Dr Ian Lawson
Senior Lecturer
Teaching
I convene GG1001 "Welcome to the Anthropocene", GG4245 "Biogeography and the Earth System", and SD5031 "Contemporary Environmental Issues". I am particularly enthusiastic about field and lab teaching, including teaching research and quantitative data analysis methods, and I frequently co-lead residential field classes. I also contribute to various modules at Sub-Honours and Masters level and supervise dissertations.
Research areas
I am a Senior Lecturer in physical geography and co-director of the St Andrews Centre for Critical Sustainabilities.
My PhD training was in Quaternary science - studying the geological history of the most recent part of the geological record, the last ~2.6 million years, which encompasses the dramatic climatic changes of the Ice Ages and the rise of humans as an agent of change on the planet. I was trained in pollen analysis and related palaeoenvironmental techniques and have a publication record in environmental change and human-environment interactions in ecosystems ranging from the sub-arctic to the tropics.
Much of my work concerns questions of environmental management and long-term sustainability of socio-ecological systems, and has contributed to policy-making and other impact agendas around sustainable development. I also have a track record of expertise in the development and functioning of tropical peatlands, including their palaeoecology and geochemistry; quantitative regional-scale synthesis and analysis of environmental data; and long-term (Holocene and older) perspectives on environmental change and human impacts.
PhD supervision
- Mugdha Chimote
- Brian Kipruto
- Innes Manders
- Celeste Smith
- Alasdair Worrell
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
Long-term interventions by conservation and development projects support successful recovery of tropical peatlands in Amazonia
Honorio Coronado, E. N., Rios, J. G., Pasquel, J. D. Á., Llampazo, G. F., Oroche, C. C., Huaymacari, J. R., Pizango, G. H., Alvarado, L. F., Murayari, U. P., Reátegui, G. I., Álvarez, C. L., Aleman, E. L., Isasi-Catala, E., Gutierrez-Sotelo, J., Draper, F., Villacorta, M. D. A., Baker, T., Torres, D. D. C., Gamarra, K. D. L. C. & Guerra, D. E. & 5 others, , 6 Mar 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: People and Nature. Early View, p. 1-16 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Timing of peat initiation across the central Congo Basin
Dargie, G. C., Gulliver, P., Lawson, I., Morris, P. J., Crezee, B., Bola, P., Emba, O., Girkin, N. T., Kanyama, J., Biddulph, G. E., Hawthorne, D., Boukono, D. R. V., Louvouandou, L. F., Milandou Matoko, J. P., Milongo, B., Kibongui, G. J., Schefuβ, E., Garcin, Y., Bocko, Y. E. & Young, D. & 12 others, , 1 Aug 2025, In: Environmental Research Letters. 20, 8, 16 p., 084080.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Widespread carbon-dense peatlands in the Colombian lowlands
Winton, R. S., Benavides, J. C., Mendoza, E., Uhde, A., Hastie, A., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Hernandez Ortega, A. G., Paukku, S., Mullins, B., del Aguila Pasquel, J., Aymard-Corredor, G. A., Baker, T. R., Draper, F. C., Flores Llampazo, G., Herrera, R., Phillips, O. L., Reyna Huaymacari, J. M., ter Steege, H., Stropp, J. & Lawson, I. T. & 4 others, , 1 May 2025, In: Environmental Research Letters. 20, 5, 14 p., 054025.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review
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Open access
A new data-driven map predicts substantial undocumented peatland areas in Amazonia
Hastie, A., Householder, J. E., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Hidalgo Pizango, C. G., Herrera, R., Lähteenoja, O., de Jong, J., Winton, R. S., Aymard Corredor, G. A., Reyna, J., Montoya, E., Paukku, S., Mitchard, E. T. A., Åkesson, C. M., Baker, T. R., Cole, L. E. S., Córdova Oroche, C. J., Dávila, N., Águila, J. D. & Draper, F. C. & 13 others, , 1 Sept 2024, In: Environmental Research Letters. 19, 9, 14 p., 094019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review
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Open access
Campanian Ignimbrite tephra reveals asynchronous vegetation responses to abrupt climate change in the eastern Mediterranean region
McGuire, A. M., Lane, C. S., Roucoux, K. H., Lawson, I. T., Koutsodendris, A., Pross, J., Margari, V. & Tzedakis, P. C., 15 Jun 2024, In: Quaternary Science Reviews. 334, 14 p., 108714.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Net primary productivity and litter decomposition rates in two distinct Amazonian peatlands
Dargie, G. C., del Aguila-Pasquel, J., Córdova Oroche, C. J., Irarica Pacaya, J., Reyna Huaymacari, J., Baker, T. R., Hastie, A., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Lewis, S. L., Roucoux, K. H., Mitchard, E. T., Williams, M., Draper, F. C. H. & Lawson, I. T., 20 Aug 2024, In: Global Change Biology. 30, 8, 21 p., e17436.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Variable preservation of the 1991 Hudson tephra in small lakes and on land
Streeter, R. T., Cutler, N., Lawson, I. T., Hutchison, W., Dominguez, L. & Hiles, W., 3 Oct 2024, In: Frontiers in Earth Science. 12, 20 p., 1433960.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Genesis and development of an interfluvial peatland in the central Congo Basin since the Late Pleistocene
Hawthorne, D., Lawson, I. T., Dargie, G. C., Bocko, Y. E., Ifo, S. A., Garcin, Y., Schefuß, E., Hiles, W., Jovani-Sancho, A. J., Tyrell, G., Biddulph, G., Boom, A., Chase, B. M., Gulliver, P., Page, S. E., Roucoux, K., Sjögersten, S., Young, D. M. & Lewis, S. L., 1 Apr 2023, In: Quaternary Science Reviews. 305, 24 p., 107992.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Influence of flooding variability on the development of an Amazonian peatland
Sassoon, D., Fletcher, W. J., Roucoux, K. H., Ryan, P., Lawson, I. T., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Del Aguila Pasquel, J., Bishop, T., Åkesson, C. M. & Hastie, A., 28 Dec 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Quaternary Science. Early View, 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review