Dr Ian Lawson

Dr Ian Lawson

Senior Lecturer

Researcher profile

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 4023
Email
itl2@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Teaching

I contribute to Honours-level Options modules in Biogeography, and in Reconstructing Environmental Change. I am particularly keen on field and laboratory teaching: I teach research methods to Honours students, including quantitative data analysis, and I frequently co-lead field classes, for example to Iceland. I also contribute to various modules at Sub-Honours and Masters level.

Research areas

I am a Quaternary scientist, trained in pollen analysis and related palaeoenvironmental techniques, with a publication record in Quaternary environmental change in ecosystems ranging from the sub-arctic to the tropics. I 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.

My current interests are in:

  • Tropical peatland science
  • Lateglacial and Holocene environmental change
  • Long-term interactions between people and the environment
  • The carbon cycle and the Earth system
  • Quaternary Science, including pollen analysis.

I have published research based on fieldwork in Greece, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Sweden, Peru, and the Republic of Congo, as well as in the UK.

I would welcome expressions of interest from potential research students in any of these fields.

PhD supervision

  • George Biddulph
  • Alex Houston
  • Celeste Smith

Selected publications

  • 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

  • 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

  • Open access

    La industria petrolera en la cuenca del Pastaza-Marañón y sus impactos ambientales y sociales

     Lawson, I. T., Laurie, N., Schulz, C., Roucoux, K. H., Andueza, L., Cole, L. E. S., Davies, A. L., Honorio Coronado, E. N. & Wheeler, C., 1 Sept 2023, Donde habitan los neba: naturaleza, cultura e impactos ambientales en los territorios del pueblo Urarina. Martín Brañas, M., Fabiano, E. & Del Castillo Torres, D. (eds.). Iquitos: Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana, p. 89–110 22 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

  • Open access

    Navigating shifting waters: subjectivity, oil extraction, and Urarina territorial strategies in the Peruvian Amazon

     Andueza, L. M., del Águila Villacorta, M., Cole, L. E. S., Davies, A. L., Fabiano, E., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Laurie, N., Lawson, I. T., Martín Brañas, M., Mozombite Ruíz, W., Núñez Pérez, C., Roucoux, K. H. & Wheeler, C., Nov 2023, In: Geoforum. 146, 13 p., 103867.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access

    Simulating carbon accumulation and loss in the central Congo peatlands

    Young, D. M., Baird, A. J., Morris, P. J., Dargie, G. C., Mampouya Wenina, Y. E., Mbemba, M., Boom, A., Cook, P., Betts, R., Burke, E., Bocko, Y. E., Chadburn, S., Crabtree, D. E., Crezee, B., Ewango, C. E. N., Garcin, Y., Georgiou, S., Girkin, N. T., Gulliver, P., Hawthorne, D., & 8 others Ifo, S. A., Lawson, I. T., Page, S. E., Jovani‐Sancho, A. J., Schefuß, E., Sciumbata, M., Sjögersten, S. & Lewis, S. L., 6 Nov 2023, In: Global Change Biology. 29, 23, p. 6812-6827 16 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access

    Author correction to "Mapping peat thickness and carbon stocks of the central Congo Basin using field data" (Nature Geoscience, 2022,10.1038/s41561-022-00966-7)

    Crezee, B., Dargie, G. C., Ewango, C. E. N., Mitchard, E. T. A., Emba B, O., Kanyama T, J., Bola, P., Ndjango, J. B. N., Girkin, N. T., Bocko, Y. E., Ifo, S. A., Hubau, W., Seidensticker, D., Batumike, R., Imani, G., Cuní-Sanchez, A., Kiahtipes, C. A., Lebamba, J., Wotzka, H. P., Bean, H., & 7 others Baker, T. R., Baird, A. J., Boom, A., Morris, P. J., Page, S. E., Lawson, I. T. & Lewis, S. L., 1 Oct 2022, In: Nature Geoscience. 15, p. 854 1 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

  • Open access

    Hydroclimatic vulnerability of peat carbon in the central Congo Basin

    Garcin, Y., Schefuss, E., Dargie, G. C., Hawthorne, D., Lawson, I. T., Sebag, D., Biddulph, G. E., Crezee, B., Bocko, Y. E., Ifo, S. A., Mampouya Wenina, Y. E., Mbemba, M., Ewango, C. E. N., Emba, O., Bola, P., Kanyama Tabu, J., Tyrrell, G., Young, D. M., Gassier, G., Girkin, N. T., & 9 others Vane, C. H., Adatte, T., Baird, A. J., Boom, A., Gulliver, P., Morris, P. J., Page, S. E., Sjogersten, S. & Lewis, S. L., 8 Dec 2022, In: Nature. 612, 7939, p. 277-282 6 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access

    Mapping peat thickness and carbon stocks of the central Congo Basin using field data

    Crezee, B., Dargie, G. C., Ewango, C. E. N., Mitchard, E. T. A., Emba B, O., Kanyama T, J., Bola, P., Ndjango, J. B. N., Girkin, N. T., Bocko, Y. E., Ifo, S. A., Hubau, W., Seidensticker, D., Batumike, R., Imani, G., Cuní-Sanchez, A., Kiahtipes, C. A., Lebamba, J., Wotzka, H. P., Bean, H., & 7 others Baker, T. R., Baird, A. J., Boom, A., Morris, P. J., Page, S. E., Lawson, I. T. & Lewis, S. L., 1 Aug 2022, In: Nature Geoscience. 15, p. 639-644

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

  • Open access

    Publisher Correction: Hydroclimatic vulnerability of peat carbon in the central Congo Basin (Nature, (2022), 10.1038/s41586-022-05389-3)

    Garcin, Y., Schefuß, E., Dargie, G. C., Hawthorne, D., Lawson, I. T., Sebag, D., Biddulph, G. E., Crezee, B., Bocko, Y. E., Ifo, S. A., Mampouya Wenina, Y. E., Mbemba, M., Ewango, C. E. N., Emba, O., Bola, P., Kanyama Tabu, J., Tyrrell, G., Young, D. M., Gassier, G., Girkin, N. T., & 9 others Vane, C. H., Adatte, T., Baird, A. J., Boom, A., Gulliver, P., Morris, P. J., Page, S. E., Sjögersten, S. & Lewis, S. L., 1 Dec 2022, In: Nature. 612, 7938, p. E9

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

  • Open access

    Risks to carbon storage from land-use change revealed by peat thickness maps of Peru

    Hastie, A., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Reyna, J., Mitchard, E. T. A., Åkesson, C. M., Baker, T. R., Cole, L. E. S., Oroche, C. J. C., Dargie, G., Dávila, N., De Grandi, E. C., Del Águila, J., Del Castillo Torres, D., De La Cruz Paiva, R., Draper, F. C., Flores, G., Grández, J., Hergoualc’h, K., Householder, J. E., Janovec, J. P., & 8 others Lähteenoja, O., Reyna, D., Rodríguez-Veiga, P., Roucoux, K. H., Tobler, M., Wheeler, C. E., Williams, M. & Lawson, I. T., 14 Apr 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Nature Geoscience. First Online

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

 

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