The different types and importance of British heaths

Farrell, Lynne

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1989.tb00163.x

Cited by 28 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Dwarf shrub‐dominated lowland heathlands are a subclimax community found throughout Britain and coastal parts of Europe. They are especially well represented in Britain, which holds approximately 20% of the European total (Farrell 1989). Within the British Isles a range of dwarf shrub heathland types can be found, from wet heath dominated by Erica tetralix through the intermediate humid heaths to drier Calluna vulgaris ‐dominated communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the damp, mild subAtlantic climate in Britain, wet and humid heaths are particularly common, although dry heath occurs in areas with a suitable substrate and climate. The Breckland of East Anglia is the driest and most continental (in terms of both climate and vegetation) heathland area in Britain (Webb 1986; Farrell 1989; Rodwell 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the 1700s, there has been a dramatic decline in heathland area throughout Europe (Farrell 1989). Heathlands were once widespread on sandy soils too poor to cultivate, which provided areas for grazing and the gathering of wood or turf for fuel.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A comparison of regeneration dynamics following gap creation at two geographically contrasting heathland sites

Britton

Carey²,

Pakeman³

et al. 2000

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Summary1. Lowland Calluna-dominated heathlands are a high priority for conservation in Europe. As an anthropogenic subclimax community they require regular management intervention to maintain their conservation interest. 2. Increasingly, Calluna is disappearing from lowland heathlands and being replaced by grasses, especially in the Netherlands and more recently in south-east England. While Calluna is highly competitive over much of its life cycle, its competitive ability is reduced during the regeneration phase that follows the death of stands or results from management activity. 3. We examined the in¯uence of ®ve factors on regeneration of vegetation in gaps in two broadly similar lowland dry heaths over a 3-year period. These were: geographical location (combining a variety of environmental contrasts); dominant species (Calluna or grasses); management techniques; gap size; and seed source availability. 4. Site location had the greatest eect on patterns of regeneration. Regeneration on the Wirral (north-west England) was faster and more dominated by Calluna than regeneration in Breckland (south-east England), which was dominated by other species including grasses and annual plants. Addition of Calluna seed at the Breckland site failed to increase Calluna cover. It was concluded that climatic or other environmental factors were the most probable cause of poor regeneration. 5. Cover of grasses in regenerating areas was greatest in Breckland, where Deschampsia was able to establish in all gaps where there was a seed source (either in the surrounding vegetation or applied as a treatment). On the Wirral, Deschampsia establishment was limited, even in gaps where a seed source was applied. 6. This work has implications for the conservation management of heathlands, which currently follows a standard prescription throughout the UK. It is suggested that management regimes should be tailored to suit the conditions prevailing at individual sites as regeneration dynamics may be extremely variable.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A comparison of regeneration dynamics following gap creation at two geographically contrasting heathland sites

Britton

Carey²,

Pakeman³

et al. 2000

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…Lowland heath occurs across continental Europe, but the British heaths are especially important in conservation terms, in part because they form such a large proportion of the European resource. For example, Farrell (1989) estimated that Britain contains 18 % of the total European resource, including wet heath and maritime heath vegetation types which are relatively rare. In the UK, lowland heath was designated as a priority habitat under the national biodiversity action plan, reflecting its rare and threatened status (Maddock, 2008), as well as its importance for a number of characteristic species of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens, supporting characteristic birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates (Department of the Environment, 1995).…”

Section: Lowland Heath Landscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example in Sweden and Denmark, the area of this habitat declined by 60-70 % in the century prior to the 1960s, with the corresponding decline for the Netherlands being 95 % (Farrell, 1989). The survival of the distinctive lowland heath vegetation and habitats, dominated by heather (Calluna vulgaris) and gorse (Ulex europaeus), is dependent on traditional use, including livestock grazing, cutting of the shrub for use as fuel and animal fodder, or controlled burning (Dolman and Land, 1995).…”

Section: Lowland Heath Landscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land cover and vegetation data from an ecological survey of "key habitat" landscapes in England, 1992–1993

Wood

Bunce

Norton

et al. 2018

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

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Abstract. Since 1978, a series of national surveys (Countryside Survey, CS) have been carried out by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) (formerly the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, ITE) to gather data on the natural environment in Great Britain (GB). As the sampling framework for these surveys is not optimised to yield data on rarer or more localised habitats, a survey was commissioned by the then Department of the Environment (DOE, now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, DEFRA) in the 1990s to carry out additional survey work in English landscapes which contained semi-natural habitats that were perceived to be under threat, or which represented areas of concern to the ministry. The landscapes were lowland heath, chalk and limestone (calcareous) grasslands, coasts and uplands. The information recorded allowed an assessment of the extent and quality of a range of habitats defined during the project, which can now be translated into standard UK broad and priority habitat classes. The survey, known as the "Key Habitat Survey", followed a design which was a series of gridded, stratified, randomly selected 1 km squares taken as representative of each of the four landscape types in England, determined from statistical land classification and geological data ("spatial masks"). The definitions of the landscapes are given in the descriptions of the spatial masks, along with definitions of the surveyed habitats. A total of 213 of the 1 km 2 square sample sites were surveyed in the summers of 1992 and 1993, with information being collected on vegetation species, land cover, landscape features and land use, applying standardised repeatable methods. The database contributes additional information and value to the long-term monitoring data gathered by the Countryside Survey and provides a valuable baseline against which future ecological changes may be compared, offering the potential for a repeat survey. The data were analysed and described in a series of contract reports and are summarised in the present paper, showing for example that valuable habitats were restricted in all landscapes, with the majority located within protected areas of countryside according to different UK designations. The dataset provides major potential for analyses, beyond those already published, for example in relation to climate change, agri-environment policies and land management. Precise locations of the plots are restricted, largely for reasons of landowner confidentiality. However, the representative nature of the dataset makes it highly valuable for evaluating the status of ecological elements within the associated landscapes surveyed. Both land cover data and vegetation plot data were collected during the surveys in 1992 and 1993 and are available via the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.5285/7aefe6aa-0760-4b6d-9473-fad8b960abd4. The spatial masks are also available from https://doi.org/10.5285/dc583be3-3649-4df6-b67e-b0f40b4ec895.

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Conservation value of roadside verges for stenotopic heathland Carabidae: corridors or refugia?

Eversham

Telfer

1994

Biodivers Conserv

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The different types and importance of British heaths

Cited by 28 publications

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A comparison of regeneration dynamics following gap creation at two geographically contrasting heathland sites

A comparison of regeneration dynamics following gap creation at two geographically contrasting heathland sites

Land cover and vegetation data from an ecological survey of "key habitat" landscapes in England, 1992–1993

Conservation value of roadside verges for stenotopic heathland Carabidae: corridors or refugia?

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The different types and importance of British heaths

Cited by 28 publications

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A comparison of regeneration dynamics following gap creation at two geographically contrasting heathland sites

A comparison of regeneration dynamics following gap creation at two geographically contrasting heathland sites

Land cover and vegetation data from an ecological survey of &quot;key habitat&quot; landscapes in England, 1992–1993

Conservation value of roadside verges for stenotopic heathland Carabidae: corridors or refugia?

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Land cover and vegetation data from an ecological survey of "key habitat" landscapes in England, 1992–1993