• Question: does your work help the lives of people all around the world?

    Asked by shaz to Zarah on 8 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Zarah Pattison

      Zarah Pattison answered on 8 Nov 2016:

      Hi Shaz!

      My research on plants is to help reduce the loss the native plant diversity in Britain. Many alien plants that live along rivers can cause the banks of rivers to erode and break under stormy conditions in winter which can lead to flooding downstream which affects people.

      But, in other places in the world alien plants can be more devastating to people. In west Africa there are many problems with alien plants overgrowing agricultural areas which can affect people’s livelihoods.

      So it is an important area of science. Hopefully one day my work can be used to tell us how to manage these alien plants and remove them from Britain.

      Z

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