Vicki Bonham

Dr Vicki Bonham Content Editor, Plant Sciences My background is in plant sciences with a BSc in botany and PhD in plant molecular biology. I spent 6 years working as a research fellow at the University of Reading on projects varying from searching for the ultimate birch tree (anatomically speaking) to making biodegradable packaging from…
Read Further

Katherine Cameron

Katherine CameronContent Editor (Environmental Sciences) & Mapping Coordinator My interest in the environmental sciences developed whilst I was studying Biological Sciences as an undergraduate at Oxford University where I specialised in Environmental Sciences and Animal Sciences. I carried out a fieldwork project in my final year looking at the use of hedgerows by insects and…
Read Further

Soil, a potential large scale carbon store

We have all heard in the news that to tackle climate change, greenhouse-gas emissions must be reduced on a global scale. Fossil fuel emissions still remain the largest contributor to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, therefore reducing their contribution to global energy is key1. However, as this is a process that can not be done overnight,…
Read Further

David Hemming

Dr David Hemming Editor, CAB ReviewsI’ve been writing news about agricultural biotechnology since I joined CABI in 1988, following a genetics PhD at the University of Liverpool. It’s always been a fascinating area, at a scientific level and in terms of the responses to the technology. While working at CABI I took a Diploma in…
Read Further

Tim Holmes

Dr Timothy Holmes Business Innovations Executive As part of the Business Innovations Team at CABI, I look for new and interesting ways to apply technologies to the activities of our not-for-profit organisation. The CABI blog is an exciting channel that we can use to communicate with our customers. I came to CABI from a science…
Read Further

Philip Roberts

Dr Philip Roberts Editor, Content Development (Environmental Sciences) I have always been interested in nature conservation, ecology and environmental management. Ever since school I volunteered at my local nature reserve. I then went on to study for a B.Sc. Environmental Science and Environmental Geography, at the University of Bradford. This was the first course that…
Read Further

Gareth Richards

Dr Gareth RichardsEditor, CABI Compendium Program I’ve been an Editor in CABI’s Compendium Programme for the past seven years. With a degree in zoology and following up on my interests in fish (aquarium, sports, and I like eating them too), I completed my PhD (at Liverpool University, UK) on Gyrodactylus spp. parasites of poeciliid fishes…
Read Further

Climate change clock ticking for wild relatives

International Biodiversity Day is here, and CGIAR brings us news that climate change threatens the wild relatives of cultivated potatoes and peanuts. The CGIAR study warns that 61% of wild peanut and 12% of wild potato species could be made extinct over the next half century. This poses a problem for plant breeders and GM…
Read Further

1000 diseases mapped – a challenge is issued

Over at the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog Jeremy decided to lay down a challenge to us here at CABI – make it possible to view the changes in distribution over time. We’d like to explain a little more about the history of the maps – we began publishing Distribution Maps of Plant Diseases in 1942 and…
Read Further

Could it bee your mobile phone?

One serious cause of honey bee die-off in the US is Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).  It leads to collapse of the hive often with complete absence of bees or only the queen and few other individuals remaining.  A story in the Independent yesterday highlighted a theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other…
Read Further