Alona Armstrong
Biographic Data
| ID | 6319453 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alona Armstrong |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alona |
| FAMILY NAME | Armstrong |
| SIGNATURE | ARMSTRONG A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lancaster University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8963-4621 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Biodiversity as a Social–Ecological Capability
Biodiversity loss is an increasingly critical sustainability challenge; yet, within the Natural Resource‐Based View (NRBV), it remains undertheorised and is often treated as a generic environmental factor rather than a structuring social–ecological mechanism. This study reconceptualises biodiversity as shaping how environmental capabilities emerge and create strategic value. Drawing on an inductive qualitative approach supported by Fuzzy Cognitiv…
Environmental impacts from large-scale offshore renewable-energy deployment
The urgency to mitigate the effects of climate change necessitates an unprecedented global deployment of offshore renewable-energy technologies mainly including offshore wind, tidal stream, wave energy, and floating solar photovoltaic. To achieve the global energy demand for terawatt-hours, the infrastructure for such technologies will require a large spatial footprint. Accommodating this footprint will require rapid landscape evolution, ideally …
Plant and soil responses to ground-mounted solar panels in temperate agricultural systems
In the move to decarbonise energy supplies to meet Net Zero targets, ground-mounted solar farms have proliferated around the world, with uncertain implications for hosting ecosystems. We provide some of the first evidence on the effects of ground-mounted solar panels on plant and soil properties in temperate agricultural systems. We sampled 32 solar farms in England and Wales in summer 2021. Plant cover and aboveground biomass, as well as soil nu…
Impacts of 319 wind farms on surface temperature and vegetation in the United States
The development of wind energy is essential for decarbonizing energy production. However, the construction of wind farms changes land surface temperature (LST) and vegetation by modifying land surface properties and disturbing land–atmosphere interactions. In this study, we used moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer satellite data to quantify the impacts on local climate and vegetation of 319 wind farms in the United States. Our results i…
Solar park management and design to boost bumble bee populations
Solar photovoltaics is projected to become the dominant renewable, with much capacity being installed as ground-mounted solar parks. Land use change for solar can affect ecosystems across spatial scales and solar parks offer a unique opportunity for ecological enhancement. One compelling potential benefit beginning to be deployed by the solar industry is management for insect pollinators. Specifically, solar parks can provide refuge for pollinato…
Integrating environmental understanding into freshwater floatovoltaic deployment using an effects hierarchy and decision trees
In an era of looming land scarcity and environmental degradation, the development of low carbon energy systems without adverse impacts on land and land-based resources is a global challenge. ‘Floatovoltaic’ energy systems—comprising floating photovoltaic (PV) panels over water—are an appealing source of low carbon energy as they spare land for other uses and attain greater electricity outputs compared to land-based systems. However, to date littl…
Techno–ecological synergies of solar energy for global sustainability
Solar park microclimate and vegetation management effects on grassland carbon cycling
Increasing energy demands and the drive towards low carbon (C) energy sources has prompted a rapid increase in ground-mounted solar parks across the world. This represents a significant global land use change with implications for the hosting ecosystems that are poorly understood. In order to investigate the effects of a typical solar park on the microclimate and ecosystem processes, we measured soil and air microclimate, vegetation and greenhous…
Ground-level climate at a peatland wind farm in Scotland is affected by wind turbine operation
The global drive to produce low-carbon energy has resulted in an unprecedented deployment of onshore wind turbines, representing a significant land use change for wind energy generation with uncertain consequences for local climatic conditions and the regulation of ecosystem processes. Here, we present high-resolution data from a wind farm collected during operational and idle periods that shows the wind farm affected several measures of ground-l…
Designing a Question-Driven U.S. History Course
Going back a century, most history courses, from middle school through introductory college courses, have been designed primarily to cover a broad swath of history—an approach reinforced by content standards that provide teachers with lengthy lists of facts and concepts they must discuss, often in order to prepare students for standardized exams. Unfortunately, as decades of poor test scores and survey results have demonstrated, this approach has…
The price of knowledge in the knowledge economy
Designing a Question-Driven U.S. History Course
Going back a century, most history courses, from middle school through introductory college courses, have been designed primarily to cover a broad swath of history—an approach reinforced by content standards that provide teachers with lengthy lists of facts and concepts they must discuss, often in order to prepare students for standardized exams. Unfortunately, as decades of poor test scores and survey results have demonstrated, this approach has…
The price of knowledge in the knowledge economy
Solar park microclimate and vegetation management effects on grassland carbon cycling
Increasing energy demands and the drive towards low carbon (C) energy sources has prompted a rapid increase in ground-mounted solar parks across the world. This represents a significant global land use change with implications for the hosting ecosystems that are poorly understood. In order to investigate the effects of a typical solar park on the microclimate and ecosystem processes, we measured soil and air microclimate, vegetation and greenhous…
Ground-level climate at a peatland wind farm in Scotland is affected by wind turbine operation
The global drive to produce low-carbon energy has resulted in an unprecedented deployment of onshore wind turbines, representing a significant land use change for wind energy generation with uncertain consequences for local climatic conditions and the regulation of ecosystem processes. Here, we present high-resolution data from a wind farm collected during operational and idle periods that shows the wind farm affected several measures of ground-l…
Techno–ecological synergies of solar energy for global sustainability
Integrating environmental understanding into freshwater floatovoltaic deployment using an effects hierarchy and decision trees
In an era of looming land scarcity and environmental degradation, the development of low carbon energy systems without adverse impacts on land and land-based resources is a global challenge. ‘Floatovoltaic’ energy systems—comprising floating photovoltaic (PV) panels over water—are an appealing source of low carbon energy as they spare land for other uses and attain greater electricity outputs compared to land-based systems. However, to date littl…
Impacts of 319 wind farms on surface temperature and vegetation in the United States
The development of wind energy is essential for decarbonizing energy production. However, the construction of wind farms changes land surface temperature (LST) and vegetation by modifying land surface properties and disturbing land–atmosphere interactions. In this study, we used moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer satellite data to quantify the impacts on local climate and vegetation of 319 wind farms in the United States. Our results i…
Solar park management and design to boost bumble bee populations
Solar photovoltaics is projected to become the dominant renewable, with much capacity being installed as ground-mounted solar parks. Land use change for solar can affect ecosystems across spatial scales and solar parks offer a unique opportunity for ecological enhancement. One compelling potential benefit beginning to be deployed by the solar industry is management for insect pollinators. Specifically, solar parks can provide refuge for pollinato…
Environmental impacts from large-scale offshore renewable-energy deployment
The urgency to mitigate the effects of climate change necessitates an unprecedented global deployment of offshore renewable-energy technologies mainly including offshore wind, tidal stream, wave energy, and floating solar photovoltaic. To achieve the global energy demand for terawatt-hours, the infrastructure for such technologies will require a large spatial footprint. Accommodating this footprint will require rapid landscape evolution, ideally …
Plant and soil responses to ground-mounted solar panels in temperate agricultural systems
In the move to decarbonise energy supplies to meet Net Zero targets, ground-mounted solar farms have proliferated around the world, with uncertain implications for hosting ecosystems. We provide some of the first evidence on the effects of ground-mounted solar panels on plant and soil properties in temperate agricultural systems. We sampled 32 solar farms in England and Wales in summer 2021. Plant cover and aboveground biomass, as well as soil nu…
Biodiversity as a Social–Ecological Capability
Biodiversity loss is an increasingly critical sustainability challenge; yet, within the Natural Resource‐Based View (NRBV), it remains undertheorised and is often treated as a generic environmental factor rather than a structuring social–ecological mechanism. This study reconceptualises biodiversity as shaping how environmental capabilities emerge and create strategic value. Drawing on an inductive qualitative approach supported by Fuzzy Cognitiv…
Ecology (7 works) · Environmental Science (7 works) · Geography (5 works) · Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability (4 works) · Atmospheric sciences (3 works) · Climate change (3 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Environmental resource management (3 works) · Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy (3 works) · Wind power (3 works)