Woodland Survey of Great Britain 1971-2001

The Woodland Survey of Great Britain is a unique data set, consisting of a detailed range of ecological measurements at a national scale, covering a time span of 30 years. A set of 103 woods spread across Britain were first surveyed in 1971, which were again surveyed in 2000–2003 (for convenience referred to subsequently as the “2001 survey”). Standardised methods of describing the trees, shrubs, ground flora, soils and general habitats present were used for both sets of surveys. The sample of 1648 plots spread through 103 woodland sites located across Britain makes it probably the most extensive quantitative ecological woodland survey undertaken in Britain; it is also notable for the range of sites that have been revisited after such a long interval. The data set provides a unique opportunity to explore the effects of a range of potential drivers of woodland change that operated between 1971 and 2001. The data set is available in four discrete parts, which have been assigned the following DOIs: doi:10.5285/4d93f9ac-68e3-49cf-8a41-4d02a7ead81a (Kirby et al., 2013b), doi:10.5285/d6409d40-58fe-4fa7-b7c8-71a105b965b4 (Kirby et al., 2013d), doi:10.5285/fb1e474d-456b-42a9- 9a10-a02c35af10d2 (Kirby et al., 2013c), doi:10.5285/2d023ce9-6dbe-4b4f-a0cd-34768e1455ae (Kirby et al., 2013a)

National woodland survey & native pine survey. Field handbook

Field handbook for the 2018-2022 Bunce Broadleaved Woodland Survey of Great Britain and Scottish Pinewod Surve

Fifty years of change across British broadleaved woodlands: a resurvey and analysis of the “Bunce” sites 1971-’01-’21

In 1971 103 woods across Britain were selected as representative of a wider sample of 2453 woods (> 4 ha) surveyed in the late 1960s. Within each of the 103 woods sixteen 200m2 plots were located using a stratified random design and records made of soils, tree and shrub composition, ground flora, dead wood, signs of management and other features. These were revisited in 2001. In the third and latest survey 97 sites were revisited and the plots re-recorded as close to the original plot locations as possible. The original recording methods were used. The data from the 1971, 2001 and 2021 surveys were combined and analyses of change over time undertaken to address two broad questions; what has changed over time and what were the likely causes

Changes in the frequency of common plant species across linear features in Wales from 1990 to 2016: implications for potential delivery of ecosystem services

In 2016, 21 1km squares recorded in Wales as part of the Countryside Survey of Great Britain were revisited. One hundred and thirty seven quadrats alongside linear features that had all been recorded in the same place in 1990, 1998 and 2007 were re-found and the plant species compositions recorded. Changes in individual species frequency were analysed and the results summarised by a number of ecosystem services and one disservice whose delivery are linked to functionally important species being present. Results indicated a continuation of a trend toward increased shading and woody cover seen between the first Countryside Survey in 1978 and the last in 2007. Most species showed no significant change in frequency suggesting that the significant directional trend seems only to have impacted a subset of the species present. A greater sample size would be required to capture impacts on a larger number of species including a wider range of Common Standards Monitoring (CSM) positive indicator species that may find refuge on the linear network in lowland Wales. Having grouped species by the ecosystem services they help deliver, we found that injurious weeds (an ecosystem disservice to food production) either declined or remained stable, a greater number of butterfly larval food plants decreased than increased and there was a net decline in potential nectar yield. Consistent with the successional trend, increasing species in these service-providing groups tended to be tall or shade-tolerant herbs and tree species. Decreasing species tended to be short, shade-intolerant forbs

Mercury's capture into the 3/2 spin-orbit resonance including the effect of core-mantle friction

The rotation of Mercury is presently captured in a 3/2 spin-orbit resonance with the orbital mean motion. The capture mechanism is well understood as the result of tidal interactions with the Sun combined with planetary perturbations. However, it is now almost certain that Mercury has a liquid core, which should induce a contribution of viscous friction at the core-mantle boundary to the spin evolution. This last effect greatly increases the chances of capture in all spin-orbit resonances, being 100% for the 2/1 resonance, and thus preventing the planet from evolving to the presently observed configuration. Here we show that for a given resonance, as the chaotic evolution of Mercury's orbit can drive its eccentricity to very low values during the planet's history, any previous capture can be destabilized whenever the eccentricity becomes lower than a critical value. In our numerical integrations of 1000 orbits of Mercury over 4 Gyr, the spin ends 99.8% of the time captured in a spin-orbit resonance, in particular in one of the following three configurations: 5/2 (22%), 2/1 (32%) and 3/2 (26%). Although the present 3/2 spin-orbit resonance is not the most probable outcome, we also show that the capture probability in this resonance can be increased up to 55% or 73%, if the eccentricity of Mercury in the past has descended below the critical values 0.025 or 0.005, respectively.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Identifying effective approaches for monitoring national natural capital for policy use

In order to effectively manage natural resources at national scales national decision makers require data on the natural capital which supports the delivery of ecosystem services (ES). Key data sources used for the provision of national natural capital metrics include Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS), which provides information on land cover at an increasing range of resolutions, and field survey, which can provide very high resolution data on ecosystem components, but is constrained in its potential coverage by resource requirements. Here we combine spatially representative field data from a historic national survey of Great Britain (Countryside Survey (CS)) with concurrent low resolution SRS data land cover map within modelling frameworks to produce national natural capital metrics. We present three examples of natural capital metrics; top soil carbon, headwater stream quality and nectar species plant richness which show how highly resolved, but spatially representative field data can be used to significantly enhance the potential of low resolution SRS land cover data for providing national spatial data on natural capital metrics which have been linked to ecosystem services (ES). We discuss the role of such metrics in evaluations of ecosystem service provision and areas of further development to improve their utility for stakeholders