Overview

I lead a large and diverse research group studying Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and Services (TESS Lab) and I lead the 'Oppenheimer Research Programme in African Landscape Systems', a six-year programme of foundational and applied scientific work focussed on environmental sustainability in Africa.

Broad research specialisms:

Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and Services / Remote Sensing / Ecosystem Structure and Function / Environmental Change / Dryland Carbon Dynamics

Qualifications

PhD Physical Geography (University of Exeter)
MSc Catchment Dynamics and Management (University of Leeds)
BSc Physical Geography (University of Exeter)

Career

I obtained my first degree in Physical Geography at the University of Exeter (2008-2011). I then went on to complete an MSc in Catchment Dynamics and Management at the University of Leeds (2011-2012), before returning to Exeter for my doctorate (2012-2016), studying the stocks and movement of carbon in the Chihuahuan Desert. I then worked as a NERC Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in Tundra Drone Ecology with Team Shrub at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Geosciences (2016 – 2017). In 2018 I returned to Exeter as a Research Co-Investigator on the NERC-funded DRIVING-C project, studying the trends and interannual variability in dryland carbon dynamics. Since October 2021, I lead the Oppenheimer Research Programme in African Landscape Systems at the University of Exeter.

Research group links

• Landscape and ecosystem dynamics

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Research

Research interests

My research focuses on the stocks and fluxes of carbon in dryland ecosystems. While carbon stocks are relatively low in drylands on a per-unit-area basis, the large global extent of water-limited ecosystems and their variability through time means that they play a major role in the global carbon cycles. In my work, I seek new insights in the structure and function of dryland ecosystems in order to refine numerical models of their behavior.

I have ongoing interests in the measurement of vegetation attributes such as aboveground biomass with drone photogrammetry, the lateral redistribution of organic and inorganic carbon by surface runoff, and the measurement of rapidly changing ecosystems in the Arctic.

Research projects

'Oppenheimer Research Programme in African Landscape Systems', a six-year programme of foundational and applied scientific work jointly funded by Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation and the University of Exeter.

Tropical Forest Protection and Restoration: Understanding carbon storage within degraded and recovering forest ecosystems, funded by the A.G. Leventis Foundation awarded to T. Lenton, T. Powell, T. Feldpausch and A. Cunliffe

DRIVING-C - Do dryland ecosystems control variability and recent trends in the land CO2 sink? (NE/R00062X/1) Research Co-Investigator, working with R. Brazier, S. Sitch, K. Anderson, and T. Hill.

Research grants

• 2022 Shangani Holistic
  Funding from industry partner Shangani Holistic to sponsor an applied PhD studentship studying management of shrub encroachment on African rangelands as part of OPALS, awarded to A. Cunliffe (PI). External.
• 2022 Permian Global
  Second round of funding from industry partner Permian Global to support more scientific evidencing of payments for ecosystem services over three years, awarded to A. Cunliffe (PI) & T. Feldpausch (CI). External.

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Publications

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Supervision / Group

Postgraduate researchers

Alumni

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