biology

Peter Smith (biologist)

Peter Smith (biologist) is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Peter Smith (biologist) rather than just read about it. In short: Pete Smith is a Scottish climate change scientist who is Professor of Soils and Global change at the University of Aberdeen where he directs the Scottish Climate Change Centre of Expertise, ClimateXChange. Research and career Smith's research investigates global change, soils, carbon sequestration, climate change and climate change mitigation.

Key takeaways

Peter Smith (biologist) belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Peter Smith (biologist) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Peter Smith (biologist) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Research and career Smith's research investigates global change, soils, carbon sequestration, climate change and climate change mitigation. Since 1996, he has served as convening lead author, lead author and author for part of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He is a global ecosystem modeller with interests in agriculture, food security, bioenergy, greenhouse gases and greenhouse gas removal technologies. His research has been funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), European Union, the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD), the Cruickshank Trust Fund, the World Bank, the Met Office, the International Fertilizer Industry Association, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), Unilever, the Hewlett Foundation, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Greenpeace International, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Scottish Government, the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), the James Hutton Institute and the Welsh Government.

Awards and honours Smith held a prestigious Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award from 2008 to 2013 and has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology since 2008 and a Fellow of the Institute of Soil Scientists since 2015. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 2009, awarded the British Ecological Society Marsh Award for Climate Change Research in 2014 and the Philippe Duchaufour Medal from the European Geosciences Union for ‘distinguished contributions to soil science’ in 2017. He was also a research fellow at Rothamsted Research from 2010 to 2015 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2017.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Smith (biologist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter Smith (biologist) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Peter Smith (biologist) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Peter Smith (biologist) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Peter Smith (biologist)

In research: Peter Smith (biologist) appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Peter Smith (biologist) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Peter Smith (biologist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1965 births, Academics of the University of Aberdeen, Fellows of the Royal Society, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter Smith (biologist) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Peter Smith (biologist) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Peter Smith (biologist) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Peter Smith (biologist) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Smith (biologist) in simple terms?

Pete Smith is a Scottish climate change scientist who is Professor of Soils and Global change at the University of Aberdeen where he directs the Scottish Climate Change Centre of Expertise, ClimateXChange. Research and career Smith's research investigates global change, soils, carbon sequestration…

Why does Peter Smith (biologist) matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Peter Smith (biologist)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Peter Smith (biologist).