Dr Althea Davies
Director of Impact
Senior Lecturer
Teaching
My main teaching responsibilities:
- Second year environmental geography (GG2014) and biodiversity and sustainable development (SD2006)
- Third year environmental/physical geography research methods and residential fieldtrip (GG3213)
- Dissertation supervision
- MSc Sustainable Development contributor (GD5802)
Research areas
My research focuses on long-term human-environment interactions and their implications for biodiversity and conservation, and how we deal with biocultural legacies in contemporary environmental management. Current and recent projects include: methods for tracking the role of large herbivores as ecosystem drivers, valuing intact tropical peatlands, and textiles as biocultural heritage.
Better understanding between palaeoecology and ecology is central to my interests. To support this I co-chair the British Ecological Society Palaeoecology Group, and set up the informal Palaeoenvironmental and Archaeological Sciences Scotland (PALASS) Network to connect researchers working in and on Scottish environments.
PhD supervision
- Christopher Blake
- Camille Choquet
- Innes Manders
- Benjamin Ong
- Isabella Prado
Selected publications
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A new tephrochronological record of a raised bog in eastern lowland Scotland
Wang, L., Roucoux, K. H., Davies, A. L., Zhang, S., Sun, C., Streeter, R. T., Hutchison, W. & Lawson, I. T., 1 Feb 2025, In: Quaternary Geochronology. 86, 15 p., 101647.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Applying a unified framework to compare taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity in Holocene pollen records
Penny, A. M., Chao, A., Davies, A. L. & Magurran, A. E., 6 Aug 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Ecology. Early View, p. 1-18 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Legacies of loss: is there a place for intangible perceptions in the palaeoecology of the Scottish Highlands?
Davies, A. L., Feb 2025, A Place for the Heathlands?: Human-Health Relations in Deep-Time and Contemporary Perspectives. Løvschal, M. & Grønneberg, K. (eds.). Højbjerg, Denmark: Jutland Archaeological SocietyResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Open access
Social and cultural considerations for the restoration of ‘lost’ tree species: the fall and rise of elm
West, F., White, R. M., Davies, A. L., Buggs, R. & Marzano, M., 4 Dec 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: People and Nature. Early View, 11 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Sustainable management of non-timber forest products in Peruvian Amazonia: lessons learnt from participatory use of smartphone technology
Wheeler, C. E., Davies, A. L., Andueza, L., Cole, L. E. S., Dávila, N., Del Águila, J., del Aguila Villacorta, M., Draper, F. C., Evans, C. L. D., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Laurie, N., Loja, E., Brañas, M. M., Mitchard, E. T. A. & Roucoux, K. H., 1 Sept 2025, In: Journal of Environmental Management. 391, 11 p., 126198.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Towards a process of translational palaeoecology: a practical guide to research co-production
Gauld, J., Fletcher, W. J., Shuttleworth, E. L., Akerman, J., Angus, M., Barrowclough, C., Bennion, H., Blundell, A., Bromwich, D., Davies, A. L., Dietl, G. P., Ezquerra, F. J., Farrell, M., Flessa, K., Froyd, C., Fyfe, R., Gillard, M., Gledhill, R., Harper, H. & Higgins, J. & 11 others, , 27 Aug 2025, In: Ecological Solutions and Evidence. 6, 3, 14 p., e70111.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Urarina: Identity and Memory in the Chambira River Basin
Martín Brañas, M., Núñez Pérez, C., Fabiano, E., Del Aguila Villacorta, M., Schulz, C., Laurie, N., Sanjurjo Vilchez, J., Davies, A., Roucoux, K., Lawson, I. T. & Andueza, L., Dec 2025, St Andrews: University of St Andrews. 80 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Open access
Our present is their past: intergenerational heritage and adaptation to climate extremes on the coast of Northern Peru
Davies, A., Laurie, N. & Mendo, T., 26 Apr 2024, Transnational island museologies. Brown, K., Brown, J. & González Rueda, A. (eds.). Paris: ICOFOM, p. 75-79 5 p. (ICOFOM materials for discussion).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Open access
Ten simple rules to bridge ecology and palaeoecology by publishing outside palaeoecological journals
Schafstall, N., Benito, X., Brugger, S. O., Davies, A. L., Ellis, E., Pla-Rabes, S., Bonk, A., Jane Bunting, M., Chambers, F. M., Flantua, S. G. A., Fletcher, T. L., Greiser, C., Hernández, A., Gwinneth, B., Koren, G., Marcisz, K., Montoya, E., Quesada-Román, A., Ratnayake, A. S. & Sabatier, P. & 2 others, , 15 Oct 2024, In: PLoS Computational Biology. 20, 10, 15 p., e1012487.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Community crafts and cultures in Costa Rica: community resilience in response to climate change
Brown, K. E., Brown, J. A., Davies, A., Villalobos, M. L. & Villarreal , R. M., 24 Feb 2023, Ecomuseums and climate change. Borrelli, N., Davis, P. & dal Santo, R. (eds.). Milan: Ledi, p. 237-264Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review