Newcastle University

Roles and Responsibilities

Degree option tutor for Rural Resource Management degree

Qualifications

BA(Open) Mathematics and Statistics
BSc Hons(Newcastle) Soil Science
PhD(Aberdeen)

Previous Positions

Advisor with North of Scotland College of Agriculture

Memberships

BSSS
FSA(Scot)
Soil Association

Research Interests

1. Haymeadows research - long term changes in species compossiton and interactions between species. factors influencing yield of grasslands.
2. Precision Farming - Relationship of plant growth to changes in soil and soil fertility and the production of efficient maps of soil variability at minimum cost.
3. Using Indigenous Knowledge - providing more sustainable methods of production through study of recent and past land use systems.
4. Agricultural history and archaeology - Reconstructing past systems of food production and land use from historic and excavation sources.

Other Expertise

Using the general linear model to efficiently analyse results from designed experiments and surveys.

Current Work

1. MITEeHEN: Non-chemical Control of Red Mite in Laying Hen Housing Systems. DEFRA
2. Diversification of Grassland Through the Manipulation of Plant-soil Interactions and the Identification of Indicators of Restoration. DEFRA
3. RESCAPE. CEC
4. The Limestone Country Project: The impact of mixed cattle on sheep grazing on vegetaions diversity in the Pennine Dales. YDNP.

Future Research

Research on haymeadows contnues to evelve and fresh funding and links with other organisations are developing. Collaborative research with other organisations on this topic is always welcome.
Historical research tends to be very serendipitous and work is planned on early manuring systems and knowledge, and is now in progress on the Europe wide potato blight outbreak of the 1840s and on land use strategies in Papua New Guinea.

Research Roles

Apart form expertise on land managemnt and sustainabiltiy of systems in the past and present, and in hay meadow management, I have developed a substantial expertise in data analysis. Where possible I prefer to combine both roles but in other situations I have been asked to help with data analysis from clinical and other trials where my particular statistical expertise is sought.

Esteem Indicators

Awarded Baguley Prize by Prehistoric Society 1996.

Funding

1. DEFRA for haymeadows research £131,974
2. YDNP for grazing diversification £98,221
3. DEFRA fro MITEehen project £250,562
4. CEC for RESCAPE project £54,375

Projects

• MITEeHEN : Plant-derived products for control of Red Mite in laying hen housing systems
  Project Leader(s): Dr Jonathan Guy, Dr Olivier Sparagano

Undergraduate Teaching

ACE3035 Sustainable land Management ML
ACE1015 Soil management for Crop and Animal Production ML
ACE1017 Microcomputing and data analysis I ML
ACE2030 Microcomputing and data analysis II
ACE2032 Climatic and Environmental Change ML
BIO2011 Quantitative techniques

Postgraduate Teaching

ACE8022 Quantitative Techniques, Experimental Design And Data Analysis ML

• George DR, Sparagano OAE, Port G, Okello E, Shiel RS, Guy JH. Toxicity of plant essential oils to different life stages of the poultry red mite, Dermanyssus gallinae, and non-target invertebrates. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 2010, 24(1), 9-15.
• George DR, Smith TJ, Shiel RS, Sparagano OAE, Guy JH. Mode of action and variability in efficacy of plant essential oils showing toxicity against the poultry red mite, Dermanyssus gallinae. Veterinary Parasitology 2009, 161(3-4), 276-282.
• Smith R, Shiel R, Bardgett R, Millward D, Corkhill P, Evans P, Quirk H, Hobbs P, Kometa S. Long-term change in vegetation and soil microbial communities during the phased restoration of traditional meadow grassland. Journal of Applied Ecology 2008, 45(2), 670-679.
• Bardgett RD, Smith RS, Shiel RS, Peacock S, Simkin JM, Quirk H, Hobbs PJ. Parasitic plants indirectly regulate below-ground properties in grassland ecosystems. Nature 2006, 439(7079), 969-972.
• Bermano G, Pagmantidis V, Holloway N, Kadri S, Mowat NAG, Shiel RS, Arthur JR, Mathers JC, Daly AK, Broom J, Hesketh JE. Evidence that a polymorphism within the 3'UTR of glutathione peroxidase 4 is functional and is associated with susceptibility to colorectal cancer. Genes and Nutrition 2007, 2(2), 225-232.
• Smith RS, Shiel RS, Bardgett RD, Millward D, Corkhill P, Rolph G, Hobbs PJ, Peacock S. Soil microbial community, fertility, vegetation and diversity as targets in the restoration management of a meadow grassland. Journal of Applied Ecology 2003, 40(1), 51-64.
• Pollard AM, Wilson L, Wilson AS, Hall AJ, Shiel RS. Assessing the influence of agrochemicals on the rate of copper corrosion in the vadose zone of arable land. Part 1: Field Experiments. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 2004, (3/4), 363-376.
• Smith RS, Charman D, Rushton SP, Sanderson RA, Simkin JM, Shiel RS. Vegetation change in an ombrotrophic mire in northern England after excluding sheep. Applied Vegetation Science 2003, 6(2), 261-270.
• Waddington C, Bailey GN, Boomer I, Milner NJ, Pedersen K, Shiel RS, Stevenson AC. A Mesolithic settlement site at Howick, Northumberland: a preliminary report. Archaeologia Aeliana 2003, 5th series, 32, 1-12.
• Shiel RS, Mohamed SB. Deriving information efficiently from surveys of artefact distribution. In: The Environmental Archaeology of Industry. 2003, Univeristy of Surry, Guildford: Oxbow Books.
• Shiel R, Hardy K. Functional analysis. In: Hardy, K and Sillitoe, P. Material Perspectives: Stone Tool Use and Material Culture in Papua New Guinea. Internet Archaeology 2003, 14.
• Shiel RS. The future of farm grassland as a diverse productive environment. Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumbria 2002, 62, 115-122.
• Shiel RS. Reconstructing Past Soil Environments in the Mediterranean Region. In: Leveau, P;Trement, F;Walsh, K;Barker, G, ed. Environmental Reconstruction in Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2000, pp.224.
• Giotis C, Theodoropoulou A, Cooper J, Hodgson R, Shotton PN, Shiel RS, Eyre M, Wilcockson S, Markellou E, Liopa-Tsakalidis A, Volakakis N, Leifert C. Effect of variety choice, resistant rootstocks and chitin soil amendments on soil-borne diseases in soil-based, protected tomato production systems. European Journal of Plant Pathology 2012, 134(3), 605-617.
• Ali W, George DR, Shiel RS, Sparagano OAE, Guy JH. Laboratory screening of potential predators of the poultry red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) and assessment of Hypoaspis miles performance under varying biotic and abiotic conditions. Veterinary Parasitology 2012, 187(1-2), 341-344.
• De Deyn GB, Shiel RS, Ostle NJ, McNamara NP, Oakley S, Young I, Freeman C, Fenner N, Quirk H, Bardgett RD. Additional carbon sequestration benefits of grassland diversity restoration. Journal of Applied Ecology 2011, 48(3), 600-608.
• Velimirov A, Lueck L, Shiel R, Ploger A, Leifert C. Preference of laboratory rats for food based on wheat grown under organic versus conventional production conditions. NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 2011, 58(3-4), 85-88.
• George DR, Sparagano OAE, Port G, Okello E, Shiel RS, Guy JH. Environmental interactions with the toxicity of plant essential oils to the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 2010, 24(1), 1-8.
• Smith TJ, George DR, Sparagano OAE, Seal CJ, Shiel RS, Guy JH. A pilot study into the chemical and sensorial effect of thyme and pennyroyal essential oil on hens eggs. International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2009, 44(9), 1836-1842.
• Giotis C, Markelou E, Theodoropoulou A, Toufexi E, Hodson R, Shotton PN, Shiel RS, Cooper J, Leifert C. Effect of soil amendments and biological control agents (BCAs) on soil-borne root diseases caused by Pyrenochaeta lycopersici and Verticillium albo-atrum in organic greenhouse tomato production systems. European Journal of Plant Pathology 2009, 123(4), 387-400.
• Giotis C, Markelou E, Theodoropoulou A, Toufexi E, Hodson R, Shotton P, Shiel R, Cooper J, Leifert C. Effect of soil amendments and biological control agents (BCSs) on soil-borne root diseases caused by Pyrenochaeta lycopersici and Verticillium albo-atrum in organic greenhouse tomato production systems. European Journal of Plant Pathology 2009, 123(4), 387-400.
• George DR, Sparagano OAE, Port G, Okello E, Shiel RS, Guy JH. Repellence of plant essential oils to Dermanyssus gallinae and toxicity to the non-target invertebrate Tenebrio molitor. Veterinary Parasitology 2009, 162(1-2), 129-134.
• Smith TJ, George DR, Sparagano OAE, Seal CJ, Shiel RS, Guy JH. The influence of thyme and pennyroyal essential oils, found to be effective as acaricides against the poultry red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae), on occurrence of taint in hens eggs'. British Poultry Abstracts 2009, 5(1), 36-37.
• Bertenshaw C, Rowlinson P, Edge H, Douglas S, Shiel R. The effect of different degrees of 'positive' human-animal interaction during rearing on the welfare and subsequent production of commercial dairy heifers. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 2008, 114(1-2), 65-75.
• George DR, Guy JH, Arkle S, Harrington D, De Luna C, Okello EJ, Shiel RS, Port G, Sparagano OAE. Use of Plant-derived Products to Control Arthropods of Veterinary Importance: A Review. Animal Biodiversity and Emerging Diseases: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2008, 1149, 23-26.
• Boomer I, Shiel RS, Stevenson AC. Geomorphology and paleoenvironmental analysis. In: Clive Waddington, ed. Mesolithic settlement in the North Sea Basin: a case study from Howick, North-East England. Oxford: Oxbow, 2007, pp.163-181.
• Smith RS, Shiel RS, Millward D, Corkhill P, Sanderson RA. Soil seed banks and the effects of meadow management on vegetation change in a 10-year meadow field trial. Journal of Applied Ecology 2002, 39(2), 279-293.
• Smith RS, Shiel RS, Bardgett BD, Millward D, Corkhill P, Relph G, Hobbs PJ, Sanderson RA. Ecological mechanisms affecting the restoration of diversity in agriculturally improved meadow grassland. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, 2001. The Colt Park field trial 2000; Report of MAFF Project BD1439, milestone 01-01.
• Peacock S, Shiel RS, Jones HC, Poskitt J, Garnett JP, Frankland JC. Ecological mechanisms affecting the restoration of diversity in agriculturally improved meadow grassland. Colonisation of plant roots by arbuscular mycorrhizas in upland meadow grasslands:correlations with management and plant phosphorus status. 2001.
• Waddington C, Milner N, Shiel RS, Boomer I, Stewart A. Howick archaeological project report for 2000. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, 2001.
• Shiel RS. Nutrient elements in grassland: soil-plant-animal relationships: D.C. Whitehead [book review]. European Journal of Soil Science 2001, 52(3), 523-524.
• Shiel RS. The potential for using religious belief to derive environmental information on past societies, with a case study on the environment of Attica. In: Albarella, U, ed. Environmental Archaeology: meaning and purpose. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2001, pp.229-248.
• Shiel RS. Aegean strategies: Studies of culture and environment on the European fringe. The Classical Review 2000, 50(1), 215-216.
• Shiel RS. Aegean Strategies: studies of culture and environment on the European Fringe (Book review). The Classical Review 2000, 50(1), 215-217.
• Shiel RS. Refuting the land degradation myth for Boeotia. In: Human Ecodynamics: Association for Environmental Archaeology Conference 1998. 2000, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne: Oxbow Books.
• Shiel RS, Stewart A. The environment of the Applecross Peninsula. Edinburgh: Centre for Field Archaeology, 2000. Scotland's First Settlers 2000: Data structure report 9780903903615.
• Smith RS, Shiel RS, Millward D, Corkhill P. The interactive effects of management on the productivity and plant community structure of an upland meadow: An 8-year field trial. Journal of Applied Ecology 2000, 37(6), 1029-1043.
• Sillitoe P, Shiel RS. Soil fertility under shifting and semi-continuous cultivation in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Soil Use and Management 1999, 15(1), 49-55.
• Shiel RS, El Tilib AMA, Younger A. The influence of fertilizer nitrogen, white clover content and environmental factors on the nitrate content of perennial ryegrass and ryegrass/white clover swards. Grass and Forage Science 1999, 54(3), 275-285.