In this study we compared the biodiversity of five waterbody types (ditches, lakes, ponds, rivers and streams) within an agricultural study area in lowland England to assess their relative contribution to the plant and macroinvertebrate species richness and rarity of the region.
ABSTRACT1. Agriculture is known to have a range of deleterious impacts on freshwater habitats and biota and many countries have introduced measures to attempt to mitigate these impacts through agri-environment initiatives. Despite the protection they provide, water bodies (any discrete body of surface fresh water) in farmland landscapes commonly remain impaired by agriculture. In some areas of the UK there have been calls to halt farming completely, indicating that the measures offered for the widespread protection of aquatic systems, particularly the use of buffer strips, may not be extensive enough to provide sufficient protection for freshwater biota.2. This study investigated whether existing agri-environment measures for the widespread protection of aquatic habitats could be better deployed to provide a higher level of protection for the aquatic macrophytes and macroinvertebrates of a study area in southern England.3. Reserve selection procedures were used to reallocate the area of land that could be remunerated under the Environmental Stewardship scheme as buffer strips bordering water bodies, so that a higher level of protection was provided for both the richness and rarity of aquatic species in the study area.4. Almost 395 ha were available for reallocation in the reserve selection process, which was found to provide a satisfactory level of protection for up to 90% of the surveyed species.5. The results showed that the agri-environment scheme in England has a great deal of potential to provide more effective protection for the aquatic biodiversity of agricultural landscapes if measures are targeted.
ABSTRACT1. Pond ecological quality is influenced by surrounding land uses. Continued intensification of land use has led to a progressive decline in the ecological quality of the pond stock within Britain.2. To reverse this trend new ponds need to be carefully designed and sited using a targeted approach. Consequently, this study uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify optimum locations for new ponds within the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.3. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify the relationship between macrophyte pond quality indicators and environmental data from 300 ponds to produce models that could predict pond quality.4. These models were tested at 10 locations in the study area by comparing predicted pond qualities with the actual pond qualities, established by identifying all plants in each pond. Aquatic plants successfully predicted pond quality, while emergent plants and total wetland plant species did not.5. The regression model for aquatic plants was used in the GIS to identify locations within the study area where new ponds could be located to obtain maximum ecological quality. Six scenarios were tested and the optimum situation identified.6. The study demonstrated the potential and importance of using GIS in a strategic approach for pond conservation.
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