Professional summary

Don has extensive expertise in the operation and management of long-term integrated ecological and biogeochemical monitoring and survey programmes, covering both freshwater and terrestrial environments. His experience spans the chain from field operations to data collation, processing, quality control, data interpretation and reporting. Don’s primary scientific interests are in the biogeochemical and ecological effects of atmospheric pollution, climate change and land use on upland ecosystems, and particularly upland streams and lakes, confounding influences of climate variability and nitrogen deposition, along with the drivers and environmental consequences of regional increases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and fluxes.

He leads the UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UWMN), the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) and the secretariat of the UK Environmental Observation Framework (UKEOF), and represents the UK on the International Cooperative Programme for the Assessment and Monitoring of the effects of air pollution on rivers and lakes. He recently led the DOC-focussed UKRI SPF Climate Change Resilience project FREEDOM-BCCR, and previously the NERC ERIIP project FREEDOM (co-funded by Scottish Water), both focussed on improving understanding within the UK water industry of likely future trajectories of Dissolved Organic Matter levels in upland drinking water sources. He has had a teaching role on the University of Lancaster LEC MSc Lake Ecology module since 2008. 

Selected publications