COVER ILLUSTRATION A mosaic of agriculture, forestry and semi-natural habitats at the edge of the hills. Feughside, Finzean, Kincardineshire, September 1984 (PhotograPh N Picozzi) Acknowledgements Most papers were typed by Mrs E Allan and Mrs L Burnett at ITE Brathens. Abstracts for circulation before the symposium, lists of references and the texts of some of the papers were typed at ITE Monks Wood by Mrs B J Stocker. Mrs J Welch and Dr D Osborn helped with the 'organization of the symposium. Mrs J King checked all the references and Mrs P A Ward helped with the final editing and proof reading.The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) was established in 1973, from the former Nature Conservancy's research stations and staff, joined later by the Institute of Tree Biology and the Culture Centre of Algae and Protozoa. ITE contributes to, and draws upon, the collective knowledge of the 14 sister institutes which make up the Natural Environment Research Council, spanning all the environmental sciences.The Institute studies the factors determining the structure, composition and processes of land and freshwater systems, and of individual plant and animal species. It is developing a sounder scientific basis for predicting and modelling environmental trends arising from natural or man-made change. The results of this research are available to those responsible for the protection, management and wise use of our natural resources. PrefaceSince the beginning of the Second World War, there have been major changes in British agriculture. The most noteworthy of these changes have been the switch from livestock to cereals and the steady decline in landscape features such as hedges, walls, ponds, trees and small woods which are regarded as redundant for the new farming. In the uplands, extensive reclamation of semi-natural vegetation has also occurred. Throughout, there has been an increased use of inorganic fertilizers and of pesticides and herbicides.The gross effects of many of these changes on the landscape have been well documented in recent years, but there seem to be few quantitative studies of the effects on landscape and wildlife. There also seems to be little workon the functioning of ecosystems within the agricultural unit. The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, as the institute concerned with carrying out research on ecological processes on the land surface of Britain, believed that there would be considerable merit in organizing a symposium at which the results of recent work could be presented and discussed. It was hoped that any gaps in research programmes would be identified in the discussion, and hence that priorities for future research could be assigned. Herein lies a danger; strategic research must not be planned to solve present problems, but to The main results of the symposium were to bring together agricultural and ecological scientists, farmers and some politicians for the exchange of ideas. Full discussion was held on the reasons for the existence of gaps and why problems recognized years ago had n...
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