Dr Jane Bevan

Laboratory and Fieldwork Manager
+44 (0) 1244 512189
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
j.bevan@chester.ac.uk
Dr Jane Bevan

My interests lie within the Earth and Environmental Sciences, specialising in teaching Biogeography, and taking a Geoecological approach to investigating spatial and temporal patterns of terrestrial vegetation.

I manage local, UK and international fieldwork and laboratory spaces for the department. With responsibility for providing leadership in fieldwork Health & Safety. I am working to reduce the departments carbon footprint and ensuring our fieldwork is sustainable and inclusive.

My teaching is focused on Biogeography and embedding fieldwork, laboratory skills and carbon literacy into the curriculum. I am an experienced field and laboratory researcher with interests in contemporary environmental change, and the impacts of land use and the climate emergency on the Earth’s vegetation and soils. Key analytical skills include description and analysis of vegetation, multivariate and bivariate statistical analysis, image analysis. Sediment, soil, and pollen analysis. Microclimate logging and analysis.

  • GE4011 Earth & Environment – contributing lecturer (Biosphere dynamics)
  • GE4015 Researching Environments – module leader
  • GE4016 Skills for Change – module co-leader
  • GE5012 Environmental Change: minutes to millennia – contributing lecturer (contemporary environmental change)
  • GE5019 Physical Research Methods – contributing lecturer (Biogeomorphology of slope processes)
  • GE6001 Dissertation (project supervisor)
  • GE6017 Anthropocene – contributing lecturer (ecosystem management)
  • GE6021 International Fieldwork Experience: Physical Geography – module leader)

In addition to my teaching I lead the following fieldwork:

  • GE4015 I manage the residential fieldwork to Eryri National Park, North Wales, and lead a strand to investigate woodland ecosystems and carbon sequestration.
  • GE5012 to study ecosystem succession in coastal sand dune systems.  
  • GE5019 to explore the Biogeogmorphology of hillslopes processes.
  • GE6021 International field visit to Almería Southeast Spain to study the geology, geomorphology and biogeography of semi-arid systems.
  • GE6001 Physical Geography expedition to Jostedalsbreen National Park, Norway.
  • Sustainable fieldwork and carbon reduction
  • Dryland Geoecology in semi-arid areas, in particular biocrust dynamics
  • Ecosystem succession of coastal sand dunes
  • Geoecology of glacial forelands in Norway
  • Woodland ecosystems
  • Carbon sequestration linked to land use

Bevan J., Alexander R. & Lázaro-Suau R. ‘Examination of the habitat exclusivity of biocrust communities in the El Cautivo badlands, SE Spain. In G. del Barrio, R. Lázaro (Eds.). 2019. Geoecology and desertification - From physical to human factors. Proceedings of the International Symposium in memory of Prof Juan Puigdefabregas, Almeria, Spain, 20-22 February 2019. Estacion Experimental de Zonas Aridas (CSIC), Almeria. ISBN: 978-84-09-12447-3.

Calvo-Cases A., Alexander R.W., Arnau-Rosalén E., Bevan J., Cantón Y., Lázaro R., Puigdefábregas J., and Solé-Benet, A. (2009) Interacción de procesos geomórficos y distribución de componentes de la superficie del suelo en relación a la evolución do los abarrancamientos de Tabernas (AlmerÍa). Cuadernos do Investigación GeográfÍca 35 (1) 43-62.

Lázaro, R., Cantón, Y., Solé-Benet, A., Bevan, J., Alexander, R., Sancho L.G. and Puigdefábregas, J.  (2008). The influence of competition between lichen colonization and erosion on the evolution of soil surfaces in the Tabernas badlands (SE Spain) and its landscape effects. Geomorphology 102, 252-266.

Conference Contributions

Geoecology and desertification - From physical to human factors. - Almeria, Spain. February 2019.

Bevan J., Alexander R. & Lázaro-Suau R. ‘Examination of the habitat exclusivity of biocrust communities in the El Cautivo badlands, SE Spain.

European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2012 – Vienna, Austria, 22 – 27 April 2012

‘Transplant experiments to examine the habitat exclusivity of lichen dominated soil crust communities in the El Cautivo badlands, SE Spain’ Bevan J, Alexander, R, Lázaro-Suau R.

International Conference on Biohydrology: Impact of biological factors on soil hydrology. Prague, Czech Republic, 2006. ‘Runoff length over terricolous lichen crusts depending on rainfall intensity and antecedent soil moisture’. Lázaro-Suau R, Pegoraro E & Bevan J.

Chester Centre for Stress Research seminar, University of Chester, UK, 2006.  ‘Lichens inhabiting Biological Soil Crusts in the stressed environment of semi-arid southeast Spain’ Bevan J.

XV Symposium on Cryptogamic Botany, Bilbao, September, 2005. ‘Colonizacíon y crecimiento de líquenes terrícolas en el desierto de Tabernas, Almería.’ Lázaro Suau, R., Bevan, J., Alexander, R. and Garcia Sancho, L.

AEET Conference on Biodiversity Loss, Almería, March 2005.  ‘Biodiversity of Lichen Crusts in the El Cautivo badlands, Tabernas, Spain.’ Alexander, R.W., Lazaro Suau, R. and Bevan, J.

30th International Geographical Congress, Glasgow, August, 2004. ‘Soil Crust Lichens in the El Cautivo Badlands, SE Spain.’ Bevan, J., Alexander, R. and Lazaro-Suau, R.

30th International Geographical Congress, Glasgow, August, 2004. ‘Mapping and Monitoring Biological Soil Crusts in SE Spain.’ Alexander, R., Bevan, J. and Lazaro-Suau, R.

5th Symposium of the International Association of Lichenologists, Tartu, Estonia, August, 2004. ‘Terricolous Lichen Dynamics in the El Cautivo Badlands’. Book of Abstracts of the 5th IAL Symposium, Lichens in Focus, p49. Tartu University Press. ISBN 9985-56-922-9. Bevan, J., Alexander, R. and Lazaro-Suau, R.

5th Symposium of the International Association of Lichenologists, Tartu, Estonia, August, 2004. ‘Mapping and Monitoring Biological Soil Crusts in SE Spain’. Book of Abstracts of the 5th IAL Symposium, Lichens in Focus, p69. Tartu University Press. ISBN 9985-56-922-9. Alexander, R., Bevan, J. and Lazaro-Suau.

Plant Biogeography and Vegetation Study: “Methods, Problems & Solutions” a workshop hosted by the Biogeography Research Group (Royal Geographical Society) at University College Chester, April, 2004. ‘Terricolous Lichen Survey in the El Cautivo Badlands SE Spain’ Bevan J.

International Conference on Gully erosion in Mountain Areas, Digne les Bains, October, 2003. ‘Interaction between geomorphic processes and vegetation distribution affecting gully evolution in the Tabernas Badlands (Almería, Spain): Scale and long-term development influences.’  Alexander, R. W.; Bevan, J.; Calvo, A; Cantón, Y.; Lázaro, R.; Solé, A.

NERC ARSF Workshop, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, 2002. ‘ATM data as an aid to investigating biological soil crust communities in the El Cautivo badlands, Almería, Spain’. Alexander, R., Bevan, J. and Lazaro-Suau, R.

  • PhD University of Liverpool
  • BSc UCC: University of Liverpool
  • Management & Leadership in HE
  • IOSH trained

Professional Affiliations

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS)
  • Member of the European Geosciences Union
  • Member of the UK Pollen Network