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

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

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

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

5. 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

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

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

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

9. CELTIC (IRON AGE) CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

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

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

12. NATURAL COLONISATION – SUCCESSIONAL TRAJECTORIES Heathland phase Scrub phase After 100-120 years oak-birch woodland NOT SEQUENTIAL

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

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

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

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

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

18. TREATMENTS - ORDINATION AFTER 7 YEARS Data supplied by Richard Pywell

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

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

21. LANDSCAPE SCALE RESTORATION NEWLY SOWN SITE USING HARVESTED SEED

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

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

24. 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

25. 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)

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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