Professional summary

Don has extensive expertise in the operation and management of long-term integrated ecological and biogeochemical monitoring and survey programmes, covering both freshwater and terrestrial environments. His experience spans the chain from field operations to data collation, processing, quality control, data interpretation and reporting. Don’s primary scientific interests are in the biogeochemical and ecological effects of atmospheric pollution, climate change and land use on upland ecosystems, and particularly upland streams and lakes, confounding influences of climate variability and nitrogen deposition, along with the drivers and environmental consequences of regional increases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and fluxes.

He leads the UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UWMN), the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) and the secretariat of the UK Environmental Observation Framework (UKEOF), and represents the UK on the International Cooperative Programme for the Assessment and Monitoring of the effects of air pollution on rivers and lakes. Don recently led the DOC-focussed UKRI SPF Climate Change Resilience project FREEDOM-BCCR, and previously the NERC ERIIP project FREEDOM (co-funded by Scottish Water), both focussed on improving understanding within the UK water industry of likely future trajectories of Dissolved Organic Matter levels in upland drinking water sources. He has had a teaching role on the University of Lancaster LEC MSc Lake Ecology module since 2008. 

Selected publications

Williamson Jennifer L. et al. , (2021), Landscape controls on riverine export of dissolved organic carbon from Great Britain. Biogeochemistry, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10533-021-00762-2

Monteith Donald T. et al. , (2023), Long-term rise in riverine dissolved organic carbon concentration is predicted by electrolyte solubility theory. Science Advances, 9, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade3491

de Wit Heleen A. et al. , (2021), Cleaner air reveals growing influence of climate on dissolved organic carbon trends in northern headwaters. Environmental Research Letters, 16, http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2526

Anderson T.R. et al. , (2019), Unified concepts for understanding and modelling turnover of dissolved organic matter from freshwaters to the ocean: the UniDOM model. Biogeochemistry, 146, 105-123, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10533-019-00621-1

Meyer-Jacob Carsten et al. , (2017), Inferring past trends in lake water organic carbon concentrations in northern lakes using sediment spectroscopy. Environmental Science & Technology, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b03147

Tipping, E. et al. , (2014), Atmospheric deposition of phosphorus to land and freshwater. Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts, 16, 1608-1617, http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2014/EM/c3em00641g#divAbstract

Evans C.D. et al. , (2016), Sustained biogeochemical impacts of wildfire in a mountain lake catchment. Ecosystems, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-016-0064-1

Rose Rob et al. , (2016), Evidence for increases in vegetation species richness across UK Environmental Change Network sites linked to changes in air pollution and weather patterns. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.01.005

Evans, Chris D. et al. , (2011), Hydrochloric Acid: An Overlooked Driver of Environmental Change. Environmental Science & Technology, 45, 1887-1894, http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es103574u

Monteith, Donald T. et al. , (2007), Dissolved organic carbon trends resulting from changes in atmospheric deposition chemistry. Nature, 450, 537-541, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v450/n7169/abs/nature06316.html