Robert Briers

Robert Briers

Dr Robert Briers

Associate Professor

 0131 455 2503

  r.briers@napier.ac.uk

   

Biography

Dr Rob Briers is an Associate Professor of Ecology and Head of Life Sciences in the School of Applied Sciences. Rob is an ecologist with a particular emphasis on aquatic systems, quantitative methods and all things spatial.
He employs a combination of field-, laboratory- and modelling-based approaches to a range of pure and applied ecological questions in freshwater, terrestrial and marine ecosystems and across a range of spatial scales. Current research interests focus on the use of stable isotopes to examine patterns of distribution and reproduction of migratory salmonids, spatial modelling of carbon storage in mangrove ecosystems and patterns of invertebrate diversity and community composition in pond ecosystems.
Prior to joining Edinburgh Napier, Rob undertook a NERC-funded post-doc at Aberystwyth University using a combination of novel techniques (stable isotopes and harmonic radar tracking) to examine dispersal patterns of adult aquatic insects in upland streams. Prior to this he gained a PhD from the University of Sheffield on metapopulation ecology of backswimmers.

School

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Member of the Scottish Biodiversity Information Forum
  • British Ecological Society representative on Scottish Environment LINK
  • Member of British Ecological Society Scottish Policy Group
  • Co-convenor of Constructed Wetlands Research Group
  • Invited Participant in NERC UKPOPNET Working Group on Protected Area Management
  • Member of the Ponds Advisory Council

 

Conference Activity

  • Oral Presentation at Ecology Across Borders Conference (BES/GFÖ/NecoV/EEF)
  • Chair of The Wildlife Information Centre Autumn Conference session
  • Conference Presentation: British Ecological Society Annual Meeting, Edinburgh
  • Invited Conference Presentation: Second International Sea Trout Symposium, Dundalk
  • Conference Presentation: Edinburgh Consortium for Rural Research
  • Conference Presentation: Constructed Wetlands Research Group Meeting
  • Conference Presentation: British Ecological Society Annual Meeting
  • Invited Conference Presentation: European Pond Conservation Network Conference
  • Invited Speaker: University of Sheffield Departmental Seminar
  • Convenor of Royal Entomological Society International Symposium
  • Conference Presentation: European Pond Conservation Network Conference, Toulouse
  • Invited Conference Presentation: International Association of Landscape Ecology Conference
  • Conference Presentation: British Ecological Society Annual Meeting
  • Conference Presentation: European Pond Conservation Network Conference, Geneva
  • Conference Presentation: British Ecological Society Annual Meeting

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External Examiner for MRes Aquatic Ecology by Research, Queen Mary University of London
  • External Examiner for MSc Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Queen Mary University of London

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Validation of Stable Isotope Analysis: Tweed and Deveron
  • Freshwater / Marine Origins of Trout Fry in the Tweed Catchment
  • Exploratory study of Freshwater / Marine Origins of Trout Fry in the Deveron Catchment
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Outstanding Publication Award from Energy, Natural Resources and Environment Section of INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)

 

Grant Reviewer

  • Grant Reviewer: NERC
  • Grant Reviewer: International Foundation for Science
  • Grant Reviewer: BBSRC
  • Grant Reviewer: BBSRC

 

Invited Speaker

  • Invited Key Speaker at Second International Sea Trout Symposium, Dundalk
  • Invited Speaker at European Pond Conservation Network Conference, Valencia
  • Invited Speaker at University of Sheffield Departmental Seminar Series
  • Invited Speaker: International Association of Landscape Ecology Conference
  • Invited speaker: Queen Mary University of London Departmental Seminar
  • Invited speaker at North American Benthological Society Conference

 

Media Activity

  • Paper on noise effects on mussels featured in several national newspapers
  • Research featured on BBC One Scotland Landward Programme

 

Non-executive Directorship

  • Director of The Wildlife Information Centre (Biological Records Centre for South-East and Central Scotland)

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • External Examiner for PhD Candidate: Heriot-Watt University
  • External Examiner for PhD Candidate: University of Bath
  • External Examiner for PhD Candidate: University of Leeds
  • External Examiner for MPhil Candidate: University of Sheffield
  • External Examiner for PhD Candidate: Queen Mary, University of London
  • External Examiner for PhD Candidate: University of Sheffield

 

Reviewing

  • Reviewer: Landscape Research
  • Reviewer: Ecology of Freshwater Fish
  • Reviewer: Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
  • Reviewer: Biological Invasions
  • Reviewer: Biology Letters
  • Reviewer: Freshwater Biology
  • Reviewer: Lake and Reservoir Research and Managment
  • Reviewer: Environmental Science and Policy
  • Reviewer: Freshwater Biology
  • Reviewer: Hydrobiologia
  • Reviewer: Water Research
  • Reviewer: Diversity
  • Reviewer: Biological Conservation
  • Reviewer: Landscape Ecology
  • Reviewer: Hydrobiologia
  • Reviewer: Hydrobiologia
  • Reviewer: Ecology of Freshwater Fish
  • Reviewer: Fundamental and Applied Limnology
  • Reviewer: Landscape Ecology
  • Reviewer: Biological Conservation
  • Reviewer: Hydrobiologia
  • Reviewer: Biological Conservation
  • Reviewer: Freshwater Biology
  • Reviewer: Hydrobiologia
  • Reviewer: Aquatic Ecology
  • Reviewer: Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research
  • Reviewer: Ecological Applications
  • Reviewer: Hydrobiologia
  • Reviewer: Journal of Animal Ecology
  • Reviewer: Landscape Ecology
  • Reviewer: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London
  • Reviewer: Archiv fur Hydrobiologie
  • Reviewer: Biological Conservation
  • Reviewer: Ecology
  • Reviewer: Landscape Ecology
  • Reviewer: Aquatic Conservation
  • Reviewer: Biological Conservation
  • Reviewer: Hydrobiologia
  • Reviewer: Journal of Animal Ecology
  • Reviewer: Oecologia
  • Reviewer: Aquatic Conservation
  • Reviewer: Conservation Biology
  • Reviewer: Functional Ecology
  • Reviewer: Aquatic Microbial Ecology
  • Reviewer: Biological Conservation
  • Reviewer: Ecography
  • Reviewer: Journal of Environmental Management
  • Reviewer: Landscape and Urban Planning

 

Filter by

Date


48 results

Component processes of detection probability in camera-trap studies: understanding the occurrence of false-negatives

Journal Article
Findlay, M. A., Briers, R. A., & White, P. J. C. (2020)
Component processes of detection probability in camera-trap studies: understanding the occurrence of false-negatives. Mammal Research, 65, 167-180. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-020-00478-y
Camera-trap studies in the wild record true-positive data, but data loss from false-negatives (i.e. an animal is present but not recorded) is likely to vary and widely impact ...

Increasing intensities of Anisakis simplex third-stage larvae (L3) in Atlantic salmon of coastal waters of Scotland

Journal Article
Kent, A. J., Pert, C. C., Briers, R. A., Diele, K., & Rueckert, S. (2020)
Increasing intensities of Anisakis simplex third-stage larvae (L3) in Atlantic salmon of coastal waters of Scotland. Parasites & vectors, 13, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-020-3942-5
Background: Red Vent Syndrome (RVS), a haemorrhagic inflammation of the vent region in Atlantic salmon, is associated with high abundance of Anisakis simplex (s.s.) third-stag...

First genetic evidence that invasive bullhead (Cottus L. 1758) in Scotland is of English origin and the difficulty of resolving the European Cottus species taxonomy

Journal Article
McLeish, J., Briers, R., Dodd, J., & Rueckert, S. (2020)
First genetic evidence that invasive bullhead (Cottus L. 1758) in Scotland is of English origin and the difficulty of resolving the European Cottus species taxonomy. Journal of Fish Biology, 96(3), 617-630. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.14247
The European bullhead (Cottus gobio) is widely distributed across Europe and within the UK is native to England and Wales, where it is protected under the Habitats Directive. ...

Response of a marine benthic invertebrate community and biotic indices to organic enrichment from sewage disposal

Journal Article
Culhane, F. E., Briers, R. A., Tett, P., & Fernandes, T. F. (2019)
Response of a marine benthic invertebrate community and biotic indices to organic enrichment from sewage disposal. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, 99(8), 1721-1734. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315419000857
Nutrient enrichment is a significant cause of ecosystem change in coastal habitats worldwide. This study focuses on the change in a benthic macroinvertebrate community and env...

cde - R package to retrieve data from the Environment Agency Catchment Data Explorer site

Journal Article
Briers, R. (2019)
cde - R package to retrieve data from the Environment Agency Catchment Data Explorer site. Journal of Open Source Software, 4(39), https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01473

From DNA to ecological performance: Effects of anthropogenic noise on a reef-building mussel

Journal Article
Wale, M. A., Briers, R. A., Hartl, M. G., Bryson, D., & Diele, K. (2019)
From DNA to ecological performance: Effects of anthropogenic noise on a reef-building mussel. Science of the Total Environment, 689, 126-132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.380
Responses of marine invertebrates to anthropogenic noise are insufficiently known, impeding our understanding of ecosystemic impacts of noise and the development of mitigation...

Optimising camera trap data quality at mammal resting places.

Journal Article
Findlay, M. A., Briers, R. A., & White, P. J. C. (2018)
Optimising camera trap data quality at mammal resting places. In Practice, 24-28
A thorough understanding of how camera traps function is essential for ensuring correct set-up and quality of data. We illustrate the challenges through a case study of camera...

The thin(ning) green line? Investigating changes in Kenya's seagrass coverage

Journal Article
Harcourt, W. D., Briers, R. A., & Huxham, M. (2018)
The thin(ning) green line? Investigating changes in Kenya's seagrass coverage. Biology Letters, 14(11), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0227
Knowledge of seagrass distribution is limited to a few well-studied sites and poor where resourcesare scant (e.g. Africa), hence global estimates of seagrass carbon storage ar...

From DNA to Ecological Performance: Effects of Anthropogenic Noise on a Reef-Building Mussel

Dataset
Wale, M., Diele, K., & Briers, R. (2018)
From DNA to Ecological Performance: Effects of Anthropogenic Noise on a Reef-Building Mussel. [Dataset]. https://doi.org/10.17869/1ykg-ax55

The functional response and resilience in small waterbodies along land-use and environmental gradients

Journal Article
Thornhill, I. A., Biggs, J., Hill, M. J., Briers, R., Gledhill, D., Wood, P. J., …Hassall, C. (2018)
The functional response and resilience in small waterbodies along land-use and environmental gradients. Global Change Biology, 24(7), 3079-3092. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14149
There is growing recognition of the essential services provided to humanity by functionally intact ecosystems. Freshwater ecosystems are found throughout agricultural and urba...

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects

Non-Napier PhD or MSc by Research supervisions

  • PhD Completion: Dr Lauren McWhinnie