To celebrate Charles Darwin's 200th birthday on Thursday 12th February 2009, staff and visitors to the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute enjoyed a presentation by Lucy Gilbert entitled "Happy Birthday Darwin" followed by a piece of birthday cake.

As 2009 also marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, four members of staff at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute show how their current work relates back to the groundbreaking work of Darwin.

• PhD Student project
• Following in the footsteps of Darwin, a research trip to South America
• Species distribution and climate change
• Understanding complex ecological systems - How Darwin still guides us in 2009