Staff Profile

Academic Qualifications

2015-2019   University College London

PhD Conservation Biology/Palaeoecology

Thesis: “The pond pollinator pantry”: Assessing how pond management influences pollinators in the UK farmland landscape 

2012-2013       University of Liverpool

MSc Environmental Science Distinction

MSc Dissertation:  Three week monitoring of methane activity at two closed landfills in the UK

2005-2007       Brigham Young University (USA)

BSc Plant Biology

Grants & Awards

The Clan Trust Student Bursary, 2016

The Mead Fund – Travel & Cross-Institutional Study Bursary, 2016 & 2017

Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service, Norfolk County Council, Research Materials Bursary, 2016

Work Experience

2015, New York City Department of Environmental Protection

City Research Scientist 1

2014, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, Freshkills Park

Environmental Monitoring & Education Intern

Committee Participation

2016-18 Academic Year, Organiser, Physical Geography Seminar Series, UCL

2016-19 Academic Year, Graduate Student Representative, Geography Lab Committee, UCL

2019-present, Organising Committee Member for 9th European Pond Conservation Network Conference

My main research interests include a fondness for plant subfossils, ecological interactions with plants - especially at the aquatic-terrestrial interface - and how freshwater systems can be important spots for biodiversity conservation within the larger terrestrial landscape. 

My current work is with the Living Deltas Hub and looks to reconstruct flood histories in freshwater systems within the Red, Mekong, and Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River deltas using sediment cores. A further aim of my current research is to look at historic ecological changes to these systems so that informed baselines can be set for restoration goals.

Teaching Experience

Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, UCL Department of Geography 2016-2020

GEOG1005, Environmental Change

GEOG0017, Physical Geography Field Research

GEOG0038, Managing Fresh waters in the 21st Century

GEOG2007, Ecological Patterns & Processes

GEOG2008, Reconstructing Past Environments

GEOG2001, The Practice of Geography

GEOGG070, Aquatic Systems: Structure & Functioning

GEOGG104, Scientific Basis for Freshwater and Coastal Conservation

GEOGG135, Biological Indicators of Environmental Change

• Henderson ACG, Das S, Ghosh T, Panizzo VN, Moorhouse HL, Roberts LR, Walton RE, Zheng Y, Bass AM, McGowan S. The Indian Sundarbans: biogeochemical dynamics and anthropogenic impacts . In: Das S; Ghosh T, ed. Estuarine Biogeochemical Dynamics of the East Coast of India. Springer, Cham, 2021, pp.239-260.
• Walton RE, Sayer CD, Bennion H, Axmacher JC. Once a pond in time: employing palaeoecology to inform farmland pond restoration. Restoration Ecology 2021, 29(1), e13301.
• Walton RE, Sayer CD, Bennion H, Axmacher JC. Open-canopy ponds benefit diurnal pollinator communities in an agricultural landscape: implications for farmland pond management. Insect Conservation & Diversity 2021, 14(3), 307-324.
• Walton RE, Sayer CD, Bennion H, Axmacher JC. Nocturnal pollinators strongly contribute to pollen transport of wild flowers in an agricultural landscape. Biology Letters 2020, 16(5), 20190877.