Transcript birds and the bees presentation

The Birds and the Bees
Rose Wilcox, Darren Evans, Jane Bunting and Graham Scott
Adapted by Alan Parkinson
 What
are ecological networks?
 Why is restoration of moorland
important?
 Restoration so far
 What are we going to do?
 Applications
 How
successful is ecological
restoration in re-establishing these
pollinators.
 Bees also have parasites: external and
internal.
 Ecological
networks are a way of
describing the links between species
within an ecosystem.
 These
•
networks can be:
Qualitative
Level 4: Insects that live on and
parasitise the insects and
parasites in level 3
Level 3:
Insects that
live on and
parasitise
insects from
level 2
Level 2:
Insects that
feed on
heather
Level 1: Heather
 Can
ecological networks ever be
properly reinstated in restored heathland
areas?
 Does the function of species change with
age of the restored sites?
 When are parasites reinstated as the top
trophic level?
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Heather moorland is rarer than
rainforest and 75% of remaining
heathland is found in Britain.
Moorland is of international
global importance, not only
because of its limited distribution but also because of
its association with rare and threatened species.
10 of the 46 bird species inhabiting heather moorland
are on the IUCN Red List of greatest conservational
concern and 22 are on the Amber List.
Heathland also provides the ecosystem service of
being aesthetically pleasing and being of cultural
importance.
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In 2003 the Moors for the Future Partnership formed,
including organisations such as the Peak District
National Park Authority, National Trust, Natural
England, United Utilities, Severn Trent Water,
Environment Agency, Yorkshire Water, Derbyshire
County Council and RSPB.
The aim of the partnership was to ‘undo’ some of the
damage done on the Peak District and south Pennines
over the last 150 years by revegetating large areas of
bare peat
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Lime and fertilisers have been applied to improve soil
conditions.
Once soil is stable, nursery grasses are
added to create a bed of roots.
Native moorland plug plants are then
planted and vegetation growth is
monitored.
Biodiversity and ecological restoration
have so far not been monitored.
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5 restored sites between 2 and 8 years old and 1
pristine site.
Each site will contain 4 replicates, each with an area of
40x40m.
During a 1 hour period at each site all flower visitors
will be collected.
Specimens will be identified to species and mouth
parts, legs and abdomen will be swabbed for pollen.
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This will be the first study to investigate how the
function of an ecological network changes over time in
restored sites.
By using parasitoids as an indicator of restoration
success this study can assess the success of current
restoration projects to restore the ecological functions
of the target ecosystem.
If current restoration projects are found to be
unsuccessful in restoring healthy ecosystems new
management strategies must be initiated before we
lose UK heathlands all together.
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Dr Darren Evans
Dr Jane Bunting
Dr Graham Scott
Jonathon Walker and the MFF partnership
“ It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed
with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the
bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with
worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect
that these elaborately constructed forms, so different
from each other, and so dependant on each other in so
complex a manner, have all been produced by laws
acting around us”
Charles Darwin, Origin of Species