This study considered the fugitive emissions of methane (CH4) from former oil and gas exploration and production wells drilled to exploit conventional hydrocarbon reservoirs onshore in the UK. This study selected from the 66% of all onshore wells in the UK which appeared to be properly decommissioned (abandoned) that came from 4 different basins and were between 8 and 79 years old. The soil gas above each well was analysed and assessed relative to a nearby control site of similar land use and soil type. The results showed that of the 102 wells considered 30% had soil gas CH4 at the soil surface that was significantly greater than their respective control. Conversely, 39% of well sites had significant lower surface soil gas CH4 concentrations than their respective control. We interpret elevated soil gas CH4 concentrations to be the result of well integrity failure, but do not know the source of the gas nor the route to the surface. Where elevated CH4 was detected it appears to have occurred within a decade of it being drilled. The flux of CH4 from wells was 364 ± 677 kg CO2eq/well/year with a 27% chance that the well would have a negative flux to the atmosphere independent of well age. This flux is low relative to the activity commonly used on decommissioned well sites (e.g. sheep grazing), however, fluxes from wells that have not been appropriately decommissioned would be expected to be higher.

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Land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) have been directly altering climate, and it has been proposed that such changes could mitigate anthropogenic climate warming brought about by increases in greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Changes due to LULUCF alter the Bowen ratio, surface roughness, and albedo and so directly change air temperatures. Previous studies have focused on changes in the area of forestry and have used space‐for‐time substitutions to assess the impact of LULUCF. This study considered 18 years of daytime land surface temperature over an area of actual land use change in comparison to its surrounding landscape and considered the restoration of a lowland peat bog: satellite land surface temperature data across 49, 1‐km2 grid squares with 20 on peatland and 29 on surrounding agricultural land on mineral soils from 2000 to 2017. The peatland squares were, until 2004, dug for horticultural peat and after 2004 were restored with revegetation of bare soil and restoration of natural water tables. Over the 18 years, the average annual daytime land surface temperature significantly decreased for six grid squares, five of which were on the restored peatland where land surface temperature decreased by 2 K. In 2000, before restoration, the peatland was 0.7 K warmer than the surrounding agricultural land on mineral soils but by 2016 was 0.5 K cooler. This study has shown that anthropogenic land use change could cool a landscape and that functioning peatlands could act as cool, humid islands within a landscape.

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1. We set out to evaluate the reliability of bacterial communities as an indicator of freshwater ecological health. 2. Samples of epilithic biofilm were taken over a 1-year period from four streams, each impacted by varying degrees of human modification. The bacteria within each sample were characterised using a whole community DNA fingerprinting technique (automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis). Spatial and temporal differences in community structure between samples were visualised using multi-dimensional scaling and quantified using permutational multivariate AN O V A AN O V A. Macrobenthic invertebrates, which are commonly used as indicators of stream ecological health, were also sampled for comparison. 3. Multivariate analysis revealed a clear gradient in macroinvertebrate community structure between sites exposed to increased human impact. Bacterial communities, however, could only distinguish the most impacted site from the remainder. 4. Additional research is required to increase the sensitivity of bacterial community analyses before endorsing their use as an indicator of freshwater ecological health.

This study aimed to measure the effects of ecological restoration on blanket peat water in and around the gullies investigated whereas a blocked gully has water table depths comparable to a naturally revegetating gully. A 10 cm lowering in water table depth decreases the probability of observing a net CO2 sink, on a given site, by up to 30 %. The most i mportant conclusion of this research was that restoration interventions are effective at increasing the likelihood of net CO2 sink behaviour and raising water tables on degraded, climatically marginal blanket bog.