Competing conservation goals, biodiversity or ecosystem services: Element losses and species recruitment in a managed moorland–bracken model system

Measuring stock and change in the GB countryside for policy – Key findings and developments from the Countryside Survey 2007 field survey

“…In highly managed landscapes, such as Great Britain (GB), understanding how ecosystems support human well-being is becoming increasingly important if we are to ensure their long term sustainability (MA, 2005, Hindmarch 2006, UKNEA 2011. In Great Britain, as elsewhere in Europe, land is primarily managed by private landowners, even within National Parks, where past human land management is often linked to landscape character (Marrs et al, 2007). The majority of the British landscape is farmed (~75%) 1 which results in agricultural, economic and policy drivers, alongside other drivers, significantly impacting on both productivity and all other ecosystem services delivered by land (Swinton et al, 2007).…”

A comparative study of resource allocation in Pteridium in different Brazilian ecosystems and its relationship with European studies

“…Pteridium is a cosmopolitan genus occurring in a wide range of habitats worldwide, except in the polar regions (Marrs and Watt, 2006). Over much of its range it is a serious weed problem.…”

“…Over much of its range it is a serious weed problem. Although a great deal is known about Pteridium ecology, its form and function, and control measures, most of this has been derived from studies in Europe about Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn (Marrs and Watt, 2006), and until recently there has been much less data from South America (Alonso-Amelot and Rodulfo-Baechler, 1996; Thomson and Alonso-Amelot, 2002;Hartig and Beck, 2003;Alonso-Amelot and OliverosBastidas, 2005;Silva and Silva Matos, 2006;Silva Matos and Belinato, 2010;Miatto et al, 2011). This lack of data from South America is surprising because Pteridium esculentum arachnoideum abundance is causing concern for animal health across the continent (França et al, 2002;Marçal et al, 2002;Marçal, 2003).…”

“…In temperate climates Pteridium produces large stands with a dense canopy of green fronds, recruitment is rare in nature; patch expansion is achieved by vegetative growth through the rhizomes, the rate of frond decomposition is low and the litter layer can be very deep (Marrs and Watt, 2006). Whilst litter would normally be considered as part of the necromass, it provides a major ecological function for the species in terms of modification of the microclimate through frost protection (Marrs and Watt, 2006) and in suppressing the ingress of other species (Ghorbani et al, 2006;Marrs and Watt, 2006).…”

“…Whilst litter would normally be considered as part of the necromass, it provides a major ecological function for the species in terms of modification of the microclimate through frost protection (Marrs and Watt, 2006) and in suppressing the ingress of other species (Ghorbani et al, 2006;Marrs and Watt, 2006). We hypothesized that as Pteridium is considered an aggressive and invasive plant, changes in biomass allocation would be expected due to climatic differences representing the adaptation of this genus to occupy different ecosystems.…”