Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Box: Daring to Innovate:The heaths are not sacrosanct. The idea that the biodiversity value of grass-heath vegetation maybe improved by rotational soil disturbance, ploughing, or the episodic cultivation of crops withperiods of fallow is not new. Early ecologists and conservation advisers in Breckland recognisedthe potential value of such interventions.In February 1955, immediately after rabbit populations were lost to myxomatosis, the famousecologist Alex Watt recommended that ploughing be introduced on a 4-5 year rotation acrossboth the southern part of Weeting Heath and across much of Thetford Heath (Watt 1955):"I suggest as a basis of management that we take one crop of each plot and then allowfour years to elapse before taking another. When any one of the plots is cultivated therest is fallow. South Weeting Heath I suggest should be managed in the way alreadyoutlined.”"One part (of Thetford Heath) should be excluded from any plan of management at themoment, namely the part along the roadside next to the R.A.F. installation. This areashows very interesting phenomena, namely, fossil stone stripes the first to be identifiedfrom the lowland of this country. A strip (say 100 yards wide) to the north of this showingstrips of Calluna should also be left intact. The rest of the area is available formanagement on the same plan as for South Weeting Heath"Similarly, the entomologist Eric Duffey, who carried out pioneering work on the dune spiderassemblages ofFoxhole Heath and the Icklingham Plains (see Duffey 1957; 1994) recommendedareas of Foxhole Heath be rotovated to rejuvenate bare sand following the loss of rabbits in thedecade after myxomatosis."Our work on Foxhole Heath has shown that certain species of invertebrates requireareas of bare sand for their survival. … In order to perpetuate this type of habitat, I wouldlike to suggest that part of the old warren on Foxhole Heath is rotovated. If the IveaghEstate is agreeable to this, I think a relatively small area (about 20 x 20 metres) only needbe treated and we would of course, be prepared to study experimentally its effect on thefauna in future years. It is probable that all the species concerned require a mosaic ofplant cover such as grass tussocks growing amongst bare sand so that it would never bedesirable to rotovate large areas on Foxhole Heath. If the treatment we suggest issuccessful, it would probably not be necessary to rotovate small areas more often thanonce every three years. PS By "old warren", I mean the south-facing slope not far fromthe road which was nearly all mobile sand prior to myxomatosis.”Dr. E. Duffey, Conservation Research Section, Monks Wood, 8 th October 1965156
IntensityProcess Technique Immediate EffectsCompaction trampling, wheelings impeded drainage, germination sitessmall-scale shallowdisturbance withinswardsmall-scalemoderatedisturbance withinswardDiscing, scarifying, forageharvest scuffs, rabbitscrapesrabbit burrow aprons,track marginslocalised uprooting and destruction of vegetation, creatingpatches of loose bare ground and reduced competitionwithin or alongside undisturbed sward, allows germinationand seedling establishment and vegetative regenerationmoderatedisturbancerotovationaggressive disturbance, kills much of the perennialvegetation but with some recovery from root/tussockfragments, creates extensive bare ground, upper soillayer disturbed, encouraging germination from seedbankintensivedisturbance,moderate extentploughingoverturns perennial vegetation though regeneration canoccur from intact partly buried root mat, creates extensivebare ground, brings up (nutrient poor) mineral sub-soil,allows regeneration from seedbank, buried organic mattermay be available to deep rooted perennials, may breakup compacted chalk favouring establishment of deeprooted perennialsdevastatingdisturbanceturf stripping + spoil heapsRemoves vegetation, litter and organic humus layers,exposes low-nutrient soil or chalk, can expose longburiedseed or create opportunities for arriving seed. longclosure time, particularly on chalkpits, exposures, bankcreationexposes mineral substrate, allows continuous erosionprolonging open conditionsmassive mechanicalreorganisationacross large scalesbuilding sites, gravelworkingscreates opportunities for mobile ruderalsExamples of vegetation responseInfrequent Intermittent Frequent Annualevery 10 - 60 yearsevery 3-4 -(9)yearsevery 2-3 years every yearEstablishment oflong-livedperennials thatsubsequently seed:Establishment ofperennials thatsubsequentlyseedEstablishmentandregeneration ofannuals /paucennialsregeneration ofannuals:establishment ofdeep rootedperennials thatpersist after swardclosureregenerationfrom seed,persistenceduring closure,eventualexclusion bygrass swardregeneration,rechargeseedbanksubsequentlydecline ordisappear fromabove groundvegetationTable 20. Matrix showing immediate and longer term results of different intensity and frequency of management actions157
Page 1 and 2:
Securing Biodiversityin BrecklandGu
Page 3 and 4:
Commissioning GroupNeil Featherston
Page 5 and 6:
Wind-blown sand guild .............
Page 7 and 8:
milder winters and increased winter
Page 9 and 10:
Creating broad ruderal and disturbe
Page 11 and 12:
Introduction“Few of the lowland d
Page 13 and 14:
Inland DunesThe 1km wide dune and b
Page 15 and 16:
Following the Black Death of the mi
Page 17 and 18:
The area of grass-heath declined by
Page 19 and 20:
PingosPingos are ground water fed p
Page 21 and 22:
Breckland Conservation and the Need
Page 23 and 24:
SSSI. The Breckland Forest SSSI cit
Page 25 and 26:
The Breckland Biodiversity Audit ha
Page 27 and 28:
The Breckland bio-geographic region
Page 29 and 30:
polygons of alternating calcareous
Page 31 and 32:
quality calcareous fen communities
Page 33 and 34:
Figure 2. The extent of Breckland,
Page 35 and 36:
Table 3. Grass-heath vegetation in
Page 37 and 38:
The Conservation Resource: Designat
Page 39 and 40:
All other SSSIs are less than 600 h
Page 41 and 42:
GrasslandHeathWoodlandWetlandFlowin
Page 43 and 44:
Calcicolous grasslandsShingle, stra
Page 45 and 46:
Figure 4. Location of designated si
Page 47 and 48:
Figure 6. Location of Plantlife’s
Page 49 and 50:
Figure 7. Locations of stations in
Page 51 and 52:
Scheme for Stilt & Stalk Flies, Dra
Page 53 and 54:
Table 6. Rare vascular plant specie
Page 55 and 56:
Recommendation BTO be commissioned
Page 57 and 58:
Table 7. Species for which records
Page 59 and 60:
Table 8. Descriptions of Red Data B
Page 61 and 62:
If the sub-species was designated b
Page 63 and 64:
Collating and Synthesising Species
Page 65 and 66:
Table 11. Published, documentary an
Page 67 and 68:
Baron de Worms, C.G.M. (1953) Colle
Page 69 and 70:
Guild AnalysisA number of habitat a
Page 71 and 72:
The specific questions for the work
Page 73 and 74:
Findings of the Breckland Biodivers
Page 75 and 76:
Recording Effort and CoverageThere
Page 77 and 78:
Butterfly Conservation (Suffolk) 17
Page 79 and 80:
Norfolk Biodiversity InformationSer
Page 81 and 82:
Figure 11. Number of taxonomic grou
Page 83 and 84:
difference is partly attributable t
Page 85 and 86:
There were Breckland specialist spe
Page 87 and 88:
Figure 13. Proportion of Breckland
Page 89 and 90:
Distribution of Breckland Conservat
Page 91 and 92:
Figure 15. Number of Breckland cons
Page 93 and 94:
Evidence of Climatic Change: Long-T
Page 95 and 96:
Figure 17. Total seasonal precipita
Page 97 and 98:
Biodiversity Implications of the Ch
Page 99 and 100:
Ariel depositions to agricultural s
Page 101 and 102:
the status of Deschampsia flexuosa.
Page 103 and 104:
The relative effects of ploughing,
Page 105 and 106: Trends in Species Status: Extinctio
Page 107 and 108: HymenopteraHymenopteraHymenopteraCo
Page 109 and 110: In addition to the loss of rare lic
Page 111 and 112: edstraw Galium parisiense (Tansley
Page 113 and 114: The relative extent of lichen rich
Page 115 and 116: The Feasibility and Usefulness of t
Page 117 and 118: Across patch arrangementLandscape c
Page 119 and 120: Across patcharrangementJuxtapositio
Page 121 and 122: Delivery of Multiple Species by Int
Page 123 and 124: Figure 24. Number of Breckland cons
Page 125 and 126: Mechanical disturbance to create br
Page 129 and 130: estricted to road verges, with the
Page 131 and 132: 131
Page 133 and 134: Records of species from this guild
Page 135 and 136: © Jeremy Earlywww.natureconservati
Page 139 and 140: Open with sward mosaics guildChryso
Page 141 and 142: Grazing without physical disturbanc
Page 143 and 144: Deadwood in an open-woodland ecoton
Page 145 and 146: Specific Requirement in a Variety o
Page 147 and 148: Management to Sustain Dry Terrestri
Page 149 and 150: Heather should rather be considered
Page 151 and 152: GrazingrequirementsLightly sheep-gr
Page 153 and 154: a mosaic of overlapping ploughed, a
Page 155: Wind-blown sandThere is great uncer
Page 159 and 160: Complex Sward MosaicsComplex sward
Page 161 and 162: Management for Assemblages of Light
Page 163 and 164: Management for Species of Physicall
Page 165 and 166: Key Recommendations for Cultivated
Page 167 and 168: Shallow cultivation is preferable t
Page 169 and 170: Maidscross Hill is largely overgrow
Page 171 and 172: Ecological Requirements of Wetland
Page 173 and 174: numbers of conservation priority sp
Page 175 and 176: Recommendation Requirements of wetl
Page 179 and 180: Restored pingo complexAt Great Hock
Page 183 and 184: the difficulties of achieving this
Page 185 and 186: Strategic Challenges to Biodiversit
Page 187 and 188: Table 22. Problems arising from poo
Page 189 and 190: Recommendation: Natural England and
Page 191 and 192: It is therefore vital to carefully
Page 193 and 194: Creating networks for resilienceTo
Page 195 and 196: More ambitious possibilities that c
Page 197 and 198: Figure 34. Example of a potential c
Page 199 and 200: Connectivity networks© Neal Armour
Page 201 and 202: and consider whether these repeated
Page 203 and 204: Ensure that scrub removal, ploughin
Page 205 and 206: ReferencesADAS. (1997) Biological M
Page 207 and 208:
Haes, E. C. M. & Harding, P. T. (19
Page 209 and 210:
Sastre, B.(2003). Ground spider com
show all

Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?