Tag: Scotland

Grasslands, Monitoring and methods, Policy, Research summaries

No change in burning of peatland in Eastern Scotland’s moorlands

Author Benedict Spracklen used satellite imagery to better understand the impact of prescribed burning of moorland on ecosystem services. Prescribed burning has long played a role in the management of moorland, both in Scotland and across the UK. In Eastern Scotland, moorland burning (muirburn) is carried out to remove old vegetation and encourage new growth, in the belief this will help red grouse, which are … Continue reading No change in burning of peatland in Eastern Scotland’s moorlands

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Monitoring and methods, Research summaries, Restoration

Restoring Landscapes: When restoration actions don’t lead to restoration outcomes

As part of the ‘Restoring Landscapes’ blog series, author Jake Williams presents a case study illustrating the value of satellite data in filling the knowledge gap on the effect of passive restoration efforts in different climatic and ecological contexts. With the launch of the ‘Restoring Landscapes’ blog series, it is a timely moment to reflect on the connection between the actions we call “restoration” and … Continue reading Restoring Landscapes: When restoration actions don’t lead to restoration outcomes

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Editor's Choice, Forests, Restoration

Editor’s Choice 60:11 Woodland Expansion in the Presence of Deer

Pip Gullet, Mark Hancock and Sydney Henderson summarise the Journal of Applied Ecology’s November’s Editor’s Choice research article. This study presents 30 years of regeneration monitoring to show a consistent, large-scale expansion of native woodland, largely through natural regeneration alongside deer culling, without the use of fences. Continue reading Editor’s Choice 60:11 Woodland Expansion in the Presence of Deer

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Forests, Freshwater, Practitioners, Research summaries

Drought in Scotland? Projections affect specialist habitats and species

Fairlie Kirkpatrick Baird from NatureScot discusses their latest research that reveals the increasing risk of extreme drought in Scotland and how that may affect key habitats and their species. One of the first things that comes to mind when people think of Scotland, alongside the beautiful mountains and the Loch Ness Monster, is the terrible weather. Scotland is famously wet, and as Highlanders we agree … Continue reading Drought in Scotland? Projections affect specialist habitats and species

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Restoration, The Applied Ecologist community

Rewilding in Britain: a case study

Over the past few weeks, The Applied Ecologist’s Blog and Relational Thinking have been exploring the hot topic of rewilding from a number of different interdisciplinary and management angles.  Now Sophie Wynne-Jones and Chris Sandom turn their focus to the UK as a, perhaps unexpected, example of where rewilding has grown. If you ask someone in Britain whether or not they have heard of rewilding, … Continue reading Rewilding in Britain: a case study

Journal of Applied Ecology4 Comments
Human-wildlife interactions, Monitoring and methods, Research summaries

Holiday snapshots can help us to understand conservation sites

In their recent article, Quantifying wildlife watchers’ preferences to investigate the overlap between recreational and conservation value of natural areas, Mancini et al. discovered just how much a trawl through photo sharing and social media sites can tell us about conservation value. Associate Editor, Yolanda Wiersma explains more. We have all have experienced seeing someone’s holiday through their camera lens. Prior to the advent of … Continue reading Holiday snapshots can help us to understand conservation sites

Journal of Applied Ecology1 Comment
Research summaries

Ecological traps for large-scale invasive species control

Predicting recolonisation areas favoured by American mink is a step towards invasive species control, according to this new article by Melero et al. Ecological traps for large-scale invasive species control: Predicting settling rules by recolonising American mink post-culling is published today in Journal of Applied Ecology. Invasive species present daunting challenges to conservationists because of the scale over which their impact on native biodiversity plays out. … Continue reading Ecological traps for large-scale invasive species control

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Research summaries

Prioritising local habitat quality for woodland hoverflies

Kirsty Park and colleagues discuss the importance of habitat quality in restoration efforts. Read the full article, Local-scale attributes determine the suitability of woodland creation sites for Diptera in Journal of Applied Ecology. To benefit woodland-associated Diptera, and in particular hoverflies, woodland creation and restoration efforts should focus on ‘habitat quality’, in particular to ensure a diverse tree and understory vegetation structure. These are the findings … Continue reading Prioritising local habitat quality for woodland hoverflies

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