THE BRIDGE BETWEEN RESEARCH AND THE REAL WORLD PHIL PUTWAIN – WITH THANKS TO TONY BRADSHAW, JO SAYERS AND IAN TRUEMAN RESEARCH REAL WORLD PROJECTS

A VISION OF ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION Natural regeneration Timespan? Creative restoration Faithful reinstatement

ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION / CREATIVE CONSERVATION Natural regeneration Experimental techniques Monitoring TARGET COMMUNITY PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION Improved methodology

NATURAL REGENERATION AFTER DISTURBANCE Research informs strategic planning Salisbury Plain Training Area Annual and perennial forbes colonise

PLANT COMMUNITY DYNAMICS – TIME SERIES Percentage similarity between disturbed and undisturbed samples Solid red = CG3 community Solid blue = MG1 community Dotted = maximum similarity within undisturbed vegetation

CHINA CLAY (KAOLIN) AREA - LEGACY AN ENGINEER’S SOLUTION

EARLY RESEARCH – NPK FACTORIAL EXPERIMENT Nitrogen a key nutrient also calcium Moribund vegetation after two years

FAILED RESTORATION NUTRIENT SUPPLY NOT SUSTAINABLE Initial establishment Nitrogen has leached away

CELTIC (IRON AGE) CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

HISTORIC CULTURAL LANDSCAPE WILD EXPANSE OF OPEN HEATHLAND DERIVED FROM TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT ORIGINATING IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE

HISTORIC CULTURAL LANDSCAPE - TODAY Woodland and scrub Small fields enclosed by Cornish hedges

NATURAL COLONISATION – SUCCESSIONAL TRAJECTORIES Heathland phase Scrub phase After years oak-birch woodland NOT SEQUENTIAL

COMMUNITY ASSEMBLY – MULTIPLE TRAJECTORIES DCA Ordination – there is no pattern for colonising sites – propagule dependent

STARTING POINT – SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS RESTORATION OF HEATHLAND - GENESIS SMALL SCALE EXPERIMENTS COMMENCED IN 1976 AIM TO RESTORE CHARACTERISTIC HEATHLAND VEGETATION

RESTORATION OF HEATHLAND Heathland plant communities 17 years after restoration Seminal small-scale experiment commenced in 1976 View after 7 years (ungrazed)

LARGE SCALE EXPERIMENT ON SAND AND GRAVEL WORKINGS IN DORSET Over one hectare Agricultural equipment Site preparation

HEATHLAND PLANT COMMUNITIES AFTER 6 YEARS (UNGRAZED) ON SAND AND GRAVEL WORKINGS

TREATMENTS - ORDINATION AFTER 7 YEARS Data supplied by Richard Pywell

CAERLOGGAS DOWNS THE FIRST LARGE SCALE RESTORATION (60 Ha) ON QUARTZ WASTE (in 1995)

RESTORED HEATHLAND AFTER 4 YEARS (WHEN GRAZING COMMENCED) THE RETURN OF AN ECOLOGICALLY VIABLE LANDSCAPE

LANDSCAPE SCALE RESTORATION NEWLY SOWN SITE USING HARVESTED SEED

LANDSCAPE SCALE RESTORATION ECOLOGICALLY FUNCTIONAL AND ECONOMICALLY SUSTAINABLE Range grazing - beef cattle and sheep Local community use of the site View point for tourists

ECONOMICALLY SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF RESTORED HEATHLAND IS ESSENTIAL Expanding market for heathland beef and lamb Quality breeds at premium prices

CREATION OF HAY MEADOWS – EXPERIMENT AND AFTERMATH 3m x 3m plots cropped with barley, potatoes, maize and fallow Green hay strewn Early years – contrast between treatments Later years – seed exchange? Plots become more similar

CREATION OF HAY MEADOWS USING STREWN GREEN HAY (WOLVERHAMPTON) Bushbury Hill meadow after 2 years (1986). Source hay meadow SSSI Shropshire (Pennerley Meadows) After 17 years (2001) cutting management Another created meadow in Wolverhampton (grazing management)

CREATIVE RESTORATION – WOODLAND GROUND FLORA Collier’s Moss Common 1993 invading successional birch and willow. Sown with 13 species of woodland flora 7 years later well established primrose, bluebell, herb bennet, yellow archangel

CREATIVE RESTORATION – WOODLAND GROUND FLORA 12 years later – from 4m 2 to 200m 2 ELEANOR COHN’S RESEARCH IS MORE SOPHISTICATED Mersey Forest Bluebell project

THE REAL WORLD Creative conservation and ecological restoration require fundamental scientific understanding Research contributes to our understanding of population dynamics through to management at the landscape scale The real world is the picture on the left