation: the experimen...

Several ocean-based measures are available to reduce both climate change and its impacts on the open-ocean and coastal ecosystems, suggesting that the international community working on the ocean, from institutions to the private sector, can play a significant role in both adaptation and mitigation. All measures have limitations and tradeoffs. Desp...

A carbon budget for the northwest European continental shelf seas (NWES) was synthesized using available estimates for coastal, pelagic and benthic carbon stocks and flows. Key uncertainties were identified and the effect of future impacts on the carbon budget were assessed. The water of the shelf seas contains between 210 and 230 Tmol of carbon an...

This is the Summary for Policy Makers of the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, as approved by the IPCC member countries at the Plenary in Monaco, 25 September 2019.

This Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere1 in a Changing Climate (SROCC) was prepared following an IPCC Panel decision in 2016 to prepare three Special Reports during the Sixth Assessment Cycle2 . By assessing new scientific literature3 , the SROCC4 responds to government and observer organization proposals. The SROCC follows the other two Sp...

The Paris Agreement target of limiting global surface warming to 1.5–2°C compared to pre-industrial levels by 2100 will still heavily impact the ocean. While ambitious mitigation and adaptation are both needed, the ocean provides major opportunities for action to reduce climate change globally and its impacts on vital ecosystems and ecosystem servi...

This Policy Brief summarises the main findings of The Ocean Solutions Initiative (http://www.obs-vlfr.fr/~gattuso/tosi_products.php) that assessed the potential of 13 ocean-based measures. The Ocean Solutions Initiative is an endeavour by a group of 18 ocean experts across natural and social sciences to assess the potential of 13 ocean-based measur...

For natural ecosystems, the speed of climate change is what matters most. If stratospheric climate geoengineering is deployed but not sustained, its impacts on species and communities could be far worse than the damage averted.

A view-only version of the paper can be seen by using the following SharedIt link: http://rdcu.be/D7eA

This article reviews recent scientific progress, relating to four major systems that could exhibit threshold behaviour: ice sheets, the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), tropical forests and ecosystem responses to ocean acidification. The focus is on advances since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Rep...

Ocean acidification is a closely linked consequence of increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, involving multiple changes in seawater chemistry. Observed long-term trends are superimposed on natural variability over a range of space and time scales. The future scale and impacts of ocean acidification depend on how rapidly CO2 emissions c...

This article reviews recent scientific progress, relating to four major systems that could exhibit threshold behaviour: ice sheets, the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), tropical forests and ecosystem responses to ocean acidification. The focus is on advances since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Rep...

Ocean acidification (OA) and climate change are both influenced by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations coming from the atmosphere. However, the distinction between OA and climate change, is that OA is an alteration of the chemistry of seawater, therefore not a direct climatic process. The ocean is the largest natural reservoir of dissolved car...

Scientists should challenge online falsehoods and inaccuracies — and harness the collective power of the Internet to fight back, argues Phil Williamson.

The process of ocean acidification is now relatively well-documented at the global scale as a long-term trend in the open ocean. However, short-term and spatial variability can be high. New datasets made available since Charting Progress 2 make it possible to greatly improve the characterisation of CO2 and ocean acidification in UK waters.

Climate change has significant implications for biodiversity and ecosystems. With slow progress towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, climate engineering (or ‘geoengineering’) is receiving increasing attention for its potential to limit anthropogenic climate change and its damaging effects. Proposed techniques, such as ocean fertilization for...

The viability and environmental risks of removing carbon dioxide from the air must be assessed if we are to achieve the Paris goals, writes Phil Williamson.

Ambitious response needed on climate front Letter to the Times – 16 th Dec 2015 Sir, The agreement reached in Paris shows there is now impressive global ambition to tackle climate change – with tough challenges ahead (Britain facing steeper emissions cuts; Dec 14). Further policy action is urgently required to transform ambition into reality. Unfor...

The global nature of ocean acidification transcends habitats, ecosystems, regions, and science disciplines. The science community has recognized that the biggest challenge in proceeding to the next stage in understanding the mechanisms by which past, current, and future OA conditions impact ecosystems and the societies that depend on them goes beyo...

Ocean acidification (OA) is a progressive decrease in the pH of seawater over decades, caused primarily by uptake of excess atmospheric CO2 and accompanied by changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. Scientific studies designed to examine the effects of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on global carbon fluxes have also led to the detect...

The global nature of ocean acidification (OA) transcends habitats, ecosystems, regions, and science disciplines. The scientific community recognizes that the biggest challenge in 'improving understanding of how changing OA conditions affect ecosystems, and associated consequences for human society, requires integration of experimental, observationa...

The Joint OSPAR/ICES Study Group on Ocean Acidification (SGOA) was formed to address eight specific Terms of reference provided by OSPAR and adopted as a resolution by the ICES 2012 Annual Science Conference and Statutory Meeting. SGOA met three times at ICES Headquaters between 2012 and 2014 and was chaired by Evin Mc Govern (Ireland) and Mark Ben...

This report summarises the key new literature on the main large-scale systems that may feature abrupt and/or irreversible changes (specifically, ice sheets, Arctic sea ice, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), tropical forests, carbon stored in terrestrial permafrost or below the ocean in permafrost or as methane hydrates, or the...

Your awareness can make a difference What the ocean will experience this century without urgent and substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. How is the biggest ecosystem on Earth faring? Contains 96% of the living spaCe on earth l has 80% of earth's living organisms l Covers 71% of the earth l almost half of the oxygen we breathe is produ...

Dangerous climate change is best avoided by drastically and rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, geoengineering options are receiving attention on the basis that additional approaches may also be necessary. Here we review the state of knowledge on large-scale ocean fertilization by adding iron or other nutrients, either from ext...

Fundamental changes to marine chemistry are occurring because of increasing carbon dioxide (CO(2)) in the atmosphere. Ocean acidity (H(+) concentration) and bicarbonate ion concentrations are increasing, whereas carbonate ion concentrations are decreasing. There has already been an average pH decrease of 0.1 in the upper ocean, and continued uncons...

SOLAS is an international programme directed at understanding the exchanges of climate-relevant gases and particles across the air-sea interface. To properly assess the global significance of such processes, it is essential to holistically evaluate and interpret all available data, using such information to generate flux datasets and climatologies....

Population densities of adult Cepaea nemoralis (L.) were estimated for nine chalk grassland sites on the South Downs. Estimates of cover, species composition and height of vegetation were also obtained. The density of C. nemoralis was positively associated with Bromus erectus cover, and negatively with Festuca spp. cover. This finding, confirmed by...

Faecal analysis of adult Cepaea nemoralis and Cepaea hortensis from a mixed population on chalk grassland shows that the two snail species select the same plant material as food. Herbs are selected in preference to grasses and Urtica dioica is particularly favoured. C. hortensis has the more pronounced preference for senescent material. These resul...

Scant scientific attention has been given to the abundance and distribution of marine biota in the face of the lower sea level, and steeper latitudinal gradient in climate, during the ice-age conditions that have dominated the past million years. Here we examine the glacial persistence of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) populations using two ecological...

Sorting out what we mean by a species, and bringing order to higher level groupings, are important activities for microbial taxonomists. But Phil Williamson and his colleagues argue that the real priorities are more prosaic, yet pragmatic: "what exactly is out there?" and "what features should we use to routinely distinguish organisms of different...

Since the 1990s there has been a period of rapid climate warming in Europe. Long-term broad scale datasets coupled with time series at specific locations for rocky intertidal species dating back to the 1950s have been collected in Britain and Ireland. Resurveys of the original locations in 2001–2003 have been undertaken to identify changes in the b...

The National Environment Research Council (NERC) Marine and Freshwater Microbial Biodiversity programme, which took place between 2000-05 supports more than 30 projects, which investigates biochemical processes and ecological interactions for a wide range of micro-organisms. The programme discovered a new phylum of marine bacteria which was provisi...

Viewed from a global perspective, biological processes use raw materials at a rate that greatly exceeds their supply from the planetary interior — a situation that can only be sustained through a complex series of chemical energy transfers, linked to the global movements of materials, from land to sea, within the oceans, and through the air. The va...

Satellite measurements and the development of new techniques have confirmed the importance of ocean biology in controlling the carbon dioxide (CO(2)) content of the atmosphere. The marine sedimentary record shows that climate change and the ocean carbon cycle are closely linked: during glacial periods, marine productivity was enhanced and atmospher...

The recruitment of the trochid gastropods Gibbula umbilicalis and Monodonta lineata was studied between 1978 and 1984 at Aberaeron in mid-Wales. In the former species the post winter density of ‘O’ class animals varied greatly (<1–21 m−2) and this was reflected in changes in the adult population which fell sharply following the failure of the 1978...

Recruitment of Semibalanus balanoides at Robin Hood Bay, North Yorkshire, between 1969 and 1981 ranged from almost total failure to ca. 30 spat/cm ² . A similar annual pattern over 100 km of adjacent coast appears to implicate climatic or hydrographic factors. Adult fecundity did not vary greatly, but as there was substantial variation in the numbe...

The density and pattern of settlement of Balanus balanoides vary greatly around Britain. This is attributed to differencesin larval dispersion resulting from the configuration of the coast and its orientation relative to the prevailing winds. The differing availability of the cyprids determines the pattern and density of settlement and thereby the...

Inability to repopulate adequately probably sets the northern limit of Chthamalus montagui, Patella vulgata, P. aspera, Gibbula umbilicalis and Monodonta lineata, creates unstables populations in adjacent regions, and may result in greater sizes and life-spans in the north. Incomplete data support expectations of summer breeding in the north, winte...

Seasonal changes in the rate of shell formation frequently affect the surface morphology of molluscan shells, with reductions in feeding activity and calcification rates at low temperatures producing winter rings that can be used for age determination. Such annuli are well-known in lamellibranchs and have greatly facilitated studies on their growth...

Application of multiple regression analysis to the lead, zinc and cadmium contents of 985Cepaea hortensis collected from a suburban roadside site over two years showed that body weight, age and daylength were the major factors affecting soft tissue body burdens. Other highly significant influences were physiological changes at the juvenile-adult tr...

Concentration Factors (ppm in animal: ppm in diet) are presented for lead, zinc and cadmium in the snail Cepaea hortensis, and for lead and zinc in the woodlice Oniscus asellus and Philoscia muscorum, sampled at roadside sites. For each species such factors were found to be extremely variable, affected not only by season, and size and/or age of ani...

Methods are described for estimating the age of juvenile and adult Cepaea hortensis (Gastropoda: Pulmonata). Separation of juvenile year classes from size-frequency data is facilitated if shell diameters at the last winter growth break are also measured. Data from successive samples can then be combined. Adults can be aged for up to 5 yr after lip...

Extensive monitoring programs are now in progess using molluscs as indicators of trace metal pollution. The importance of biological variability in the interpretation of such studies has frequently been discussed in theory, but less often examined in practice. Only limited progress has been made in establishing a standard methodology for making int...

(1) Population processes were studied for a natural population of Cepaea nemoralis on ungrazed chalk grassland, analysing recapture data by Jolly's method. Results are given for adults between 1968 and 1974, and for juveniles between 1972 and 1974. (2) Adult survival was high, c. 73% per year, and relatively stable. It was apparently unaffected by...

(1) A method is described for estimating migration rates from recapture data by recording movements across internal boundaries of a study site. (2) Application of the method to a grassland population of the snail Cepaea nemoralis indicated an annual adult emigration rate of 26-56% from a 400 m2 plot, and a net loss of c. 10% per year due to collect...

THOMAS et al.1,2 have questioned the ability of molluscs to limit their population size by self inhibition at high densities. They suggest that plant metabolites may have caused the reduction in growth and fecundity of the aquatic snail Biomphalaria glabrata Say ascribed to crowding in previous studies3,4. Field evidence for density-dependent regul...

(1) Measurements were made to determine the life-span of leaves of five common chalkland grasses: Arrhenatherum elatius, Dactylis glomerata, Festuca rubra, Helictotrichon pratense and H. pubescens. Survival time varied from six weeks to six months, depending on species and time of year. (2) Probit transformation straightened the survivorship curves...

(1) In the spring and early summer juvenile Cepaea nemoralis rapidly extend the growing edge of the shell, resulting in a decrease in shell and body weights of c. 50% and c. 35% respectively for standard sized juveniles. (2) Growth rates of marked juveniles showed two distinct phases with respect to size. Maxima occurred at 12-14 mm and 16-19 mm di...

Zinc-65 elimination rates were measured in the laboratory for adult land snails, Cepaea nemnoralis fed on carrot at 10?, 13?, 16?, and 22?C and fed on a natural food material at 13?C, and for juveniles fed on carrot at 13?C. Ingestion, assimilation, production, and respiration were determined for each snail. Regressions between 5'-Zn loss and vario...

Faecal analysis of adult Cepaea nemoralis (L). and three size-classes of juveniles collected from chalk grassland showed that dead plant material was preferred to fresh, and herbs to grasses. Adult snails showed greater selectivity than juveniles. During the year the diet changed according to the availability of preferred materials. Assimilation ef...

Summary Concentrations of lead in the bodies of roadside invertebrates were generally below 50 p.p.m., but reached nearly 700 p.p.m. in woodlice (Isopoda). Lead levels in tissues of small mammals caught on roadside verges did not exceed 30 p.p.m., and were thus less than the levels found in many of their prey. No evidence was found of decreases in...