Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission

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Mean minimum daily air temperature (°C)YearFigure 18. Mean daily minimum air temperature between 1949 and 2008 (n=60) at Santon Downhamweather stations in spring (+), summer (x), autumn (○) and winter (∆). Details of relationships between yearand air temperature are given in Table 17.Predicted Future Climatic Change in the Breckland RegionClimate changes in the East of England have been modelled by the UK Climate Predictions (UKCP09)based on various scenarios of emissions of greenhouse gases (Murphy et al. 2009)By the 2050s and under medium emissions scenario, the East of England is predicted to experience: Hotter summers. Summer mean temperatures are predicted to increase by 2.5 °C with anincrease of 3.4°C in summer mean daily maximum temperatureDrier summers. Mean summer precipitation is predicted to decrease by 17% in summer meanprecipitation Milder winters. Winter mean temperatures are predicted to increase by 2.2 °C Wetter winters. Winter mean precipitation is predicted to rise by 14%.The values given above are central estimates; more details of probabilities and climate changes areavailable at http://ukclimateprojections.defra.gov.uk.The UK Climate Impact Programme (UKCIP02) also predicted a significant decrease in soil moisturecontent.96
Biodiversity Implications of the Changing Breckland ClimateBreckland has become wetter in autumn, spring and especially in winter with an increase in thefrequency of extreme rainfall events in all seasons. Breckland temperatures have become lesscontinental, with much milder winters, milder nights in spring and summer, and fewer frosts. Thesechanges are predicted to continue under current climate change scenarios. Note that the magnitudeof change in temperature may have been under-estimated in our analysis, due to the relocation ofthe Santon weather station from Grimes Graves to Santon Downham – making our test conservative.These changes are likely to have profound consequences for ecological processes, for vegetation, andfor species. These can only be considered qualitatively and with a large degree of uncertainty.Possible effects may include: Wetter winters may favour leaching of mineralisable nitrogen down soil profiles, making theuse of soil disturbance treatments to reduce soil fertility more effective. Greater winter ground-water recharge may occur, with positive benefits for fen and pingo(fluctuating waterbodies) systems. However, it is recommended that ground water scenariosbe explored by models that combine temperature and precipitation in equations for potentialevapo-transpiration. Milder and wetter winters are likely to result in greater growth of perennial grasses that werepreviously kept in check by low winter temperatures and frost. Anecdotal evidence suggeststhis is already occurring within Thetford Forest. Greater grass growth would result in morerapid sward closure and encroachment onto bare ground to the detriment of speciesrequiring bare sand or exposed mineral soil. This may be mitigated by greater use of soildisturbance treatments, and adjustments in grazing regimes to remove excess biomass.Current climate predictions indicate that summers will be warmer and drier; if summerdroughting increases significantly, this may mitigate some of the effects of the milder, wetterwinters. Many of the Breckland speciality and coastal species are more widely distributed incontinental steppe or Mediterranean ecosystems. These are often stress tolerant butvulnerable to competition, or to pathogens that can be active in damper or more temperateconditions. Thus wetter autumn, winter and spring soil conditions may be detrimental toseeds, aestivating plants or soil dwelling insect larvae. For example, beetle larvae adapted toxeric conditions may have less resistance to fungal pathogens that can be important inpopulation dynamics (Holland 2002).In addition, frost can reduce the vigour of competitors, while also providing small scale localsoil disturbance in frost heave; both processes will be reduced.It will be hard to disentangle responses to changing weather from other changes (land-use, habitatextent), particularly for species whose ecology, distribution, and past and current status are poorlyknown.Recommendation: Ground water scenarios should be explored by models that combine temperature andprecipitation in equations for potential evapo-transpiration. Attempt to mitigate increased vegetation productivity from milder and wetter winters bygreater use of soil disturbance transpiration and adjustments in grazing regimes to removeexcess biomass.97
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Securing Biodiversityin BrecklandGu
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Commissioning GroupNeil Featherston
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Wind-blown sand guild .............
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milder winters and increased winter
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Creating broad ruderal and disturbe
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Introduction“Few of the lowland d
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Inland DunesThe 1km wide dune and b
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Following the Black Death of the mi
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The area of grass-heath declined by
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PingosPingos are ground water fed p
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Breckland Conservation and the Need
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SSSI. The Breckland Forest SSSI cit
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The Breckland Biodiversity Audit ha
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The Breckland bio-geographic region
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polygons of alternating calcareous
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quality calcareous fen communities
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Figure 2. The extent of Breckland,
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Table 3. Grass-heath vegetation in
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The Conservation Resource: Designat
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All other SSSIs are less than 600 h
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GrasslandHeathWoodlandWetlandFlowin
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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
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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
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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 125 and 126: Mechanical disturbance to create br
Page 129 and 130: estricted to road verges, with the
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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
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Management to Sustain Dry Terrestri
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Heather should rather be considered
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GrazingrequirementsLightly sheep-gr
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a mosaic of overlapping ploughed, a
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Wind-blown sandThere is great uncer
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IntensityProcess Technique Immediat
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Complex Sward MosaicsComplex sward
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Management for Assemblages of Light
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Management for Species of Physicall
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Key Recommendations for Cultivated
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Shallow cultivation is preferable t
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Maidscross Hill is largely overgrow
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Ecological Requirements of Wetland
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numbers of conservation priority sp
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Recommendation Requirements of wetl
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Figure 31. Number of Breckland cons
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Restored pingo complexAt Great Hock
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Figure 32. Number of Breckland cons
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the difficulties of achieving this
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Strategic Challenges to Biodiversit
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Table 22. Problems arising from poo
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Recommendation: Natural England and
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It is therefore vital to carefully
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Creating networks for resilienceTo
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More ambitious possibilities that c
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Figure 34. Example of a potential c
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Connectivity networks© Neal Armour
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and consider whether these repeated
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Ensure that scrub removal, ploughin
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ReferencesADAS. (1997) Biological M
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Haes, E. C. M. & Harding, P. T. (19
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Sastre, B.(2003). Ground spider com
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