Transcript Pony grazing

© Amy Rogers
Amy Rogers
Rogers
© Amy ©
© Amy Rogers
© Carl Corbidge
Heathland field trip
Pony Grazing
Welcome to site name!
• You will be spending today working on a
very rare habitat – lowland heathland.
© Amy Rogers
• You will be acting as an environmental
scientist, collecting data on the effect of
pony grazing on different plant species.
© Amy Rogers
What are you going to do today?
Definitions
Ecosystems
consist of living organisms such as plants
and animals (biotic factors) and non-living
environmental factors such a water,
nutrients, and temperature (abiotic factors).
Niche
a set of particular environmental (abiotic)
conditions that organisms need to survive.
Abiotic factors determine which plant and animal species live in an
ecosystem and how they are distributed. The spatial distribution of
abiotic factors within an ecosystem can also determine the
distribution of plants and animals.
• Is found at elevations of less than 300
m above sea-level
• Is an open habitat with few trees
• Is dominated by dwarf shrubs,
particularly heather
• Has sandy, acidic, low-nutrient soils
© Lauren Gough
What is lowland heathland?
Heathland is a very rare habitat
• Since 1800 the UK has lost over 80%
of it’s lowland heathland
• Heathland
rainforest!
is
rarer
than
tropical
• The UK still has 20% of the world’s
total amount!
What lives there?
© Carl Corbidge
Contains over 500
Most important
species ofhabitat
spidersin
the UK for reptiles
Four bird species associated primarily with this habitat.
Three are on the Red List!
How did heathland form?
• Historically woodland was cleared to provide land for grazing
and agriculture
• When the nutrients in the soil were depleted the farmers
cultivated new areas
• Heathland became established on the abandoned areas
7,000 years ago
Lowland Britain forested.
6,000 – 4,000 years ago
Woodland cleared for farming.
4,000 years ago
Heathland formed.
Heathland is a man-made habitat
• Heathland was created when early man cleared areas of
woodland for grazing and agriculture
• Without continual intervention and management, heathlands will
revert to their original woodland state.
Succession
Intervention by man
(habitat management)
Heathland is a low nutrient ecosystem
• Heathland soils have a very low nutrient content.
• Heathland plants (e.g., heather and gorse) have adaptations to
allow them to survive in these conditions.
• Many heathland soils are becoming polluted causing soil
nutrient levels to increase.
• Increasing soil nutrient levels can allow faster growing species
(e.g., grass, bracken and scrub) to invade and out-compete the
slower-growing heathland specialists (e.g., heather and gorse).
• This can result in the heathland reverting back to a woodland.
Grazing as a heathland management tool
• Removing fast growing species like grass
that could out-compete heather;
• Provide areas of bare ground which are
important for invertebrate and reptile species;
• Remove plant material (i.e., nutrients) from
the ecosystem.
© Amy Rogers
• Removing tree saplings and suppressing
shrub growth;
© Amy Rogers
• Grazing by ponies, sheep and cattle can help
maintain and improve the heathland habitat by:
What are you trying to find out?
• You will be comparing the plant species and soil chemistry in
two different heathland areas – one area has been grazed, the
other has not.
• You will be able to use this information to decide whether pony
grazing is beneficial for heathland plants and soils.
• Using this information you will be able to make suggestions
about the future management of the site – should the un-grazed
site should be grazed? Or should grazing be stopped on the
grazed site?
Objectives:
• Conduct simple soil chemistry analyses;
• Use a quadrat to sample vegetation;
• Identify common plant species that occur in heathlands;
• Understand why grazing is used as a heathland management
tool and the impact it has on heathland vegetation;
• Evaluate whether grazing is a beneficial management tool in
heathlands.
Which plant species will you be recording?
• You will studying the presence of all the plants, lichens and
mosses in two heathland areas.
© Roger Key
Heath Bedstraw
© Roger Key
Ling Heather
Red Fescue
© Bob Osborn
© Peter Crittenden
• There will be a number of different shrubs, grasses and flowering
plants on the heathlands.
Common heather
(Calluna vulgaris)
© Roger Key
© Peter Crittenden
© Roger Key
Identification training
Bell Heather
(Erica cinerea)
Cross-leaved heath
(Erica tetralix)
© Roger Key
Identification training:
Common Heather
• Flowers 3 – 5 mm long, lilac, with
separate petals.
• Leaves very small and scale-like (1–
2 mm long)
Common heather
(Calluna vulgaris)
© Peter Crittenden
Identification training:
Bell Heather
• Small, narrow dark-green leaves in
whorls of three.
• Petals are not separated.
• Flowers are bell-shaped, purple, 4 – 7
mm longs and occur in groups.
Bell Heather
(Erica cinerea)
© Roger
KeyKey
© Roger
Identification training:
Cross-Leaved Heath
• Pink, drooping flowers, 6 – 7 mm long in
groups at the end of stems.
• Flowers almost closed (i.e., petals not
separated) with very small ‘mouth’.
• Narrow, linear, grey-green leaves in
whorls of four. Leaf surface is downy.
Cross-leaved heath
(Erica tetralix)
Random Sampling
• To make sure that your samples are unbiased you will be using
random sampling.
X number
of paces
Starting
Point
X number
of paces
• You can use a
random number
table to determine
how many steps you
take along the
bottom and side of
the heathlands to
get your random
sample point.
Random Sampling (Alternative approach)
• When sampling vegetation your quadrats should be placed
randomly to avoid bias
50m
• We will do this by creating a grid
from two 50m tape measures
• You will generate random coordinates using a calculator to find
out where to place your quadrat
within the grid
X
co-ordinate
Y
co-ordinate
26
13
26m
0m
0m 13m
50m
© Peter Crittenden
Measuring plant species percentage cover
• Place the quadrat over the area
of vegetation to be surveyed.
• Look at the
directly above.
quadrat
from
• The total area of ground within
the quadrat is 100%.
• For
each
plant
species,
estimate the % area of the
quadrat that it covers.
© Peter Crittenden
© Peter Crittenden
Have a go!
Estimate the percentage
cover of bell heather in this
quadrat.
Did everyone give the same
answer? How varied were
the estimates of percentage
cover?
© Peter Crittenden
Measuring plant species percentage cover
You need to be consistent in the way you collect the data. In your
group, think about the following questions and decide how you will
collect your data
The plant is rooted in the quadrat, but all of
its leaves fall outside the quadrat. Do you
include it in your results for this quadrat?
The plant is not rooted in the quadrat, but
some of its leaves fall in the quadrat. Do you
include it in your results for this quadrat?
Health and safety
Trip hazards - Uneven ground, low branches.
carefully.
Move slowly and
Scratches/cuts - The heathland may contain gorse and/or bramble.
Both are prickly/scratchy.
Sun burn - Wear sun screen and a hat. Drink plenty of water.
Animals – Don’t approach any animals, such as ponies or dogs.
Adders - Do not rush around – move slowly and they will move away
when they hear you approaching.
Biohazards and litter - Check the soil before taking your soil sample.
Make sure there is no dangerous litter or dog mess.
Countryside code
• Take care not to damage, destroy or remove features such as rocks,
plants and trees.
• Don’t harm any wild animals or farm animals.
• Heathland often have grazing animals on them. Animals can
behave unpredictably if you get too close - give them plenty of wide
space.
• Don’t drop litter.
• Don’t start fires or smoke.
• Don’t pick any flowers.
• Watch out for ground nesting birds during summer months.
Equipment check list
• Clipboard and pencil
• Workbook
• Quadrat
• Tape measures
• Random Number Tables
Now
Sample!