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Matt is the Programme Manager for the Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment at Forest Research.

His previous research focused on improving our understanding of forest carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) balances and how they may be impacted by management, environmental and climate change. Matt’s particular work focused on using a combination of surface flux techniques across a range of scales to understand the processes controlling C and GHG cycling within forest ecosystems. In addition to leading a number of GHG and forest monitoring related projects, he managed the Straits Flux Research Site within the Alice Holt Research Forest for several years.

Matt is also interested in developing new techniques and sensors for forest monitoring.

Matt joined Forest Research in 2001 after working in agricultural crop trials and commercial horticulture. He graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1995 with a BSc (Hons) in Agriculture and the Environment and then obtained an MSc in Crop Production in the Changing Environment in 1996 from the University of Essex. He completed his PhD by Publication at the University of Portsmouth.

Affiliations

Member of the British Ecological Society

Member of the European Geosciences Union

Programme Manager - NCEA (Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment)
Inventory, forecasting and operational support (IFOS)

Alice Holt

Alice Holt Lodge

Wrecclesham

Farnham

Surrey

Related Research

Research

Straits Inclosure long-term carbon dioxide flux monitoring site

Describes the Forest Research Straits carbon flux site

Status current

Related Publications

Publication

The carbon balances of two contrasting forest stands growing in the UK

This Research Note summarises recent research on the carbon balances of two forest stands: an upland Sitka spruce plantation in Harwood Forest in the northeast of England, and a lowland deciduous oak plantation in Alice Holt Forest in southeast England.

Published
Themes

Peer reviewed journal articles

Peer reviewed papers

Bateman,I.J., Anderson,K., Argles, A., Belcher,C., Betts,R.A. et al. (inc M. Wilkinson) (2022) A review of planting principles to identify the right place for the right tree for ‘net zero plus’ woodlands: Applying a place-based natural capital framework for sustainable, efficient and equitable (SEE) decisions. People and Nature. 2022;00:1–31. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10331

Cade, S.M., Clemitshaw, K.C., Molina-Herrera, S., Grote, R., Haas, E., Wilkinson, M., Morison, J.I.L. and Yamulki, S. (2021) Evaluation of LandscapeDNDC  Model Predictions of CO2 and N2O Fluxes from an Oak Forest in SE England. Forests, 12, 1517. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12111517.

Wilkinson, M., Bell, M.C. and Morison, J.I.L (2021). A Raspberry Pi‐based camera system and image processing procedure for low cost and long‐term monitoring of forest canopy dynamics. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13610

Nagai, S., Akitsu, T., Saitoh, T.M. et al. (inc M. Wilkinson) (2018). 8 million phenological and sky images from 29 ecosystems from the Arctic to the tropics: the Phenological Eyes Network Ecol Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-018-1633-x

Wilkinson, M., Eaton, E.L. and Morison, J.I.L. (2018). Can upward-facing digital camera images be used for remote monitoring of forest phenology? Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research 91: Issue 2, 217–224. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpx057

Wilkinson, M., Eaton, E.L. and Morison, J.I.L. (2017). Variation in the date of budburst in Quercus robur and Q. petraea across a range of provenances grown in Southern England. European Journal of Forest Research 136: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-016-0998-z

Ilie, I., Dittrich, P., Carvalhais, N., Jung, M., Heinemeyer, A., Migliavacca, M., Morison, J.I.L, Sippel, S., Subke, J.-A., Wilkinson, M., and Mahecha, M.D. (2016). Reverse engineering model structures for soil and ecosystem respiration: the potential of gene expression programming. Geoscientific Model Development Discussions. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2016-242

Musavi, T., Migliavacca, M., van de Weg, M.J., Kattge, J., Wohlfahrt, G., van Bodegom, P.M., Reichstein, M., Bahn, M., Carrara, A., Domingues, T.F., Gavazzi, M., Gianelle, D., Gimeno, C., Granier, A., Gruening, C., Havránková, K., Herbst, M., Hrynkiw, C., Kalhori, A., Kaminski, T., Klumpp, K., Kolari, P., Longdoz, B., Minerbi, S., Montagnani, L., Moors, E., Oechel, W.C., Reich, P.B., Rohatyn, S., Rossi, A., Rotenberg, E., Varlagin, A., Wilkinson, M., Wirth, C., and Mahecha, M.D. (2016). Potential and limitations of inferring ecosystem photosynthetic capacity from leaf functional traits. Ecology and Evolution, 00: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2479

Pinnington, E.M., Casella, E., Dance, S.L., Lawless, A. S., Morison, J.I.L., Nichols, N.K., Wilkinson, M. and Quaife, T.L. (2016). Investigating the role of prior and observation error correlations in improving a model forecast for forest carbon balance using Four-dimensional Variational data assimilation. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 228: 299-314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2016.07.006.

Wilkinson, M., Crow, P., Eaton, E.L. and Morison, J.I.L. (2016). Effects of management thinning on CO2 exchange by a plantation oak woodland in south-eastern England. Biogeosciences 13: 2367-2378. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2367-2016.

Wingate, L., Ogée, J., Cremonese, E., Filippa, G., Mizunuma, T., Migliavacca, M., Moisy, C., Wilkinson, M., Moureaux, C., Wohlfahrt, G., Hammerle, A., Hörtnagl, L., Gimeno, C., Porcar-Castell, A., Galvagno, M., Nakaji, T., Morison, J. Kolle, O., Knohl, A., Kutsch, W., Kolari, P., Nikinmaa, E., Ibrom, A., Gielen, B., Eugster, W., Balzarolo, M., Papale, D., Klumpp, K., Köstner, B., Grünwald, T., Joffre, R., Ourcival, J.-M., Hellstrom, M., Lindroth, A., George, C., Longdoz, B., Genty, B., Levula, J., Heinesch, B., Sprintsin, A., Yakir, D., Manise, T., Guyon, D., Ahrends, H., Plaza-Aguilar, A., Guan, J. H. and J. Grace (2015). Interpreting canopy development and physiology using a European phenology camera network at flux sites. Biogeosciences 12: 5995-6015.

D’Odorico, P., Gonsamo, A., Gough, C.M., Bohrer, G., Morison, J., Wilkinson, M.Hanson, P.J., Gianelle, D., Fuentes, J.D. and Buchmann, N. (2015). The match and mismatch between photosynthesis and land surface phenology of deciduous forests. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 214-15: 25-38.

Büker, P., Feng, Z., Udding, J., Briolat, A., Alonso, R., Braun, S., Elvira, S., Geroes, G., Karlsson, P.E., Le Thiec, D., Marzuoli, R., Mills, G., Oksanen, E., Wieser, G., Wilkinson, M. and Emberson, L.D. (2015). New flux based dose response relationships for ozone for European forest tree species. Environmental Pollution 206:163-174.

Xia, J., Niu, S., Ciais, P., Janssens, I., Chen, J., Ammann, C., Arain, A., Blanken, P.D., Cescatti, A., Bonal, D., Buchmann, N., Curtis, P.S., Chen, S., Dong, J., Flanagan, L.B., Frankenberg, C., Georgiadis, T., Gough, C.M., Hui, D., Kiely, G., Li, J., Lund, M., Magliulo, V., Marcolla, B., Merbold, L., Montagnani, L., Moors, E., Olesen, J.E., Piao, S., Raschi, A., Roupsard, O., Suyker, A.E., Urbaniak, M., Vaccari, F.P., Varlagin, A., Vesala, T., Wilkinson, M., Weng, E., Wohlfahrt, G., Yan, L., Luo, Y. (2015).  Joint control of terrestrial gross primary productivity by plant phenology and physiology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Vol 12 no. 9: 2788-2792. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1413090112.

Ward, H.C., Kotthaus, S., Grimmond, C.S.B., Bjorkegren, A., Wilkinson, M., Morrison, W.T.J., Evans, J.G., Morison, J.I.L. and Iamarino, M. (2014). Effects of urban density on carbon dioxide exchanges: observations of dense urban, suburban and woodland areas of southern England. Environmental Pollution 198: 186-200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.12.031

Wilkinson, M., Eaton, E.L., Broadmeadow, M.S.J. and Morison, J.I.L. (2012). Inter-annual variation of carbon uptake by a plantation oak woodland in south-eastern England. Biogeosciences 9: 5373-5389.

Mizunuma, T., Wilkinson, M., Eaton, E.L., Mencuccini, M., Morison, J.I.L. and Grace. J. (2012). The relationship between carbon dioxide uptake and canopy colour from two camera systems in a deciduous forest in southern England. Functional Ecology 27:196-207.

Heinemeyer, A., Wilkinson, M., Vargas, R., Subke, J.-A., Casella, E., Morison J.I.L. and Ineson, P. (2012). Exploring the “overflow tap” theory: linking forest soil CO2 fluxes and individual mycorrhizosphere components to photosynthesis. Biogeosciences 9: 79–95.

Moffat, A.J., Benham, S., Morison, J.I.L., Pitman, R., Vanguelova, E.I., Wilkinson, M. and Yamulki, S. (2010).  The value of forest monitoring in developing forest ecosystem science in Britain.  In: John Derome – Ambassador for forest monitoring in Europe, L. Ukonmaanaho, K. Derome, P. Rautio and P. Merilä (eds), Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 180, Helsinki.

Vanguelova, E.I., Benham, S., Pitman, R., Moffat, A. Broadmeadow, M., Nisbet, T., Durrant, D., Barsoum, N.,Wilkinson, M., Bochereau, F., Broadmeadow, S., Hutchings, T., Crow, P., Durrant-Huston, T. and Taylor, P. (2010). Chemical fluxes in time through forest ecosystems in the UK – soil response to pollution recovery. Environmental Pollution 158: 1857-1869.

Book chapters

Vilhar, U., Beuker, E., Mizunuma, T., Skudnik, M., Lebourgeois, F., Soudani K. and Wilkinson, M. (2013). Measurement methods for above-ground vegetation – Tree Phenology. In: Ferretti, M. and Fischer, R. (eds). Forest Monitoring. Scientific methods for the terrestrial monitoring of temperate and boreal forests. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 169-182.

Recent published abstract and conference posters

Wilkinson, M., Bell, M., Baer, T. and Xenakis, G. (2021). Measuring and monitoring trees and forests using a novel IoT approach European Geosciences Union General Assembly, 19th-30th April 2021

Wilkinson, M., Eaton, E.L. and Morison J.I.L. (2017). How does tree seed provenance affect budburst date for oaks in southern England? South Downs National Park Research Conference, Midhurst, 6th July 2017.

Wilkinson, M., Eaton, E.L., Pinnington, E.M. and Morison, J.I.L. (2016). Implications of altered phenology on the carbon dynamics of deciduous oak woodland. European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna 12th-17th April 2016.

Wilkinson, M., Eaton, E., Casella, C., Crow, P., and Morison, J.I.L. (2013). Effects of management thinning on carbon dioxide uptake by a plantation oak woodland in SE England. Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 15, EGU2013-5512, 2013.

Eaton, E., Wilkinson, M., Mizunuma, T. and Morison, J.I.L. (2010) Quantifying the role of forest phenology in CO2 fluxes. UK- Japan Workshop on Forest and Climate Change, British Embassy, Tokyo 25th-26th August 2010.