Dr Stephen Watson is an interdisciplinary Ecosystem Services Scientist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, currently working on the UKERC Energy, Environment and Landscapes programme 2020-2023 and the DREAMS - Decommissioning - Relative Effects of Alternative Management Strategies project (2020-2023). His research utilises: ecological indicators, GIS, ecosystem models (e.g., Ecopath, InVEST) and methods of environmental economic evaluation to better understand the effects offshore energy structures have on marine ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide. He also specialises in applying the Natural Capital approach to coastal, marine and terrestrial systems and have worked on issues such as the impact of climate change, agricultural intensification, water quality and tipping points on ecosystem services as part of the wider Valuing Nature (VNP) and Biodiversity & Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) research programmes.
Stephen conducted his PhD on the “impact of multiple stressors on coastal biodiversity and associated ecosystem services” at PML and the University of St Andrews from 2013-2017. Prior to his return to PML in 2020, he was a Senior Research Associate on the Solent Natural Capital Project at the University of Portsmouth.
- DREAMS - Decommissioning - Relative Effects of Alternative Management Strategies
- UKERC Energy, Environment and Landscapes programme
- INSITE Overall Synthesis Project
- Solent Natural Capital Study
- Tipping points in Lowland Agricultural systems (Valuing Nature Programme)
- Coastal Biodiversity & Ecosystem Service Sustainability (CBESS)
- Watson, S.C.L, Newton, A.C., Ridding, L.E., Evans, P.M., Brand, S., McCracken, M., Gosal, A.S. and Bullock, J.M., 2021. Does agricultural intensification cause tipping points in ecosystem services?. Landscape Ecology, 36(12), pp.3473-3491.
- Watson, S.C.L., Preston, J., Beaumont, N.J. and Watson, G.J., 2020. Assessing the natural capital value of water quality and climate regulation in temperate marine systems using a EUNIS biotope classification approach. Science of the total Environment, 744, p.140688.
- Newton, A.C., Evans, P.M., Watson, S.C.L, Ridding, L.E., Brand, S., McCracken, M., Gosal, A.S. and Bullock, J.M., 2021. Ecological restoration of agricultural land can improve its contribution to economic development. PloS one, 16(3), p.e0247850.
- Watson, S.C.L., Grandfield, F.G.C., Herbert, R.J.H. and Newton, A.C., 2018. Detecting ecological thresholds and tipping points in the natural capital assets of a protected coastal ecosystem. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 215, 112-123.
- Watson, S.C.L. and Newton, A.C., 2018. Dependency of businesses on flows of ecosystem services: A case study from the county of Dorset, UK. Sustainability (Switzerland), 10 (5).
- Watson, S.C.L., Paterson, D.M., Queirós, A.M., Rees, A.P., Stephens, N., Widdicombe, S. and Beaumont, N.J., 2016. A conceptual framework for assessing the ecosystem service of waste remediation: In the marine environment. Ecosystem Services, 20, 69-81.