Grassland habitat restoration: lessons learnt from long term monitoring of Swanworth Quarry, UK, 1997–2014

Habitat restoration projects are often conducted when prior use or extraction of natural resources results in land degradation. The success of restoration programmes, however, is variable, and studies that provide evidence of long term outcomes are valuable for evaluation purposes. This study focused on the restoration of vegetation within a limestone quarry in Dorset, UK between 1997 and 2014. Using a randomised block design, the effect of seed mix and seed rate on the development of community assemblage was investigated in comparison to a nearby target calcareous grassland site. We hypothesised that seed mix composition and sowing rate would influence both the trajectory of the grassland assemblage and final community composition. We found that species composition (in relation to both richness and community assemblage) was strongly influenced by time and to some extent by seed rate and seed mix. However, no treatments achieved strong resemblance to the calcareous grassland target vegetation; rather they resembled mesotrophic communities. We conclude that (as with previous studies) there is no “quick fix” for the establishment of a grassland community; long-term monitoring provides useful information on the trajectory of community development; sowing gets you something (in our case mesotrophic grassland), but, it may not be the target vegetation (e.g., calcicolous grassland) you want that is difficult to establish and regenerate; it is important to sow a diverse mix as subsequent recruitment opportunities are probably limited; post-establishment management should be explored further and carefully considered as part of a restoration project

Placing the Fijian Honeyeaters within the meliphagid radiation: implications for origins and conservation

Understanding the evolutionary relationships of threatened species provides an important framework for making decisions about their conservation. However, unrecognised problems with the underlying phylogenetic analyses may bias the decision-making process. Recent phylogenetic studies have improved our understanding of Meliphagidae, but also indicate discordance between molecular datasets. Here, we examine the causes of this discordance using maximum likelihood tree-building and network analyses of identically sampled datasets for four genetic loci. Our results suggest that while we can be reasonably confident of relationships within species groups, discordance within and between molecular datasets tends to obscure relationships towards the base of the meliphagid tree. This ongoing uncertainty likely reflects differences in the sampling of markers and taxa between previously published analyses. To avoid the problems of conflicting data we used divergence time analyses of only the most densely sampled marker, NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase chain 2, to investigate the age and origins of the Fijian Meliphagidae. Our analyses suggest two temporally distinct colonisations of the Fijian archipelago. The large-bodied honeyeaters arrived ,15.6 million years ago, subsequently diversifying and spreading to Tonga and Samoa. In contrast, Myzomela appears to have arrived within the last 5.0 million years. The phylogenetic results therefore imply that conserving the evolutionary diversity of Meliphagidae in Polynesia requires that effort be spread across both the currently recognised taxa and geographical range

Modelling the effects of polyphagous predators on the population dynamics of the grain aphid Sitobion avenae (F.)

A systems approach was used to identify important features within the Sitobion avenae (F.)-polyphagous predator system. Field and laboratory experiments were carried out to provide data which would allow the quantification of predation by polyphagous predators. A technique was developed to determine whether predation of aphids occurred on the ground by measuring the rate at which S. avenae fell and subsequently returned to the crop canopy. A field experiment was carried out using this technique which indicated that predators present on the soil surface affected the rate at which aphids returned to the crop canopy. Simulation modelling was used to assess the importance of the searching behaviour of the carabid beetle Agonum dorsale (Pont.) in relation to the level of aphid aggregation and density. The model demonstrated that at the spatial scale studied, aphid predation was proportional to aphid availability but that aphid aggregation was unimportant. The implications of this for ground searching polyphagous predators were discussed. A second simulation model was constructed to quantify predation by the three principal groups of polyphagous predator: carabid and staphylinid beetles and linyphiid spiders. The role of these predators was assessed by comparing estimates of field predation to the mortality required to reduce an aphid population increasing at a maximum rate to that observed in the field. S. avenae population development was simulated using a model constructed by Carter el al. (1982). The model demonstrated that polyphagous predators were most important during the early stage of aphid population development and that staphylinid beetles of the genus Tachyporus were the most important predators studied. It was concluded that polyphagous predators are of importance early in the season, but that other mortality, possibly imposed by other natural enemies such as parasitoids, aphid specific predators and fungal pathogens was necessary to prevent aphid outbreaks from occurring.</p

A manifesto for fair and equitable research funding in ecology

The way in which research funding is allocated by both governmental and non-governmental research agencies needs to be revamped to avoid bias and encourage innovation. Known biases in allocation of funding include those driven by gender, race, institution size, geographic location and interdisciplinary study. We also contend that the peer-review process itself provides an apparently fair process, but that the flaws within it work against funding innovative science. We propose an unbiased process that combines the use of short proposals, blinded review and a lottery to allocate funding

Focus on Fiji: GIS Mapping to Support Conservation Planning

In collaboration with the Institute of Applied Science of the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji, the project conducted research on the development of a Geographic Information System for biodiversity conservation, development planning and environmental management. The objectives of the research include the characterization of the spatial distribution of key organisms that are of conservation interest, the determination of the effects of environmental perturbations such as climate change and contributing models that support mitigation strategies and conservation prioritization

The vulnerability of skinks to predation by introduced mongoose in the Fiji Islands

Skinks are successful colonisers and are commonly found throughout the Pacific islands, but, the presence of introduced predators such as mongoose are known to threaten their survival. The two most abundant skinks found within the Fiji Islands are Emoia cyanura and E. impar; the abundance of these species encountered during visual transect counts on 16 islands within four habitats formed the basis of this study. Half of these islands had mongoose present whilst the other half were known to be mongoose free. Our results showed that skink abundances on mongoose free islands were approximately five times higher than when mongoose were present, irrespective of habitat type. We conclude that it was very likely that mongoose severely supressed even commonly found skink species across all the habitat types on these small islands. Conservation actions that could protect these native species include biosecurity mechanisms to prevent secondary invasion of introduced predators, habitat protection and management, and captive rearing programs. Failure to implement such actions now could result in even common species being at risk of extirpation

Vegetation Patterns in Waisoi Primary Rainforest, Southeast Viti Levu, Fiji

The vegetation composition and structure of “pristine” primary lowland rainforest in Waisoi, south Viti Levu, Fiji were assessed quantitatively by recording all trees with a diameter at breast height > 1 cm within sample plots covering the topographic range of the Waisoi area. The tree flora comprised 78 recognizable taxa, 68 of which were recorded to species. Of these 68 species, 61 were endemic. Four forest types were evaluated; “River Flat,” “Slope,” “Ridge,” and “Quasi-montane.” Differences in stem density, species richness, and diversity were observed across the forest types. The River Flat and Quasi-montane forest types were distinct from each other and from Slope and Ridge forests. Canopy structure was characterized for each of these forest types and illustrated with profile diagrams

Rethinking Ecology – Challenging Current Thinking in Ecological Research

International audienceRethinking Ecology is a new open access, peer-reviewed journal that aims at fostering both forward-thinking and the publication of novel ideas in all aspects of ecology, evolution and environmental science. This editorial briefly presents the rationale, unique features and the aspiration of the journal. Keywords Ecology, bold ideas, new ideas, new hypothesis, co-authorship, double-blind peer review

GIS For Conservation. Using predicted locations and an ensemble approach to address sparse data sets for species distribution modelling : Long-horned beetles (Cerambycidae) of the Fiji islands

Several modelling tools were utilised to develop maps predicting the suitability of the Fiji Islands for longhorned beetles (Cerambycidae) that include endemic and endangered species such as the Giant Fijian Beetle Xixuthrus heros. This was part of an effort to derive spatially relevant knowledge for characterising an important taxonomic group in an area with relatively few biodiversity studies. Occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and bioclimatic variables from the WorldClim database were used as input for species distribution modelling (SDM). Due to the low number of available occurrence data resulting in inconsistent performance of different tools, several algorithms implemented in the DISMO package in R (Bioclim, Domain, GLM, Mahalanobis, SVM, RF and MaxEnt) were tested to determine which provide the best performance. Occurrence sets at several distribution densities were tested to determine which algorithm and sample size combination provided the best model results. The machine learning algorithms RF, SVM and MaxEnt consistently provided the best performance as evaluated by the True Skill Statistic (TSS), Kappa and Area Under Curve (AUC) metrics. The occurrence set with a density distribution of one sampling point per 10km2 provided the best performance and was used for the final prediction model. An ensemble of the best-performing algorithms generated the final suitability predictive map. The results can serve as a basis for additional studies and provide initial information that will eventually support decision-making processes supporting conservation in the archipelago