Download 883) What controls the ability of species to respond (by

The identification of one hundred ecological questions of high policy relevance in the
UK. Supplementary material. These are the 1003 questions submitted.
The list of the 100 final questions is given in: Sutherland, W.J., Armstrong-Brown, S.,
Armsworth, P. R., Brereton, T., Brickland, J., Campbell, C. D., Chamberlain, D. E.,
Cooke, A. I., Dulvy, N. K., Dusic, N. R., Fitton, M., Freckleton, R. P., Godfray, H.
C., Grout, N., Harvey, H. J., Hedley, C., Hopkins, J. J., Kift, N. B., Kirby, J., Kunin,
W. E., MacDonald, D. W., Markee, B., Naura, M., Neale, A.R., Oliver, T., Osborn,
D., Pullin, A. S., Shardlow, M. E. A., Showler, D. A., Smith, P. L., Smithers, R. J.,
Solandt, J.-L., Spencer, J., Spray, C. J., Thomas, C. D., Thompson, J., Webb, S. E.,
Yalden, D.W., Watkinson, A. R. (in press) The identification of one hundred
ecological questions of high policy relevance in the UK. Journal of Applied Ecology
A) Habitats
1. Agricultural landscapes & farming
1.1 Farming - general issues
1) How can the availability of appropriate livestock for extensive grazing of habitats be ensured
when this land is often marginal in the context of the farm business?
2) How can we avoid habitat degradation by abandonment/under-management?
3) What are the implications of broader farm diversification for wildlife?
4) How would the adoption in the UK of agricultural systems designed to mimic the ecological
functions of natural systems (such as agro-forestry and intercropping) benefit biodiversity? What
techniques/systems would deliver greatest environmental, productivity and economic benefit, and
where?
5) When considering future agricultural change, how can farming systems deliver the greatest
synergies between ecological health and human health?
6) How current CAP reform (Single Farm Payment etc) will affect livestock farming. More
specifically, we need to know how changes will affect livestock numbers, livestock type, and the
proportion of these stock that are available for conservation grazing, whether it will be regionally
different. And if and how any changes can be used positively to increase the number of
appropriate stock available locally for cons grazing on agriculturally poor sites.
7) Are there alternatives to cattle systems in remote High Nature Value areas that could maintain the
conservation benefits that these currently deliver?
8) What are the most effective measures for preventing soil erosion in The Fens?
9) How does the biodiversity impact of a particular land use practice depend on its prevalence within
the local landscape?
10) For a fixed total level of agricultural production, would biodiversity benefit more if large areas
were to be farmed at low intensity or if smaller areas were to be farmed intensively with the
remaining area reverting to semi-natural habitats?
11) Does soil faunal and/or microbial diversity affect crop yields?
12) How much do wild pollinator populations contribute to crop yields?
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13) How can conservation management be integrated into profitable farming systems more effectively
and how should we market this knowledge to farmers?
14) How do we best monitor the long-term effectiveness of new land use policies (farming/forestry) in
meeting biodiversity targets?
15) How many kilometres of hedgerow need to be planted to mitigate for that lost to agricultural
intensification and urban development?
16) How have agricultural practices affected the ‘ecological quality’ of non-agricultural habitats (e.g.
woodland edges) in recent decades and how can impacts be mitigated?
17) Are practical measures known to be beneficial to farmland birds also beneficial to other taxa?
18) The big question is “How can we best increase habitat heterogeneity within farmed landscape at
different scales?” This leads to a series of specific questions: a) What are the key elements of
heterogeneity (i.e. specific resource requirements) for plants, invertebrates, birds and mammals?
b) At what spatial scale are these elements of heterogeneity likely to be important for these taxa?
c) What are the likely constraints to implementing heterogeneity at multiple spatial scales?
19) What are the likely ecological changes if management is withdrawn from agricultural land? What
factors will influence how the land will evolve and can these changes be predicted for a given
area?
20) Where land is withdrawn from agriculture or the intensity of farming is significantly reduced, how
should we determine what alternative uses and which forms of intervention, if any, are desirable
for a given area?
21) What are the impacts of agricultural activities and practices (e.g. fertilizers, pesticides, physical
disturbance) on soil biodiversity and the capacity of the soil to undertake its functions?
22) Can we adopt a sustainable use of native species rather than non-native commercial species
without huge economic loss (fish, birds and mammals)?
23) What systems can be used to consider the varying environmental impacts of different conventional
crops and different management systems for the same crop? "Which management system would
maximize yield and meet certain biodiversity targets (while remaining easy to administer for
farmers)?"
24) How can socio-economic dimensions of sustainability be considered alongside assessment of
environmental impact of farming and biodiversity objectives? e.g. should indirect environmental
effects such as fuel and agrochemical savings from new crop systems be brought into the frame,
and benefits weighed against risks?
25) How well does the abundance of farmland birds indicate the general status of biodiversity in
arable landscapes?
26) How best do we reverse the decline in farmland birds?
27) Are their novel crops expected to increase in the UK that represent high and low quality resources
for the seed eating farmland birds?
28) Can carbon sequestration methods be adequately incorporated into farm business plans?
29) How can we enhance the biodiversity value of intensive grassland management systems?
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30) What is the relationship between field management and the ‘vigour’ of hedgerow trees?
31) What are the key ecological impacts of grassland agriculture and how should they be tackled?
32) What would be the implications for biodiversity and landscape of land based, for example, on
defined assumptions about sustainability of current crop and livestock enterprises?
33) Do we know how best to integrate the management of species-rich habitats, valued landscapes and
historic sites with sustainable agricultural businesses?
34) Should agricultural land in the UK be protected from development in light of potential losses of
productive land globally through climate change?
35) Under what circumstances would cessation of agriculture happen and where would it take place?
36) What scale of land use/land management change is required to meet the Government's target for:
farmland bird recovery? –
37) What scale of land use/land management change is required to meet the Government's target for:
good ecological status under the Water Framework Directive?
38) Over which areas and at what scale would the extensification and/or cessation of agriculture be
cost effective in terms of external benefits such as biodiversity recovery, flood risk management
and improved water quality?
39) In the light of the continuing flux in stock farming, what are the implications for
dung faunas and maintaining biodiversity?
1.2 Upland farming
40) What are the ecological consequences for different groups of organisms and habits in different
parts of the country of reduced upland sheep grazing?
41) Would perceived ecological (tree regeneration) and environmental (reduced pathogen, nutrient
run-off) advantages compensate for socio-economic disadvantages if the entire sheep flock were
removed from upland Britain due to disease or poor economics?
42) What are optimum stocking rates for the uplands? (What differences are there between optima for
agricultural, biodiversity, water quality etc. outcomes?)
43) If grazing was reduced to less than 1 sheep per ha over all the uplands, what would be the effects
on key habitats of international biodiversity importance, i.e. heather moorland, species-rich
Nardus stricta (mat-grass) grassland, chalk grasslands? What are the consequences of reducing
sheep numbers in the uplands for the spatial distribution of grazing impacts and hence for changes
in vegetation?
44) Will reductions in stocking levels in the uplands lead to an increase in the abundance of possibly
unpalatable and undesirable plant species e.g. Nardus stricta?
45) Are sheep necessary at all for the management of the uplands?
46) What number of cattle are required in the uplands to maintain favourable condition, and what are
the economic mechanisms required to keep them there?
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47) What would be the consequences for the UK uplands of large reductions in sheep grazing pressure
and of patchy dereliction of farmland? What level of grazing pressure is likely following the
introduction of the single farm payment?
48) What would the rate of change be in vegetation composition and animal communities in upland
areas if grazing by domestic livestock was discontinued entirely?
49) What would be the implications for biodiversity of abandonment of farming, including a reduction
in sheep grazing, in marginal upland areas?
50) How can upland agriculture be justified economically?
1.3 Organic farming
51) Would widescale conversion to organic agriculture be economically viable, not take up all
available land, and provide justifiable benefits?
52) What would be the ecological consequences of different levels of conversation to organic
agriculture (10%, 20%, 50%, 80%) at field, landscape and regional scales?
53) How can organic farming increase human health, farmer wealth
and biological diversity?
54) How does Integrated Farm Management compare to conventional and organic farming in terms of
its effects on biodiversity and its economic viability?
55) Which species would benefit and suffer most from a greater uptake of organic farming?
56) Could wide scale conversion to organic agriculture solve the diffuse pollution problems of the
UK?
57) Is widescale conversion to organic agriculture logistically possible? e.g. is there enough organic
material to substitute for inorganic fertilizer to sustain current yields nationally?.
1.4 Agricultural policy
1.4.1 Agri-environment schemes
58) Which agricultural policies and subsidies in the UK export extinction, by indirectly encouraging
habitat loss and non-sustainable land use in other countries?
59) Is there sufficient monitoring of agri-environment schemes?
60) How do farmers vary in the establishment and management methods of farm habitats in agrienvironment agreements, and what are the consequences for biodiversity?
61) Are agri-environment schemes a cost effective means of protecting biodiversity? Which tested
example are the best and which the worst?
62) Are agri-environment scheme payment rates based on income forgone the most appropriate
mechanism for delivering enhanced habitat management?
63) How should we set the subsidy level for a given agri-environmental scheme?
64) What are the biodiversity gains, per unit cost, of shallow de-intensification throughout the country,
versus full de-intensification in selected landscapes?
65) How should we define the ecological outputs and monitoring targets for a given agri-environment
scheme?
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66) Can we demonstrate that it might be economically rational for some farmers to adapt their
business around a central agri-environment agreement rather than fit their agreement into their
business?
67) Agricultural set-aside, a lost opportunity to protect the water environment?
68) Do agri-environment schemes currently address issues of habitat fragmentation in the wider
countryside? How might improved targeting help?
69) What approaches are available to evaluate the effectiveness of agri-environment schemes in
relation to their new resource protection objective?
70) Did the Environmentally Sensitive Area and Countryside Stewardship schemes provide good
value for money in terms of conservation gain per £ spent? Will the new Environmental
Stewardship schemes? How should we structure these incentive programs to maximize
conservation bang for the buck?
71) Will agri-environment schemes recover the depauperate populations of farmland wildlife?
72) Which types of agri-environment schemes/measures deliver the most biodiversity protection and
how does this relate to cost?
73) What further research is needed to improve the chances that agri-environment schemes will
benefit wildlife? For example, although a wide range of prescriptions are available for the arable
sector, we still know little about prescriptions to recover wildlife in pastoral areas.
74) Do current and potential future agri-environment schemes have measurable effects on biodiversity,
and if so, which species are net winners and losers?
75) How can landscape character and ecological priorities be integrated when they work at different
scales? The answer will help with agri-environment scheme targeting, where we want to come up
with 'integrated' targets; and also with the development of ‘countryside quality indicators’, where
we want to incorporate biodiversity into landscape character profiles.
76) How far is it possible to rethink the standards for environmental risk assessment using whole farm
systems?
77) What proportion of Structural fund, Cohesion fund and Agri-environment expenditure has resulted
in a measurable benefit to biodiversity?
78) How successful are small scale agri-environment initiatives in terms of improving invertebrate
abundance/diversity? e.g. do the impacts of spray drift negate any potential enhancements from
improved field margins?
79) Have Environmentally Sensitive Areas and other agri-environment schemes benefited the
invertebrate biodiversity of ditches? What features of which schemes provided the most benefit to
rare, threatened and declining species?
1.4.2 Agricultural subsidies
80) How would agricultural habitats change if subsidies were removed?
81) How can we predict the environmental effects of decoupling?
82) What are the impacts of fertilizer and herbicide drift/accidents on the floral diversity of field
margins; and how will this change under the new Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition
(GAEC) Standards?
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83) Will Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions result in reduced hedge-cutting rates: how
will this affect farmland birds, mammals and invertebrates?
84) How can we understand the environmental effects of decoupling?
85) How will Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform affect management of the uplands?
86) Will CAP reform benefit upland biodiversity?
87) Will single farm payments deliver conservation gain?
88) What happens to key nature conservation interests across the uplands if grazing sheep numbers are
reduced under various scenarios of CAP reform...can we vary this to include variation in cattle and
deer numbers?
89) What are the effects of grazing by sheep, deer and cattle on moorland flora and fauna? How do
these effects interact and what will be the consequences of anticipated reduced sheep densities
under proposed CAP reform?
90) How and will CAP reform bring about increased biodiversity at the landscape scale? Do all
positive ecological changes on farm have to be paid for as ‘public good’?
91) What would be the impacts of predicted stock reduction (through CAP reform) in the uplands on
invertebrate BAP Priority species?
92) Can we change farmers and land owners views to one where they see themselves as “civil
servants” paid to deliver multiple outputs as countryside managers?
93) How can the provisions within Less Favoured Area schemes be made to deliver more for
biodiversity conservation?
1.5 Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
94) What is the relative threat to UK biodiversity posed by invasive plant species introduced through
horticulture versus agriculture? Are these risks larger or smaller than the threats posed by GMOs?
95) What would be the likely impact of the approval of GM herbicide-tolerant crops for granivorous
birds?
96) What is the risk of gene flow from GM plants to microbes?
97) What is the structure of the horizontal gene pool in free-living bacteria and how should this inform
GM regulation?
98) What are the appropriate yardsticks for measuring environmental harm? - FSEs compared GM to
'conventional' non-GM crops. Would other, non-conventional farming systems, such as organic or
precision agriculture, be a more appropriate comparison?
99) What measures are available to reduce the probability of transfers of genetic material between
GMOs and natural species?
100)
To what extent might genetic modification permit crops to be grown outside their current
climate space (e.g. frost, salinity or drought resistance) at the expense of natural habitats?
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101)
What would be the likely impact of the approval of GM herbicide-tolerant or pest hostile
crops for invertebrates and pollination rates?
1.6
Diseases & antibiotics
102) What do we do next time there is Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)?
103) How important are deer as carriers of FMD?
104) How important are deer as carriers of FMD, bovine TB and other livestock diseases?
105) What are the wild reservoirs of bovine TB?
106) Can bovine TB be controlled by ignoring the disease in badgers and concentrating on cattlecattle transmission?
107) Is female-young transmission of TB in badgers significant at the population level?
108) What is the actual and potential disease load of the environment in terms of important
pathogens, such as bTB, Johne’s disease and E.coli O157:H7, considering the immerging
realisation that these diseases can survive for long periods outside of a host?
109) What would be the ecological impact of a spraying campaign against the insect vectors of West
Nile Fever, such as took place in New York?
110) Is West Nile Virus already in the UK, and if so why is it not killing birds?
111) What is the risk of emergent arboviruses (such as West Nile Virus) in the UK, and what
preparatory surveying and modelling should be undertaken?
112) What risk do wild birds and poultry in the UK pose as vectors for recombinant human
influenza?
113) Does the scale of pheasant rearing pose risks for wild game birds that share the same parasites
and pathogens?
114) What determines the population dynamics of pathogenic forms of E. coli outside the host?
115) How can bacteriophages be used as antimicrobial agents in the environment, and in disease
control?
116) What factors predict the likelihood of disease transfer from wild to domestic animal (or plant)
hosts, and vice versa?
117) How can the management of wild and domestic stocks be designed to minimise the probability
of such disease transfers?
118) Do similar processes and generalisations emerge from the study of both vertebrate and
invertebrate systems, so that insights from one can safely be applied in the other?
119) Where diseases have jumped to a novel host, do they tend to be more virulent than in their
original host?
120) What would be the optimal timing, amount and composition of antibiotic(s) to use to prevent a
disease from evolving resistance?
121) How do we design an effective incentive system for farmers to ensure early
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reporting of livestock diseases?
122) What are the circumstances in which infectious diseases cause the most disruption to terrestrial
and marine ecosystems?
123) Who are the leading experts in the UK and worldwide, in the effect of infectious diseases on
ecosystems?
124) Can you provide examples of specific ecosystems (terrestrial or marine) that are particularly
vulnerable to infectious diseases?
125) What would be the ecological impact of controlling foxes in the event of a rabies outbreak in
southern Britain?
126) Are bats that carry rabies a real threat to the human beings?
127) What would the wood and scrub landscape look like if the currently present Phytophthora
species (root/tuber rotting fungi) spread to their natural limits?
128) What are the impacts on mycorrhiza of the routine dosing of cattle, horses and sheep with: a)
anti-fungal compounds; b) other anti-biotics? (Asked specifically in relation to trees, but
mycorrhiza also occur in grasslands etc.).
129) What are the impacts on tree ‘health’ of the routine dosing of farm livestock with anti-biotics?
130) What are the impacts of avermectins and other treatments used on livestock on the abundance
and conservation status of coprophagous invertebrates?
1.7
Biocides
131) What are the impacts on biodiversity of increasing pesticide use in gardens?
132) Which bird species are indirectly affected by pesticides (apart from the known species links)?
133) Which mammals are impacted indirectly by pesticides?
134) What impacts do pesticides have on non-target invertebrate species?
135) Does pesticide use guidelines designed to minimise exposure for honeybees effectively protect
other pollinator species?
136) What impacts do pesticides have on non-target arable weed species?
137) What are the environmental impacts of set aside policy? (would a derogation of non-spraying in
mid summer be more beneficial for biodiversity or would this create a pernicious weed
problem?)
138) Could the withdrawal of the aquatic herbicide, diquat, by the European Commission result in the
unstoppable spread of certain invasive plants?
139) What are the impacts of fertiliser and herbicide drift/accidents on the invertebrate fauna of field
margins; and how will this change under the new Good Agricultural Env. Condition Standards?
1.8
Biological control
140) What species traits or assessment protocols could be used to predict the effectiveness and
ecological risks from prospective biocontrol agents?
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141) How widely and at what levels are anti-biotics routinely given to cattle, horses and sheep? What
biological criterion should be involved in the regulation of novel biological agents (both insects
and microbial agents)?
142) Should inundative biological control be regulated in the same way as classical biological
control?
143) How can the agricultural environment be managed to maximise natural pest control?
144) Which invasive alien species are the prime candidates for control by biological agents?
145) How much do wild populations of the natural enemies of agricultural pests contribute to crop
yields?
2.
Woodlands
2.1 Woodlands - general issues
146) Why have woodland birds declined?
147) How do we reverse the decline in woodland birds?
148) How important are farm woodlands in supporting/enhancing wider countryside biodiversity, and
how is this affected by their management?
149) Is there sufficient financial support for the appropriate management of woodlands for
biodiversity?
150) How much of the changes in British woodland communities in the last 50 years are due to the
age imbalance across all woodland (i.e. most woodland is less than 60 years old)?
151)
How important is coppicing for biodiversity?
152) Can management intervention convert even-aged stands into mixed-aged forest? What is the
impact on woodland biodiversity?
153) What management actions, if any, will maximise the medium- to long-term biodiversity value of
farm woodlands?
154) Where would new forests provide greatest benefits in terms of (a) carbon balance, and (b) soil
conservation/flood protection?
155) Can drilling holes into medium-aged trees be used to restore threatened tree-hole invertebrates?
156) What is a desirable area of natural woodland to have in Britain?
157) Is natural regeneration better than planting for the establishment of natural woodland and if so in
what ways?
158) What is the true biodiversity impact of the neglect of ancient semi-natural woodlands
(ASNWs)? What are the relative benefits for biodiversity of the reintroduction of management
to neglected woodlands versus various types of new woodland creation, and over what
timescale?
159) What are the biodiversity benefits of recently created community woodlands and national
forests?
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160) What are the impacts on biodiversity of the use of woodlands for the rearing of pheasants for
game shooting?
161) What conditions are necessary for reproduction of and colonisation of new sites by rare lichens
of the Lobarion community?
162) What overall number, population age structure and spatial distribution of trees is necessary for
the long-term survival of species dependant on ancient/veteran trees?
163) What method of managing abandoned pollards maximises the survival of individual trees?
164) Which form of management of young trees is the most effective in creating new pollards?
165) What are the likely local and national biogeochemical consequences of expanding the area of
land under trees?
166) Is energy cropping on agricultural land sound land use policy when there is already a surplus of
wood products with no market?
167) What is the minimum width of a buffer zone required for ecological reasons between a
woodland and built development?
168) How accurate and complete is our knowledge of the biology and ecology of saproxylic
invertebrates associated with ‘dead wood’?
169) What is the impact of regenerating riparian (deciduous) woodland in upland ecologies?
(Especially in reference to effect of leaf litter on dissolved dynamic carbon, species
composition, etc.).
170) What is the conservation significance of woodland invertebrates in the canopy compared to the
faunas of ground and shrub layers?
2.2 Grazing/browsing in woodlands
171) What would the structure of woodlands be like if the UK had retained its natural community of
vertebrate herbivores?
172) How do we assess/model/predict the impact of different levels of deer grazing in woodland on
different groups of organism in woodland?
173) What is the optimal level of deer grazing in lowland/upland woodland for the conservation of
biodiversity?
174) What are the implications of continued increases in numbers of deer, or sustained high
population levels, for management systems and habitat structure in lowland broadleaved woods?
175) Which components of biodiversity are most affected by intensified browsing of woodland by
deer and can we predict how the fauna and flora of woodland will change under continued longterm severe browsing?
176) What are the most reliable methods for the rapid and resource efficient determination of: a) the
size of populations of deer b) the impacts of deer on woodland vegetation?
177) What level of grazing by farm livestock is compatible with the maintenance of the biodiversity
of woodlands in upland areas?
178) What are the impacts of different levels of sheep grazing in upland woodlands?
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179) To what level is it necessary to reduce sheep (other) grazing to restore upland woodlands, but to
also ensure their diversity and continued longer-term regeneration? - Will deer numbers just
increase such that any reduction in sheep numbers will be off set by the increase in deer?
180) What would be the overall effect of increased cattle on woodland regeneration (increased
trampling and ground disturbance is good for germination but bad for damage to small
seedlings)?
181) At what critical lower stocking rate do trees effectively begin to recolonise grazing lands?
2.3
Forestry
182) Has the switch from production-orientated forestry to multi-purpose forestry been too quick and
is too much public money going into forestry with less tangible economic benefits?
183) How will planting more trees/allowing natural woodland regeneration in upland areas impact on
the water cycle – including impacts on flooding, water quality, soil erosion, fish populations,
and local microclimate?
184) How much biological damage due to plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS) will be
alleviated by current programmes to restore these sites? How should we prioritise future
conversion work and how can we measure the cost effectiveness of such action?
185) Which approach to the removal of conifers from broad-leaved woodlands or woodland sites,
(e.g. clear felling or sequential removal), yields the greatest biodiversity benefit or most rapidly
delivers the desired outcome?
186) What would be the implications for biodiversity of a shift to continuous cover forestry?
187) What are the biodiversity implications of the decline of chestnut coppicing in S.E. England?
188) What are the implications for forest biodiversity of a large shift towards continuous cover
management?
189) What are the implications for forest and woodland biodiversity of the current economic
deterioration in timber and wood markets?
190) In ecological terms, is it better to allow a woodland to develop through natural succession or to
plant trees?
191) How does the species composition, density and age structure of plantation woodlands affect the
biodiversity of woodland animals, ground vegetation, soil fauna & flora supported?
192) Where on the Forest Enterprise landholding are the rarities which require special consideration?
(Straight survey needed! - could be linked closely to ecological research).
193) What is the best balance (in terms of deer density) between the detrimental effect of deer
browsing on timber yield and the beneficial effects of grazing on the diversity of the ground
vegetation?
194) How effective is deer management and how do you measure it?
195)
Is it possible to define population sizes of deer that are compatible with acceptable impacts on
agriculture, forestry and biodiversity in different landscape types?
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196) Can woodland chickens, wild boar in forestry and other integrated welfare orientated farming
systems deliver benefits to ecosystems and biodiversity?
197) What are the consequences of woodland carbon sequestration for British wildlife?
3.
Marine
3.1 Fisheries & fish stocks
198) How have fisheries-induced evolutionary changes in fish life histories affected the sustainable
levels? Are fish genetically smaller, and does this drive down the maximum possible yield?
199) What is the relative role of the environment (including climate change) and parental stock size
in determining the quantitative sustainability and productivity of fish stocks?
200) How can we incorporate spatial dynamics into fisheries stock assessments?
201) The "TAC" based system for managing fisheries is not ideal for mixed fisheries even with
relatively good data, and worse when data are poor. Are there alternative, robust and cheaper
fisheries management systems?
202) How do the survivors of fisheries bycatch (e.g. starfish, dabs, dogfish) affect marine ecology?
203) Are marine no-take zones effective? How big do fisheries no take zones have to be and where
they should be located? What species are and not supported by them? Will they contribute to
rare fish conservation for species such as angel shark and skate? Do they have an effect on
adjacent fisheries? Can ecological science demonstrate the value of them or do we have to set
up demonstrations?
204) How do we really know when we must put a moratorium on a fish species, and how long will it
take to recover?
205) How large would the exclusion areas need to be to result in sustainable fisheries in the North
Sea?
206) How can we better monitor fisheries?
207) What are the UK ecosystem effects of fishing?
208) How can we better develop technologies that avoid by-catch such that quota levels can be
maintained and can be an effective single species management technique?
209) What constitutes the effective time that a UK whitefish NTZ will provide spill-over and
increased yields in the surrounding fished area?
210) What constitutes a pristine open sea environment with different sediment grades at different
depths? We need these baseline sites in order to inform our fisheries / ecosystem managers of
what the baseline has been for the species composition of pristine areas ('climax communities').
Also, what is the recruitment/settlment rate of larvae on these different habitats given current
locations of extant populations?
211) What are the ecological and economic impacts of fishing down the food web in UK waters?
212) To what extent can we promote change from commercial to recreational fisheries (as job
alternatives for commercial fishermen) without damaging fishery resources?
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213) What life history characteristics (e.g. reproductive rate, dispersal mode & distance) determine
the effectiveness of marine reserves for maintaining commercial fisheries?
214) Do indirect interactions (e.g. the growth of competing spp populations) impede the recovery of
over-fished stocks after exploitation has ceased?
215) As the fishing industry harvests ever broader ranges of species, is there the prospect of
triggering qualitative shifts in ocean foodwebs and nutrient flows? How can such shifts be
avoided? More generally: How much perturbation do communities need before a new stable
community structure emerges?
216) How should fisheries policy be adapted to account for impacts of climate change on marine
(especially North Sea) ecosystems?
217) How will changes to fisheries discarding practices affect marine higher predators?
218) How good are fish stock population models in informing fisheries policy?
219) What are the best techniques for estimating the size, age structure and growth rates of wild fish
stocks?
220) How does the harvest of marine fisheries drive evolutionary change in harvested species?
221) How does that, in turn, affect the economics of the fishery?
222) Under what conditions would no-take areas provide a greater and more stable fisheries yield
than a comparable reduction in fishing effort applied across the board?
223) What is the impact of different fish removal strategies (e.g. frequent removal of small number
compared to infrequent removal of large numbers) on the dynamics of marine fish populations
and the maintenance of stocks?
224) What are the recovery rates of threatened and declining marine species, and how can recovery
be facilitated?
225) Can anthropogenic effects be separated from natural variability in fish stock sizes?
226) What are the relative and cumulative effects of all anthropogenic impacts, such as fishing,
windfarms, hydrocarbons, on fish stocks, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning?
227) What are the critical habitats for (marine fish and shellfish) juveniles and adults?
228) To what degree do marine mammals compete with fisheries?
3.2 Fish farming
229) Can sea fish farming be conducted sustainably and effectively mitigate reductions in wild
populations?
230) Does the use of hatcheries to augment fish populations endanger wild stocks through genetic
introgression and by apparent competition: supporting otherwise unsustainable fishing effort?
231) What is the impact of fish farming on Scottish lochs?
232) Can fish farming be carried out 'organically' just like terrestrial farming?
233) Are UK wild salmonid populations being significantly damaged by aquacultural activities?
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234) What are the effects of marine and freshwater fisheries on biodiversity and of fish farming on
the adjoining marine and coastal systems?
235) What are the impacts of large-scale aquaculture on wild marine populations and ecosystems?
Specifically: a) what is the effect of the harvest of foodstuffs for aquaculture? b) what are the
impacts of waste flows from aquaculture pens? c) what are the impacts of pesticides from
aquaculture pens? d) what are the genetic effects of escapees from aquaculture on locally
adapted populations of the species?
236) How can we better maintain water quality around estuarine / sea loch aquaculture enclosures?
237) Will polycluture techniques work in the UK aquaculture industry in order to create a
low pollutant industry?
238) Can sea fish farming be conducted sustainably and effectively mitigate reductions in wild
populations?
3.3 Other marine issues
239) How do we improve techniques for assessment of marine environments and habitats as a basis
for survey and monitoring?
240) How can we investigate natural rates of regeneration of dredged sites and the extent to which
community diversity is re-established?
241) Is there potential for accelerated rehabilitation (simulation or restoration) of areas of seabed
affected by marine minerals dredging?
242) How is sea temperature rise affecting fish populations? – there is some data on cod and sandeel
but is there a strategic approach to the fish assemblage?
243) Can cold-water corals recover from trawling damage?
244) What are the effects of dredging tracks and pits, and plumes of suspended sediment on marine
communities and species and what ways are there to reduce impacts?
245) How serious is the impact of commercial fishing on small cetacean populations?
246) Do we understand the causes of disease and death in cetaceans stranded around our coasts?
247) What are the consequences of reduced discarding of bycatch fish on seabird populations?
248) Is there a conflict between fishing / shellfishing and the conservation of the UK's bird
populations?
249) Do we know why salmonid and eel stocks are in decline and the relative importance of
anthropogenic and natural factors?
250) Will a Marine Bill provide more than just administrative changes for UK and lead to genuine
improvements in management and conservation?
251) Is there a process for including social and economic considerations into the ecosystem approach
to management?
252) How complete and reliable is our knowledge of the distribution and abundance of marine
species?
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253) How do we identify special marine sites for protection?
254) Are marine habitats in favourable condition and what are the key threats?
255) How do changes in marine nutrient flows, food webs interact/feedback upon the terrestrial
environment at the interface (shores/estuaries) and vice versa?
256) Are the IUCN threat categories appropriate for assessing extinction risk to commercially
exploited marine species?
257) What level of noise pollution can marine biodiversity tolerate?
258) Can marine fish learn to stay within protected areas?
259) Do fish exhibit natal homing (philopatry) and can this knowledge inform spatial management
and the design of closed areas?
260) What is the rate of change in the extent of critical (marine) habitats?
261) How big or small is a minimum viable marine population?
262) What are the links between water column production and benthic structure and function i.e.
bentho-pelagic coupling)?
263) What is the annual rate of marine primary production in the North Sea?
264) What is the role of microbiota in marine ecosystem functioning?
265) What structural and functional aspects of marine faunas need to be maintained in the face of
species reductions and losses to ensure ecosystem stability?
266) How much does it cost to manage marine protected areas? (RSPB did not find data when doing
its study on financing costs of Natura 2000).
267) Are human impacts on the seas reversible, if so, over what time scale?
268) What are the ecological roles of natural sounds in the sea and what is the ecological impact of
anthropogenic noise?
269) What are the long-term impacts of bottom trawling and related fishing techniques on the marine
benthic fauna?
270) Are fishing techniques endangering specific elements of the marine benthic fauna?
4.
Coastal
271) How do morphological impacts of port development affect ecological functioning of estuaries?
272) By how much can the habitat mix in an estuary be modified before significant changes will be
observed in bird and fish populations?
273) What ecological benefits can be achieved through more sustainable management of sediment in
estuaries?
274) How significant (relative to other pressures) are activities such as maintenance dredging, piling
and shipping traffic in the migration of salmon and sea trout through estuaries?
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275) Can we successfully restore coastal, estuarine and fluvial habitats to facilitate the recovery of
diadromous fish populations (e.g. lampreys, shad, eel, sturgeon)?
276) What coastal landscapes and habitats will be lost because of sea level rise, and should we
attempt to recreate them elsewhere? To what extent is it possible to recreate coastal landscapes?
277) How should we respond to the loss of saltmarsh habitats due to coastal squeeze? Are there ways
of intervening in order to buy time for habitat migration or compensatory habitat provision?
278) Is managed coastal retreat a) necessary and b) a viable UK option? Also, c) will we be able to
compensate for lost wildlife habitats by habitat re-creation?
279) How do we create managed retreat habitat that is functionally useful for waterbirds?
280) Sea levels are rising, inter-tidal habitats are being lost because of coastal squeeze against sea
defences, sea defences are getting more difficult and expensive to maintain - how can the policy
makers ensure that we work towards a more sustainable management of the coastline which
protects habitats and reduces risk to human life?
281) How is a reduction in grazing impacting the flora and fauna of the UK saltmarshes?
282) Which habitats in what locations will be required to compensate for the loss of
SAC/SPA/Ramsar sites through ‘coastal squeeze’?
283) Over which areas is it practical to manage the coastal zone so that it becomes a dynamic
system?
284) How will reductions in nutrient discharges, in line with EU legislation, affect the productivity
and diversity of marine coastal and littoral ecosystems?
5.
Wetlands & rivers
285) Would improved water quality and reduced sedimentation in rivers drastically change the
aquatic animal communities? Which benthic/silt dwelling species would be most at risk to
population declines?
286) How had past and present riparian engineering work, channel modification and over deepening
of rivers affected riparian ecosystems?
287) Does the removal of debris dams from streams by fisheries managers/flood defence managers
damage riparian and aquatic ecosystems?
288) Do in-stream habitat improvement devices e.g. groynes, increase the size of fish populations?
289) Is riparian tree management likely to affect the abundance and distribution of bat populations at
the local scale?
290) What actions can be taken locally to make riparian habitats more hospitable to water voles?
291) Does riparian vegetation structure affect fish abundance?
292) Is riparian habitat limiting otter population sizes in the UK?
293) What is the risk to biota associated with particular regimes of lake-level fluctuation?
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294) Do unnatural lake level fluctuations affect the biota of lakes?
295) What effect does removing energy from river systems by creating hydro-electric facilities have
on river geomorphology and ecology?
296) Does well-developed riparian vegetation buffer the effects of poor land use on river ecology?
297)
The contraction of wet grassland habitat into small areas increases the risk of extinctions
amongst flora and fauna. How can we mitigate for this?
298) Can goose populations be managed in a way which does not conflict with achieving at least
good ecological status on relevant waterbodies and the protection of other species e.g. aquatic
macrophytes?
299) Where is it practical to manage river systems so that they become dynamic systems?
300) Does water quality monitoring adequately reflect the ‘health’ and contribution to biodiversity of
aquatic invertebrate communities?
301) Can the range of types of invertebrate communities associated with springs and their near
outflow and seepages be plotted and grouped by environmental variables?
6.
Other terrestrial habitats
6.1 Heath & moorland
302) How should we best manage moorlands and regenerating woodlands and retain a balance that
permits conservation, social and economic goals to be met?
303) What are the impacts on biodiversity and local environment of burning stands of upland heather
Calluna during the course of management for red grouse?
304) What would be the biodiversity implications of abandoning the active management of upland
stands of heather Calluna by burning or cutting?
305) What are the comparative social and economic benefits of managing upland heath for red grouse
as compared to broader social benefit e.g. access, landscape, water retention?
306) What relative contribution do blanket bogs and other moorland habitats play in carbon
sequestration and storage and how will this change under global warming?
307) How does nitrogen pollution impact on moorland ecosystem function and services?
308) How can we manage the uplands to sustain both raptor and traditional land use practices e.g.
grouse moors, what sorts of permutations provide the greatest public, economic and nature
conservation gains?
309) A variety of moorland management techniques are used in the uplands of Britain, for example
heather burning and cutting, grip blocking and the removal of non-native afforestation. Have
these techniques successfully delivered biodiversity, and can they be used to deliver other
environmental benefits?
310) How important are bracken habitats for biodiversity?
6.2
Man-made habitats - roads, urban & industrial areas etc.
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311) Inclusion of ponds, log piles and compost heaps in urban gardens may significantly increase the
resident biodiversity. Can we develop a scheme by which accommodating these features into
one’s garden would reap financial gain e.g. through Tax credit?
312) Do green urban areas contribute significantly to UK biodiversity and conservation?
313) What are the economic and social benefits of green corridors in urban areas?
314) Accepting that human population growth will continue, in what ways can residential and
industrial development be modified at the planning stage to provide maximum provision for
wildlife: How can development be adjusted such that it becomes synonymous with ecological
restoration and thereby not merely sustainable but ecologically desirable?
315) What is the suite of ecological enhancements which may be incorporated into new and existing
city buildings to provide space for other species, green-up existing urban landscapes (such as
central London) and restore human contact with, and awareness of, healthy ecosystems: What
structurally redundant features should be added to buildings and bridges to achieve this?
316) What features may be developed to maximise the concept of vertical habitats in urban
environments?
317) How may the ecological connectivity function of linear transport corridors be improved through
design: what features may be incorporated to maximise this function, providing links between
adjoining, severed habitats?
318) How may motorway and trunk road bridges be modified to provide habitat space for plants and
animals without sacrificing structural requirements: What redundant features may be
incorporated for ecological purposes?
319) What percentage of the UK’s habitats (if any) lies outside the Road Effect Zone (Sensu Forman
and Deblinger, 2000) and how may these areas be protected?
320) Salt tolerant plant species are known to be spreading along roads that are treated with salt in
winter. Where do the seeds come from and how are they distributed?
321) What is the extent of large-mammal-traffic interactions?
322) What level of biodiversity is associated with areas of high human population density, including
human-associated organisms?
323) To what extent is man-made habitat worthy of statutory protection (e.g. reservoirs, gravel pits,
rubbish tips.)?
324) Would a set of standards defining “organic” landscaping contribute to urban biodiversity?
325) How can the ecological value of urban greenspace optimised to promote urban habitats and
biodiversity?
326) What steps should be taken to improve biodiversity in the built environment, including positive
steps in buildings to encourage new habitats such as ‘green’ roofs?
327) How can dynamic and ecological processes such as succession, be incorporated into mineral
extraction and urban regeneration policies? What is the relative biodiversity value of
“greenfield” and “brownfield” areas being considered for housing development?
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328) What is the role of contaminated land in supporting unusual species and communities thereby
extending biodiversity and in this light should we always aspire to remediate / re-use
‘brownfield’ land?
329) How can the policy conflict between building more houses on brown field sites and urban nature
conservation be resolved?
330) How important are ‘brownfield’ sites for biodiversity conservation?
331) Will the future interaction between airports and growing populations of large birds become a
problem?
332) Do stone walls contribute significantly to UK biodiversity and conservation?
333) What is the relationship between the fragmentation of landscape by new roads and the
populations and distribution of wildlife species which were present in the area before the road
was built?
334) What is the relationship between a new built development and the populations and distribution
of wildlife species which were present in the area before the development took place?
335) What is the correlation between the levels of disturbance from road traffic, air traffic and
pedestrian traffic recognised as a nuisance to people and the effects on wild species successful
breeding or over wintering?
336) What are the effects of light pollution from built development or road lights on wildlife
mortality and behaviour?
337) What is the effect of new housing on the predation levels on wildlife species from domestic cats,
dogs and other domesticated species if relevant?
338) How much of a contribution do gardens make to invertebrate populations (particularly
bumblebees) on a landscape level?
B)
Processes
1.
Ecosystem structure & function
339) What are the per-hectare benefits of protected habitats in terms of water resources, carbon
sequestration and other goods and services, relative to non-protected land?
340) How do we define ecosystem health?
341) How is biodiversity and biomass inter related?
342) How do we understand the cascade effects of ecosystem simplification through the spatial and
trophic levels?
343) How do we integrate soils and other substrates into the management of ecosystems?
344)
To what extent do activities/practices lead to a permanent or significant negative impact on the
functioning of soil?
345) How do we define terms such as 'good ecological quality' and 'significant ecological change'?
346) Is it more advantageous to protect juveniles or adults to maximise population growth rate?
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347) What is the influence of disease on recruitment and population dynamics?
348) Can we distinguish between changes in population size which are driven by the environment
(i.e. fishing, climate change), and those that are transient dynamics of the population itself, or
can we distinguish between trend and autocorrelation in population time series?
349) How do we define the optimal level of sheep grazing for delivering a sustainable rural economy
and biodiversity?
350) How will changes in numbers of domestic livestock affect the abundance of wild mammals?
351) Given we will always have incomplete knowledge, how do we read across from studies of one
species or habitat to inform decisions about others?
352) What do alternate stable states look like, and where are the thresholds of change?
353) What indicators are useful for describing the status of ecosystems, and impacts of human
activities on ecosystems?
354) To what extent is evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) likely to restore habitat heterogeneity at
different spatial scales and conversely what, if any, key elements of habitat heterogeneity are
likely to need additional measures? How will increases in Nitrogen deposition affect rates of
carbon sequestration in forests and other natural systems?
355) Do we understand the roles of biodiversity in ecosystem function?
356) Do we understand the roles of soil biodiversity in ecosystem function, resilience and recovery?
357) How can we best estimate the rarity and vulnerability of species (including ones with very
different body sizes, lifespans and degrees of population variability, e.g. mammals vs. insects),
so as to efficiently set conservation priorities?
358) Does the resistance and resilience of natural ecosystems buffer them from change due to
contrasting environmental drivers?
359) What role is played by biodiversity and ecosystem function in bio-geochemical cycles and vice
versa?
360) Do we understand how species interact and contribute to ecosystem function, structure and
services, at least for priority systems?
361) Are we able to discriminate well enough anthropogenic and natural dynamics in ecosystems?
362) Is there a threat to pollination as a key ecosystem function in Britain?
363) Do rare species sometimes serve important ecosystem functions, or are such processes always
dominated by the biomass dominants? - How can we define the characteristics of a functioning
ecosystem (at landscape scale)?
364) How can we make an assessment of condition (e.g. favourable, recovering/ recoverable,
unfavourable, irreversible) of a fully functioning ecosystem at landscape scale?
365) Which are the critical ways that use of land and water use impact upon biodiversity?
366) Which ecological elements or combinations are important in mosaic habitats?
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367) How do guilds function in a regularly disturbed habitat?
368) What are the quantified ecosystem functions of nematode worms? (How many species of
nematode worm are there in the UK?)
369) What are the quantified ecosystem functions of mites? (How many species of mite are there in
the UK?)
370) What has been the impact of the extensive loss of flower rich grasslands on invertebrate
populations?
371) Why are some species/communities better able to function in urban areas than in the
countryside?
372) What will the impacts on various plant and animal communities and natural and semi-natural
habitats be as a result of potential bumblebee population declines and declines of other
pollinators?
2.
Genetics
2.1
Genetics - general issues
373) To what extent do we need to be concerned about the genetic pollution of native populations
from reintroduced populations of non-local provenance? Under what circumstances (if any) is
there a serious risk that out-breeding depression will have population-level consequences, or
(conversely) may we expect genetic rescue of depauperate gene pools?
374) How do we take account of genetic factors which influence conservation outcomes?
375) What levels of genetic diversity occur within and between populations of selected species of
conservation interest?
376) Do rare species have the genetic capacity to adapt to changing environments?
377) How much genetic variation do we need to maintain in wild populations?
378) What levels of exchange of genetic material occurs between different populations of selected
species of conservation interest?
379) What role does the transfer of genetic material, perhaps by the introduction of individuals from
a distant population, have in species conservation?
380) Do we know how best to conserve genetic and native species diversity and the priorities for
doing so?
381) Quantification of genetic diversity for species of economic or conservation importance?
2.2
Genetics & animals
382) How does trophy hunting affect the genetic diversity of populations with differing social
systems?
383) What are the genetic maps of fish "stocks", how have stock genetics changed over time, and
then what are the causes and implications?
384) What mechanisms generate sub-population identity in (marine) organisms?
2.3
Genetics & plants
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385) How important are seed banks as a reservoir of genetic variation in rare plant species?
386) How great a risk to the maintenance of genetic diversity in native plant populations is the
widespread sowing of agricultural legume varieties? Can cheap, rapid and reliable methods be
developed to determine genetic differences between populations of plant species of conservation
value? Ideally such methods would be applicable at short notice at any time of year and not
reliant on vegetative material?
387) What is the likely impact on biodiversity from the use of non-native xenotypes for planting
schemes?
388) For which plant species of conservation value do distinct local genotypes exist which justify the
adoption of a "Local Provenance" approach when establishing vegetation which is intended to
be of conservation interest and is required to have minimal impact on the genetic structure of
existing species populations in the location of the site sown?
3.
Fragmentation & habitat corridors
3.1
Fragmentation - general issues
389) What are the lag times between habitat fragmentation and the loss of species of different
taxonomic and functional groups?
390) Is it possible to minimise the effects of fragmentation?
391) Which habitats and species (plant and animal) are worst affected by fragmentation?
392) Where should we create new habitat to reverse fragmentation?
393) Is it better to extend existing habitat patches or does the creation of a more patchy landscape
have value?
394) Should we concentrate on protecting species where they are declining fastest, or in their
strongholds?
395) Which habits and species are really more isolated now than they were a 100 years ago; which of
these were more isolated 1000 years ago, etc?
396) Which large but fragmented key habitats e.g. the Dorset heathlands, could be consolidated to
create viable habitats between existing large blocks using habitat creation, agricultural
reversion, and salvage translocation from existing small isolated areas that are hard to manage
for nature conservation?
397) What are the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation of habitats on conservation status, and
how can fragmented habitats be restored?
398) Do we know how to manage landscape mosaics so that component ecosystems can sustain the
required delivery of goods and services?
399) What are the benefits of attempting to join up fragmented habitats at a landscape scale? Can we
identify minimum viable habitat patches?
400) Can we assess the impacts (present and future) of river modifiers (weirs, culverts, gravel
removal, habitat fragmentation etc.) on species population viability, dispersal etc.?
401) Which species are best protected in specially-designed, new habitats, rather than maintained
within remaining fragments of semi-natural habitats?
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402) Can a useable index of habitat fragmentation be developed?
403) What are the relative effects on populations numbers of resident species of linking habitats by
linear routes of undisturbed open land and expanding the perimeter or part perimeter of existing
semi-natural areas? Does this vary strongly by habitat and/or by scale of individual area of
habitat?
3.2
Habitat corridors
404) Are wildlife corridors effective?
405) Would the establishment of corridors for movement between dissimilar habitats across climatic
gradients improve the ability of species to shift distributions in the face of shifting climates?
406) If policy is to support greater connectivity in the countryside between wildlife habitats, what
forms should these connections take, and where should support be targeted?
407) Habitat fragmentation is a major factor in the decline of species richness. How effective are
railway and road corridors for the conservation and distribution of species? Do species ‘leak’
from corridors onto adjacent land?
408) Are “river corridors” used as corridors by wild animals?
409) Where habitat fragmentation is having an impact on population viability, can we identify the
best areas to develop river corridors?
410) Do ecological corridors work, and how should they be designed?
411) Can linear habitats along railways and roads be used to connect areas of habitat?
412) Would the establishment of corridors for movement between similar habitats of conservation
concern improve the viability of populations contained within them?
413) Linking populations that have been separated for some time may incur disease risks for those
populations. Are disease risks monitored carefully enough?
414) Would a management policy of actively dispersing populations across inhospitable matrix
habitats provide a workable and more cost effective alternative to the creation and maintenance
of corridors?
415) What are the ecological benefits of green corridors in the wider countryside?
416) To what degree can habitat fragmentation be mitigated by green bridges constructed across
existing main roads and motorways?
417) Do roads and railways really have value as wildlife corridors?
418) What sized gap in an established hedgerow can be made without compromising the hedgerow as
a wildlife corridor?
419) Are species increasing their distribution range using road and railway corridors? If so, what
species and what is the rate of spread?
420) Has electrification of the railways had a positive or negative impact on the species richness of
railway corridors?
23
421) How effective are ‘habitat corridors’ in invertebrate dispersal? What are the constraints to their
effectiveness? How can they be improved?
3.3
Metapopulations
422) How do we recognise and manage meta-populations?
423) Is there sufficient space / potential for connectivity in the British countryside (following
landscape change on such a large scale) to implement a metapopulation approach for the
majority of those species for which it would be appropriate? If not, do appropriate methods exist
for assessing which for species can metapopulations be accommodated in the landscape?
424) Is there any good evidence for benefits of pursuing a metapopulation approach over a single
large population approach?
425) Have attempts to recreate metapopulations / wildlife corridors had any perceivable adverse
effect with respect to the transmission of disease?
426) Which British animal species would be expected to benefit from a metapopulation approach to
their conservation, and which would not? Are there clear methods for assessing the suitability of
this approach for a given species?
427) For species where the concept is applicable, can ‘source’ and ‘sink’ habitats be identified such
that conservation efforts can be concentrated on the former? (There would seem to be little
merit in creating or expanding sink habitats which make no lasting contribution to species
abundance).
428) How “self-contained” are small nature reserves: i.e. how reliant are their populations on the
maintenance of habitat in surrounding, non-protected areas?
429) Significance of metapopulations for butterflies has been demonstrated, but what wider
taxonomic assessments are needed?
430) How far are invertebrates able to disperse, what are the barriers to dispersal?
431) How significant is metapopulation structure to invertebrates in an urban landscape?
432) What constitutes a long-term sustainable population? Taking into account dispersal, extinction
and genetic factors for a range of invertebrate species provide equations that will enable the
definition of favourable conservation status for other species.
4.
Aliens & invasives
433) Can we really justify spending the considerable sums of money required to control invasive
species?
434)
Do any invasive species control programmes work?
435) How do we identify and define what is meant by potentially invasive species in a changing
environment?
436) Can we identify a priori those alien spp which are most likely to be invasive and harmful to
native populations and communities?
437) What anthropogenic activities provide the most significant channels for the influx of alien
species, and what controls may be put in place to block these flows?
438) How often does the invasiveness of alien species depend on the absence of natural enemies?
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439) How do we identify potentially invasive species in a changing environment?
440) Which invasive or potentially invasive species would have the greatest negative impacts upon
biodiversity?
441) How do we best address the impacts of invasive or potentially invasive species on biodiversity?
442) How long ago must an animal have been introduced for it to be considered naturalised therefore
not be treated as an invasive?
443) How do we identify and evaluate the potential impact of invasive species in a changing
environment?
444) Are conservation monies best spent on invasive species such as grey squirrel, signal crayfish
and Japanese knotweed, when they are so well established?
445) Do Himalayan balsam, Japanese knotweed and giant hogweed reduce the diversity of native
flora?
446) Is the grey squirrel a serious threat to indigenous wildlife?
447) Mink - is effective control really possible and if so on what scale?
448) To what extent has the introduced pheasant and partridge had a negative impact on biodiversity?
(e.g. caterpillar webs of rare fritillary butterflies are vulnerable to predation losses by
pheasants).
449) How do you prevent non-native economically important agricultural species establishing in the
wild? Info will be required on reproductive strategy and ecology of dispersers. Are there any
species currently absent in the UK that might be beneficial additions to the flora and fauna?
450) Can the likely invasive range of a species be effectively be predicted by fitting climate surfaces
to its native distribution?
451) Often the impact of an alien species on its native counterpart comes from its role as a host for
shared pathogens; can effective management programmes be devised for such scenarios?
452) Has there been measurable evolution in alien species post-introduction, and if so is this likely to
increase or decrease their invasiveness? Is there any evidence of incipient speciation by
introduced populations?
453) Where introduced species have increased biodiversity, have they produced measurable increases
in ecosystem function?
454) What would be the benefits of a laissez faire policy towards aliens?
455) How do alien species impact upon ecosystem functions? Although in many habitats we have
seen the rapid expansion of non native species, particularly in aquatic systems, we know
comparatively little about the impacts they have had at community level and in terms of change
to ecosystem function. Although alien species are seen as a major problem in various BAP
Species Action Plans, so far comparatively few species declines can be interpreted scientifically
in terms of alien species effects.
456) How do we understand the new communities of plants and animals that are being created by
human interventions?
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457) Can we control spread of alien species transported by ballast water and mitigate against their
impacts?
458) How can we mitigate against the potential impacts of marine alien species?
459) How can bio-invasion risks from shipping best be managed and monitored?
460) What are the ecological risks and impacts of not having more stringent checks for invasive
organisms in our imports?
461) For each non-native species added to a biological community, on average how many (if any)
existing species become extinct, and how long does the extinction take?
462) Do invasive species usually increase ecosystem function, goods and services?
463) What is the potential impact of invasive weeds on Biodiversity across and within catchments?
464) Should there be tighter controls on the importation of exotic species, particularly those which
might survive if released to the wild?
465) Should the importers or seller of exotic species contribute to the control of populations of such
species now established in the wild?
466) Which introduced species are likely to become conservation problems? Economic problems?
How do we prevent further such species from being introduced?
467) What are the impacts of invasive fish and other marine species on the ecosystem (sea
temperature rise is drawing southern species into colder waters)?
468) What is the level of anthropogenic transport of introduced species around the UK?
469) What is the potential impact of invasive weeds on biodiversity across catchments?
470) How can we best manage the catchment for invasive species (planning of control and
surveillance work with cost estimates)?
471) What is the potential spread of invasive weeds across catchments?
472) What is the rate of spread of alien species in the UK and how can we measure any resultant
significant damage to natural ecosystems?
473) Over what time period are alien species likely to become “naturalised” and coexist with other
species? E.g. there is anecdotal evidence that canadian pondweed Elodea has declined where it
has been present for several decades. Also, there is recent evidence that plant-soil interactions
are important.
474) What are the impacts of increasing population sizes of non-native mammals and birds on
indigenous biodiversity? (obviously a series of specific questions can be identified here)
475) How coincident are the attitudes of the public and the conservation movement to issues such as
alien species?
476) What are the potential impacts of invasive alien species (inc. invertebrates and plants) on our
native invertebrate fauna?
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5.
Pollution
5.1
Pollution - general issues
477) How do persistent pollutants affect the resilience of our soils to other perturbations?
478) What are the effects of endocrine disrupting compounds on wild and domestic animal health and
fertility?
479) How do we manage nutrients?
480) How do we set and manage water quality standards for nutrient poor water bodies?
481) What impact does atmospheric ozone concentration have upon semi-natural communities?
482) What bird species are impacted by diffuse nutrient pollution?
483) What invertebrate species are impacted by nutrient pollution?
484) How can the UK help developing nations achieve their commitments under the 2010 targets?
Could UK-based multinationals provide a vehicle for achieving this?
485) Is diffuse pollution a bigger problem to riparian wildlife than point sources today?
486) Are airborne nitrates a threat to some nutrient-poor habitats?
487) What are the key ecological indicators for land and water media of increasing airborne NOx
emissions?
488) Is the use and disposal of sheep dipping chemicals impacting on invertebrate biomass and
resultant fish production in British rivers and if so, to what extent?
489) Do current measures to mitigate effects of diffuse N pollution work?
490) Is there any evidence that cyanobacterial toxins cause significant damage to wildlife (as opposed
to the health of humans and domestic livestock)?
491) How will we mitigate against large-scale acute pollution incidents in our seas?
492) By what magnitude is diffuse pollution from all sources continuing to affect marine, freshwater
and terrestrial ecosystems?
493) What effects if any do magnetic fields from high voltage power lines and radiation from mobile
telephone transmission masts have on plant and animal life?
494) What are the key spatial and temporal effects of air pollution on the UK habitats and species?
Can the ecological community deliver simple ecological indicators to enable UK businesses to
offset the impact of their operations and turn biodiversity or ecosystem service neutral following
the successful ‘carbon neutral’ model, or to help consumers and investors compare the
biodiversity impacts of UK firms?
495) To what extent are animals responsible for the endozoochorous transfer of nutrients, pollutants
and GM material from one ecosystem to another?
496) What are the consequences for nature conservation interests in the uplands of reducing livestock
numbers under a range of air pollution (notably N) loads, critically important in montane/alpine
areas?
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497) What are the impacts of roads and associated lighting on heathland, woodlands or other
habitats?
498) What is the impact of light pollution on moths, bats and other biodiversity?
499) What impact has increased CO2 concentration had on the relative abundances of plant species
within semi-natural communities?
500) To what extent can we (or do we) validate Environmental Quality Standards which are based on
data derived from laboratory exposures with relevant information on populations exposed in the
field? (Much emphasis is put on using EQSs to identify high or low status environments but
does this relate to the actual ecological quality of these environments?)
501) What are the impacts of artificial light on nocturnal invertebrate ecology?
5.2
Sewerage & slurry
502) Can the uplands be used for sewage disposal to land?
503) What effect does the disposal of untreated human waste from railways have on the environment,
human health and the spread of disease? Is this an acceptable practice?
504) What effects do micro-organisms from sewage discharges (inland and coastal) have on
cetaceans?
505) What impact does exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals or human hormones (arising from
sewage discharges to water or sludge spread to land) have on wildlife at the population level?
506) How can practical biofiltration methods be deployed to address both direct and diffuse pollution
from agriculture at the field, farm and catchment scale?
507) What are the environmental effects of reducing sewage runoff?
508) What is the long-term impact on forest and agroecosystems of recycling sewage sludge and
other organic wastes to land?
509) What effect does the current practice of animal slurry spreading on land have on the spread of
disease organisms (e.g. E. coli 0157) and the development of disease resistance arising from
extensive antibiotic use? - This question can also be applied to human sewage disposal and
spreading of sewage sludge to land – neither of which use the best environmental options or best
available technology.
5.3 Acidification
510) Do ecosystems recover when acidifying gas pollution levels drop? If so, how quickly?
511) To what extent have natural communities recovered from the acid pollution caused by SO 2?
512) How widespread is recovery from acidification in some habitats?
513) What are the implications of changing air quality for epiphytes?
514) How will acidification of surface waters from rising CO 2 concentration effect planktonic
productivity and other marine organisms?
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515) What are the implications for rising ocean acidification on UK marine fauna and flora? (Use
artificial lab-based experiments on different groups of fauna and flora, and extrapolate results to
the wild populations. This is particularly important for keystone species / genera / families).
5.4
Eutrophication
516) What impact has recent atmospheric eutrophication had upon semi-natural communities?
517) How much of the eutrophication signal in semi-natural habitats is to do with reduced removal of
nutrients (where grassland or woodland is no longer harvested so regularly) as opposed to
increased inputs?
518) At what concentrations do diffuse pollutants become biological damaging?
519) How do diffuse pollutants interact with other pressures on freshwater ecosystems?
520) How do organisms respond both to increasing and decreasing concentrations of diffuse
pollutants in freshwater ecosystems?
521) Is the distribution of submerged aquatic vegetation in UK rivers significantly altered by
anthropogenic phosphate additions?
522) Would focusing resources on removing/reducing the causes of eutrophication of both aquatic
and terrestrial systems (i.e. source control) benefit biodiversity conservation more than the
current biodiversity action plan process?
523) To what extent, if any, does nitrogen play a role in limiting the growth of algae and higher
plants in UK rivers? (There is increasing evidence that nitrogen may play a significant role in
some lakes).
524) What is the evidence that nitrate is causing ecological harm in freshwaters?
525) Where soils become nutrient rich, habitats are often dominated by competitive grasses, such as
false oat grass (Arrhenatherum elatius), couch (Elytrigia repens), cocksfoot (Dactylus
glomerata), etc. How can the nutrient value of soils be decreased, less competitive species
encouraged and species richness improved? Otherwise we are at risk of loosing all our less
competitive species (e.g. native annual flowers) with all the implications that would have for
biodiversity.
526) Similarly, diffuse pollution due to over-grazing by sheep (and red deer in Scotland) has
contributed to the fragmentation, and changes in the species composition, of habitats in the
uplands (e.g. loss of Racomitrium moss heath, loss of heather cover, increases in cover of
graminoids, etc.). It has also been implicated in the spread of heather beetle (Lochmaea
suturalis) outbreaks. In addition to reducing the number of grazing animals, what else can be
done to reduce the effects of increased soil nitrogen in habitats where nitrogen levels are
naturally low?
527) Is it necessary to reduce the mineral nutrient status of previously farmed soils to be able to
successfully establish communities of nature conservation value?
528) What are the environmental implications of aggressive measures, such as soil stripping or the
application of sulphur, designed to reduce the mineral nutrient status of soils or to adjust their
acidity?
529) What sustainable mitigation techniques are available to reverse any impacts of recent
atmospheric eutrophication of semi-natural communities?
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530) How important is defecation by dogs in the eutrophication of lowland conservation sites close to
large centres of human population? (Many such sites are much more visited by dog walkers
than by conservationists).
531) To what extent does N deposition impact on the condition of SSSIs, BAP priority habitats and
the wider countryside?
532) Views from trains between London and Portsmouth and London and Swindon suggest that
many trees in the south-east of England are infested with ivy and in poor condition. Ivy also
covers soil on embankments. Brief visits to the areas also suggest that the issues are not
confined to railway corridors. What are the causes? Has the eutrophication of soils and air
encouraged ivy growth? In addition, there is little or no natural regeneration. What will be the
impact on the landscape and ecology of the areas when the ivy infested trees die? Similarly
many areas are infested with a) buddleja (Buddlleja davidii) and b) travellers joy (Clematis
vitalba). Has eutrophication encouraged these species also?
533) How is nitrate deposition affecting the species composition and structure of semi-natural
habitats?
534) How are wild populations of freshwater invertebrates affected by nitrate and phosphorous
levels?
535) What are the roles of phosphorus and nitrate in the eutrophication of saline lagoons and other
brackish water?
536) What are the long-term implications for invertebrates populations of changes in habitats
associated with nitrate deposition? Which groups will be affected and which species
endangered?
5.5
Litter & landfill
537) Given that fishing debris accounts for approx. 15% of all the marine litter washed onto UK
shores (source Beachwatch) and that monofilament fishing net is estimated to take 450 years to
biodegrade - what ecological footprint does this impact leave on our marine environment?
538) What is the influence of microplastics on the marine ecosystem? What is the bioaccumulation
affect within different trophic levels in our seas, and what effects does this build up have on the
health and breeding of natural populations?
539) How can there be a better link between information provided on the amount of marine litter in
the marine environment, (its persistency, how it can become taken up in the food chain, and the
damage it can cause), and the actions by policy makers to reduce the amount of litter on our
beaches?
540) What are the environmental costs (and benefits?) of household waste (to allow appropriate
taxation or “polluter pays” incentives)?
541) What is the potential for organisms to disturb and release gas from contained landfill sites and
the implications for subsequent land management?
542) Do species-rich plant communities more effectively prevent erosion, leaching or other
properties of e.g. landfill cover vegetation?
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543) Waste disposal and regulation - an environmental crisis - a threat to wildlife (e.g. competition
for land, site after use, leachates and gasses etc.)? The minerals industry - are we in danger of
trading archaeology and landscape heritage for biodiversity opportunities?
6.
Indicator species
544) What are likely to be the best indicators of climate change?
545) Are birds good indicators of wider biodiversity in terms of spatial hotspots at different scales
and within different habitats?
546) Are butterflies better indicators for other invertebrates than birds and plants in farmland?
547) Can ecologically based indicators really reflect the health of the wider countryside, and if so,
how? e.g. farmland birds were intended to be an indicator, but increasingly, encouraging an
increase in farmland bird populations appears to be an objective in itself.
548) Which species can we identify as biomarkers?
549) How effective are current indicators, and what new ones could be developed?
550) When do indicator species really indicate?
551) What are the best indicators for biodiversity? How do they vary with habitat/region?
552) Can we select suitable species or generic ecological parameters as indicators of ecosystem
health?
553) At site and landscape scale, what are the best indicators of habitat/ecosystem function?
554) Are there a set of indicator species that can be used to identify semi-natural habitat outside the
main field season?
555) Can invertebrates be used to see early responses to change?
556) Do indices based on a single taxon accurately reflect the responses to management of other
taxa?
557) Is it possible to select a single index, or to devise a combination of indices, which yields a single
numerical value which accurately reflects trends in the abundance of a range of taxa?
558) To what degree can individual elements or attributes of biodiversity tell us about the general
state of biodiversity?
7.
Tourism & recreation
7.1 Tourism & recreation - general issues
559) Given the socio-economic benefits of tourism for many regions, how much should it be allowed
to alter local ecosystems, or targeted populations, before its development needs to be
constrained?
560) What proportion of total recreational exposure and time spent in the countryside is associated
with appreciation of flora and fauna specifically as opposed to wider landscape/amenity
appreciation and can these be easily separated by countryside users?
561) What impacts does a high quality environment and a countryside rich in biodiversity have on
rural businesses?
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562) What are the implications of an increasing demand for recreation and tourism for biodiversity
and wider countryside?
563) How significant are the impacts of public access on sites of ecological importance? How can
these conflicts be resolved, and in what circumstances is it justified to keep people away from
these areas?
564) What impact is the increase in the number of horses kept for leisure having on grassland
management and biodiversity?
565) Could horses kept for leisure have a greater role in the conservation grazing of wildlife sites?
566) What are the effects of growing recreational use of the uplands on key nature conservation
interests?
567) What are the impacts of growing recreational use of the uplands on biodiversity conservation?
568) Can a company or commercial organisation make a profit out of ecotourism?
569) Does ecotourism have harmful effects on cetaceans?
7.2 Countryside access & disturbance
570) Does ecotourism have harmful effects with respect to biota e.g. Countryside and Rights Of Way
(CROW)?
571) What are the chances that non-compliance with either the CROW Act and/or Wildlife
& Countryside Act will result in likely prosecution of an individual (given the recent cutbacks
of all the key regulatory agencies)?
572) What impacts will new access rights to open countryside have on biodiversity? How does
impact vary with levels of use? How can we predict potential conflicts? How can these impacts
be measures effectively? Where impacts are identified, what management techniques should be
encouraged to mitigate or avoid further damage?
573) How do access routes to the countryside contribute to habitat fragmentation and wildlife
disturbance?
574) What is the impact of disturbance by dogs on ground-nesting birds and larger mammals?
575) How are the distributions and breeding success of birds and mammals affected by countryside
access?
576)
In terms of disturbance to wildlife is there any evidence that a) canoe access to rivers has a
detrimental effect on fish and other wildlife; b) in upland areas where Rights of Way are rarely
used, linear access potentially has as much impact as open access; c) in sensitive areas a person
with a dog on a lead has a greater impact than a person on their own or in a small group; d) a
person on a bicycle has a greater disturbance effect than a person on a horse.?
577) Does increased countryside access have a negative effect on wildlife?
578) Will increased access to the countryside benefit or harm biodiversity? a) Does the effect of human development and disturbance on a species depend on the structure
of that species population on the landscape? b) Does the effect of human development and
disturbance on a species depend on the number of other species in/on that landscape? c) Does
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the effect of human development and disturbance on a species depend on the type of
development? Why are a, b and c always separate questions?
579) What is the impact on heathland biodiversity of building large numbers of houses adjacent to it
(e.g. impacts due to cats, dogs, fires, access)?
580) What is the relative importance of human, interspecific and abiotic disturbance to the
distribution and abundance of organisms (natural resources)?
581) How can we reconcile conservation and other public interests (safety from road accidents by
deer, access, aesthetics etc) and private interests (deer stalking, grouse shooting etc.) in the
uplands?
7.3
Hunting & field sports
7.3.1 Hunting & field sports - general issues
582) Are areas managed for game beneficial for biodiversity? If yes, which ones are good and why,
in ecological terms?
583) Is the current practice of killing/removing large herbivores (deer, sheep, mountain hares) to
reduce ticks really benefiting grouse populations significantly? Is it justifiable in terms of the
other effects (what are these other effects? e.g. reduced grazing, etc.) of removing the other
species from the ecosystem?
584) If areas hunted for game were abandoned, what other land uses would occur and would these be
beneficial or detrimental to biodiversity?
585) Would extended close seasons help or hinder brown hare conservation?
586) Can we develop a deer management system that caters adequately for the requirements of both
sport shooting for deer, and conservation of woodlands and associated species?
587) What overall contribution do field sports make to the protection and enhancement of
biodiversity?
588) What are the ecological consequences of intensive rearing of pheasants for sport?
589) Does the shooting of waders and wildfowl in the winter in the UK have any impact on: a)UK
breeding populations of species involved; b)other breeding populations of species involved?(Relates to question of whether or not birds listed as of ‘Conservation Concern in UK’ should be
removed from lists of legitimate quarry).
590) Would a compulsory national qualification and registration scheme for deer stalking (as is the
case in Germany) help landscape scale deer management, given that deer movements transcend
landowner boundaries?
591) What is the impact of recreational fishing in coastal and freshwater habitats?
592) Do lethal events like hunting, fishing and predation matter more or less than “sub-lethal” events
like starvation or choosing poor habitats to live in?
593) Are the consequences of lethal, human interactions, like hunting and fishing, more relevant at
the species or community level?
594) What are the consequences of fish stocking exercises by angling clubs on the biodiversity
interest of still waters?
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595) What are the ecological impacts of recreational fisheries (on EU marine stocks)? How do we
decide whether marine fisheries resources should be used for recreational rather than
commercial purposes, and what are the conservation benefits? Does the promotion of
recreational angling conflict with the Water Framework Directive?
596) How can a general predictive population model be developed for huntable species with an
unfavourable conservation status to determine what level of hunting is sustainable under what
circumstances of conservation action to return the species to a favourable conservation status?
7.3.2 Hunting with dogs
597) How will cessation of fox-hunting affect the abundances of foxes and their prey, and what will
be the impact on agriculture?
598) What impact will the ban on hunting with dogs have on habitats and landscapes? How can we
measure these changes?
599) What impact will the ban on hunting with dogs have on fox populations and welfare and what
will be the knock on impacts on other species?
600) Will abolition of hunting with dogs have an impact on biodiversity?
8.
Predators, pests & control
601) Do we need predator control?
602) In what circumstances should control measures be implemented against perceived problem
species?
603) Should the UK have a subsidised neutering scheme to prevent an increase in feral domestic
animals e.g. cats?
604) What is the effect of domestic cats on vertebrate populations in rural and urban environments?
There is some evidence that bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian populations may be affected
wherever there are domestic cats.
605) What is the effect of domestic cats on urban song-bird populations?
606) What is the effect of domestic cats on reptile populations?
607) What are the ecological and biodiversity consequences of managing fox populations?
608) How do we humanely and cost-effectively manage fox populations within minimal impacts on
the environment?
609) Does predator management for game rearing (and potential increased fox control following the
hunting ban) influence intra-guild competition between predators of differing sizes such as the
mustelids, or fox-mustelid interaction?
610) Is controlling predators a more effective means of recovering populations of their prey than
management of their habitat, and are there interactions between them?
611) What would be the economic, ecological and biodiversity consequences of the cessation of
culling of those predators now normally targeted for control (e.g. fox, mustelids, corvids)?
612) How would UK biodiversity change if native bird and mammal predators reached natural
levels?
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613) What is the impact of birds of prey on populations of their prey species (especially those of
interest to human hunters)?
614) Has predation increased in significance as a factor affecting the success of ground-nesting birds
in the wider countryside, and if so why?
615) Is there a cost effective solution (excluding shooting) to prevent rabbits and badgers burrowing
into embankments?
616) What are the complex predator-prey interactions within moorlands e.g. eagle, hen harrier, vole,
small bird, grouse, hare, fox, stoat, crow, pine marten) and how can we best manage predators to
meet conservation and socio-economic goals? What are the ecological and economic effects of
predators on prey?
617) Why do jellyfish swarm – or, why and when do pests outbreak?
9.
Habitat management & restoration
9.1
Habitat management - general issues
618) What scope is there in the British countryside for specific areas of land and water to be left to
self-manage with no human intervention other than perhaps continuing to act as a top predator
(unless we want to introduce wolves and lynx)?
619) What are the benefits of focusing and concentrating conservation work on designated sites in
comparison to spreading efforts more 'thinly' in the wider countryside, and what are the relative
cost implications?
620) Where should we retain mediaeval land use and forestry practices to maintain biodiversity, and
where should we abandon them?
621) Is it wise to spend conservation money to maintain traditional land management practices which
have ceased to be economically viable to help maintain populations that depend on such
practices?
622) What are the pros and cons of wilding versus intensive management as a long-term conservation
strategy?
623) What are the impacts of different levels of disturbance, including vegetation trampling, on
different groups of species and habitats?
624) The autecology of species is one of the big successes for the Species Action Plan programme
and has led to some really good investigations and real understanding of what management
actions are effective and necessary. Can we carry on this good work?
625) How can we best manage individual sites?
626) How do we measure the condition of habitat in protected areas in a comparable and repeatable
fashion?
627) How effective are different options for habitat management and what gains and what loses out
under different options?
628) What are the impacts on biodiversity of legislative restrictions on the periods in which routine
countryside management activities can be carried out e.g. hedgerow or woodland management
constrained by breeding birds?
35
629) How can one manage continuity of pioneer communities without risk of progressive nutrient
increase? e.g. does ploughing just dilute the nutrients?
630) Do the site management plans for nature reserve and land managers adequately consider the
requirements of invertebrates? How do invertebrates fare under management plans that place
different levels of emphasis on their conservation?
631) What are the impacts of different hedge management regimes on populations of rare and
declining invertebrate species?
632) What is the relationship between management options for visible vegetation and invisible soil
fauna on conservation sites?
633) How can one bridge the gap in availability of dead wood for saproxylic faunas?
634) How should ditches, dry and wet, be managed to best effect for wildlife?
635) How can one genuinely enhance gardens, parks and recreational spaces to enhance and maintain
biodiversity, noting that some widely advocated ideas often fail to work?
9.2
Burning
636) What is the best burning regime to maintain soil and species communities in the uplands?
637) What’s the impact of upland/heathland burning on soil structure and composition?
638) Are there alternatives to burning – i.e. grazing regimes or mechanical cutting?
639) What patterns of grazing and burning would maximise biodiversity in the UK uplands?
640) Is there a difference in colouration (turbidity) of water after upland wild fires as compared with
different regimes of managed burn?
641) What is the optimal spatial and temporal design for muirburn (burning of heather) practices in
terms of managing habitat whilst not impeding upland bird breeding?
642) Is muirburn an appropriate management method for heathland in the 21 st century or are there
more sustainable and less polluting methods of maintaining this managed landscape/habitat?
643) Is the perceived negative impact of management of wetland (reedbed and fen) by controlled
burning proven?
9.3
Grazing & cutting
644) Is it possible, and if so by what means, to maintain the integrity of formerly grazed sites (e.g.
species composition, spatial variation, nutrient cycling) by sustainable management not
involving grazing animals?
645) In what situations might the introduction of goats as grazing animals have beneficial effects in
maintaining or enhancing biodiversity?
646) What will be the impacts on biodiversity of replacing cattle and sheep by equines?
647) How can grazing animals be confined to grazing sites without the use of fencing or
shepherding?
648) What would happen to semi-natural vegetation if cattle numbers were hugely increased and
sheep reduced?
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649) What are the impacts on selected plant species of conservation importance in grassland of
different types of mowing machine and of cutting at different dates?
650) What alternative, sustainable, management regimes would maintain appropriate species
abundances in valued grassland communities?
651) Is the move from hay to silage for horse feed affecting the area and condition of hay meadows?
9.4
Arable weeds
652) What management regimes (e.g. rotation, crop-type, sowing density of crop) most benefit rare
arable weeds?
653) How can the abundance of competitively successful arable weeds, especially grass weeds, be
controlled at arable weed conservation sites?
654) Do sites managed to conserve arable weeds support greater populations of seed eating birds in
winter than does conventionally managed land?
655) Do sites managed to conserve arable weeds support invertebrate populations of conservation
interest?
656) For rare arable plant conservation, how can we restore the processes of seed dispersal (a process
previously performed by transferring grain)?
9.5
Habitat restoration & creation
657) What is the most effective way of stripping nitrogen from “improved” agricultural soils to allow
restoration of species-rich native plant communities?
658) How can the mineral nutrient status of soils previously in arable cultivation be rapidly and costeffectively reduced as preparation for the establishment of plant communities of conservation
interest?
659) Can we develop effective “recipes” for creating semi-natural communities of desired types (e.g.
heathland, saltmarsh, calcareous grassland) on abandoned agricultural land?
660) Does innoculation of restoration sites with mycorrhiza improve the success of vegetation
restoration schemes?
661) Do ecosystems recover a) species b) assemblages; c) ecological processes and d) ecosystem
goods and services following ecological restoration? - If not, why not and what are the shortfalls?
662) What would be the conservation costs and benefits of “re-wilding” substantial areas of UK
land?
663) Is rewilding possible or desirable?
664) What are realistic timescales for re-creating functioning semi-natural habitats and can the
success of habitat re-creation be enhanced through adopting a stepped approach to intervention?
665) How much could hedgerow restoration contribute to positive effects on biodiversity?
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666) Which habitats are most easily replaceable by new designed landscape and which are most
difficult to replicate? Which are most costly to replicate and which take longest to establish?
667) Which habitats are most costly to manage once established and which are least expensive to
maintain in good condition?
668) Which habitats require farm management in order to be retained as effective habitat and which
are possible to manage successfully without access to agricultural machinery and skilled farm
workers?
669) What is the best approach for recreating hedgerows which rapidly yield wildlife benefits?
670) What hedgerow structure and what type of hedge management produces the greatest wildlife
benefit?
671) What are the habitats that can most/least successfully be maintained/restored/re-created on a
sustainable basis?
672) How can we facilitate the colonisation of land under re-creation management without sowing
large amounts of seed?
673) If non-biological indices of biodiversity carrying capacity can be developed, then can these be
used to predict the biodiversity benefits of particular habitat recreation of restoration schemes?
674) Are recreated habitats equivalent to those they mimic and over what time frame, and for which
kinds of habitats?
675) Should the land fill tax only be levied at habitat restoration schemes and if so what schemes
would deliver the greatest benefits to biodiversity?
676) Which types of habitat are best restored by active management, as opposed to restoring
biophysical processes?
677) What are the 25 most important large-scale ecological restoration projects that could be
undertaken in the UK?
678) Is it possible to restore heather moorland to blanket bog?
679) If you have quality targets for water or flood alleviation ambitions, how much land do you need
out of agriculture to hit the target for a particular aquifer and where exactly does the change
have to be effected?
680) How much are new habitats used by rare or valued species? If not why not? Too far away?
Missing key elements?
681) How much do new habitats or restored habitats contribute to conservation targets?
682) Re-created habitats often concentrate on restoring the vegetation, what are the best practices for
restoring soil properties, soil fauna, invertebrates, vertebrates etc so that the whole habitat is
restored?
683) What is the baseline for habitat restoration - what are we trying to reproduce?
684) How far can increasing the area of recreated habitat act as a surrogate for loss of quality of
original habitat destroyed?
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685) When do we have enough of a given habitat?
686) How do we understand the effect of surrounding landscape?
687) Are there different principles operating in the freshwater environment?
688) What are the timescales of ecological restoration?
689) Does compensatory ‘replacement’ of habitat work?
690) Are recreated habitats equivalent to those they mimic (e.g. in terms of ecosystem health,
function and resilience) and if so at what scale and for which kinds of habitats?
691) How can we restore geomorphological function?
692) The creation of extensive ‘near-natural’ ecosystems is frequently advocated but where should
these systems be created and what types of systems would provide the greatest overall benefit
for biodiversity?
693) Is the creation of extensive ‘near-natural’ ecosystems more important than increasing habitat
heterogeneity in the farmed landscapes to facilitate future dispersal in the context of climate
change?
694) What are the essential physical characteristics that determine where the restoration of particular
habitats is most likely to be successful, and is there sufficient scientific consensus to enable
funding to be prioritised for such sites within landscape restoration programmes? The habitats in
question include calcareous grassland, neutral grassland, acidic grassland, ancient woodland,
heathland, floodplain grazing marsh, inter-tidal habitats, wood pasture/ parkland and reed-beds.
695) Can large scale river restoration schemes be adopted in the UK, and would they be more cost
effective than traditional hard flood defences?
696) Is it feasible to restore our floodplain woodlands?
697) Do we know how to restore ecosystem capacities to deliver the required balance of goods and
services?
698) How do we best maintain and re-create key upland, grassland and wetland habitats and enhance
their biodiversity value?
699) What spatial distribution of land would offer the greatest potential for re-creating habitats and/or
re-introducing species?
700) Can we seriously reconstruct a complete functioning ecosystem in restoration schemes?
701) What are the best places to be targeted for habitat recreation of priority habitats? e.g. heathland,
wetland, chalk grassland etc.
702) How can we best identify suitable habitat restoration techniques for individual habitat
improvement schemes?
703) In relation to mineral workings, to what extent to could restoration proposals build in provision
to help habitats to respond to climate change rather than trying to re-establish previous
conditions that will inevitably be altered as time passes?
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704) In relation to mineral workings, are ‘restored habitats’ only simulated habitats and, if so, does
that matter?
705) How successful has habitat creation been as measured in terms of providing areas of use to rare,
threatened and declining invertebrate species?
10.
Species conservation
706) How do we define the site based protective requirements of a species i.e. what proportion of a
species' population should be covered by a protected area network to ensure its favourable
conservation status? (There is some on going JNCC work, the issue is likely to emerge again by
2008 when the next review of the UK SPA network starts. This could be focused on the SPA
network, but is probably required more widely for the SSSI network. Potentially very relevant
in shaping outcomes of BAP species priority review).
707) Should protected areas be concentrated at the core or edge of species' range, and how is this
judgement affected by climate change scenarios? (Another issue that won't go away in terms of
determining appropriate SPA coverage, especially in Scotland. The interesting issue would be
to consider how climate change scenarios may impinge on the effectiveness of our
current/proposed network).
708) What is the best way to conserve UK's wildlife? By understanding the requirements of
individual species or groups of species and basing recovery measures on this knowledge, by
improving the status of semi-natural habitats (and ignoring individual species), or by adopting
an ecosystem approach, whatever that might be,?
709) What is the carrying capacity of any habitat in ideal condition for any given population of
species? - Can we benchmark habitat quality?
710) When designing a recovery project, should resources be focused at the core of a species range or
at the edge of its range? Which approach is more likely to improve its conservation status?
711) What has been the impact of protective legislation on protected species? Has there been an
identifiable change in the population size of protected species in the UK? Has there been an
impact on non-protected species or at a broader level on habitats?
712) Can we develop a mechanism for reconciling rare species and community /habitat conservation?
713) What are the impacts of management for specially protected species on other biota of
conservation concern e.g. bats in woodlands?
714) How should dynamic vegetation be managed for the conservation of species which are
associated with particular, transitional, plant communities of limited natural duration?
715) What are the most suitable management options for the conservation of species which are
associated with particular, transitional, stages of dynamic plant communities?
716) Are there any general rules which would allow the identification of those situations in which
management for a specific taxon benefits wider biodiversity in the area being managed?
717) Is money better spent on stemming declining species populations than re-introducing species?
718) Should we attempt to conserve the UK’s plant communities / vegetation types, or should we
focus only on specific species that are in danger?
719) Are declines in Lepidoptera driving declines in other taxa?
40
720) Why are common moths declining?
721) What are the optimum methods of monitoring declining butterflies in the wider countryside?
722) Do current species-level conservation efforts effectively conserve the diversity of British
habitats and biological processes?
723) What is the minimum viable population for a colonial haplo-diploid organism, such as a bee?
724) Can we readily identify species whose populations are limited by the availability of nesting
sites, and thus where the artificial provision of such sites would expand populations?
725) Are some rare species naturally rare, such that increases in abundance are not necessary for their
survival?
726) What is the strategy for conserving temperate carnivores and what is the UK’s contribution?
727) Is bat conservation best directed at habitat improvement (better feeding areas) or better roost
sites (bat boxes, hibernacula)?
728) Are great crested newts really an endangered species?
11. Mitigation & translocation
729) Are presently recommended mitigation measures for protected species of animal (e.g. bats, great
crested newt) successful in preventing reductions in the size of local populations?
730) Issues of conservation effort and value for money - A comment was made at our conference
about the amount of money that has been ‘wasted on great crested newt mitigation measures’.
Could the same money have been pooled to create a smaller number of larger scale and focused
projects achieving far more for GCN conservation as well as for many other species? The
question for ecologists is whether and in what circumstances we could achieve significantly
greater ecological benefits by using available resources in different ways - especially by pooling
resources from development mitigation to deliver much larger scale conservation actions. The
American (USA) wetland mitigation banking programme is relevant here.
731) The penalties surrounding Schedule 5 species are quite tough, so why do the courts very rarely
impose anything but light fines, which are no deterrent to wealthy developers?
732) What is the success of species translocation schemes?
733) Translocation of species and habitats is now common practice and often little consideration is
given to the receptor sites, despite best practice guide lines. Is translocation a viable technique
and should there be tighter controls on what is a suitable receptor site?
734) Mitigation/translocation is often carried out but rarely monitored. Should there be tighter
controls surrounding mitigation work, and post project monitoring and maintenance?
735) Does compensatory mitigation for reduction in available habitat (e.g. saltmarsh) work?
736) For which elements of biodiversity can we realistically create compensatory habitat?
737) Can habitat translocation provide habitats whose quality can be predicted with a degree of
certainty over 20 years?
41
738) What are the annual losses to the nature conservation resources of the UK from failures to
appropriately fund and fully implement habitat creation and associated measures required as
mitigation for built development?
739) What are the criteria which should be used to decide that a community developed as part of a
habitat creation scheme has reached a condition that it can adequately substitute for an area of
habitat which has been lost?
740) Does compensatory ‘replacement’ of habitat work?
12.
Species introduction
741) Do species re-introductions work?
742) Which are the 25 top priority animals and plants to re-introduce into Britain?
743) What would be the ecological impact of wild boar on woodland ecosystems?
744) What would the ecological impact be of other possible introductions (other than wild boar) e.g.
wolves and beavers?
745) Would re-introducing Eurasian lynx into Britain be detrimental for BAP priority species, e.g.
brown hare, ground birds?
746) Would re-introducing the European beaver into Britain provide benefits for wetland
biodiversity?
747) What is the likely direct and indirect impact of European beaver on salmonids in Britain?
748) What is the environmental impact of reintroducing beaver to England and Wales?
749) Would the reintroduction of the beaver restore a natural balance to water level management in
river catchments?
750) What are UK minimum viable population estimates for species targeted for re-introduction?
751) How would the re-introduction of wolves alter red deer behaviour and grazing habits? How
would it affect smaller mammals such as hares (brown and mountain)?
752) What would be the impact on the deer population of re-introducing lynx into Scotland?
753) What are the impacts of the increasing importation trade in invertebrates on habitats and species
at point of origin?
13.
Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs)
754) What are the UK "favourable reference populations" for bird species on Annex I of the EU
Birds Directive? The EU is currently trying to establish an EU-wide approach to habitat and
species monitoring under the EU Habitats Directive to determine whether species and habitats
of community interest are in "favourable conservation status". Part of this includes determining
the "favourable reference population" (as well as "favourable reference range") for relevant
species and habitats: at member state and EU-wide level. This approach is likely to transfer
across to the Birds Directive soon. Favourable reference populations have cross-over links with
UK work to set BAP targets for habitats and species. It would be helpful to get some applied
research in to how best to determine, express and monitor such reference populations to ensure
any proposed system is robust. It may also need to consider how to adjust to climate change
scenarios, especially if "range" is included in the work.
42
755) How can we prioritise catchments/areas and set catchment targets for managing BAP species?
756) What catchment/site could potentially hold populations of rare species to inform survey work?
757) Are species-level BAPs a threat to the general quality of some habitats?
758) What is the value of late successional lowland grassland and heathland vegetation to BAP
Priority species and what are the long-term options for management?
759) To what extent are favourable habitat condition status and BAP species performance linked ?
760) What are the key factors driving vegetation change and BAP species declines in semi-natural
woodlands in lowland Britain?
761) What is the optimal method of managing bracken-dominated lower hill land for the benefit of
associated BAP Priority species?
762) Will delivery of BAP headline indicator targets (Populations of Wild Birds, SSSI condition)
lead to delivery of HAP and Priority Species targets by 2010?
763) What type of targets should we use to manage BAP species (population viability, habitat etc.)?
764) What catchment could potentially hold populations of rare species (to inform survey work and
re-location programmes at national/regional scales)?
765) What is the state of the catchment for BAP species?
766) Are existing BAP species populations viable?
767) What are the pressures affecting their distributions at catchment scale?
768) What are the best places for re-introducing BAP species populations (with cost estimates)?
769) How can we best manage the catchment for BAP species (planning of protection, restoration,
invasive species and predator control)?
770) Can we predict the impact of climate and land use change on BAP species distribution at
catchment scale?
771) Do the current BAPs for species and habitats meet the requirements of the Birds / Habitats
directives as well as the Convention on Migratory Species in relation to species reintroduction
and habitat restoration?
772) To what extent is the content of UK BAP lists of priority species sensitive to the choice of
criteria used to construct such lists? (Lists of priority species are based on a range of criteria
relating to factors such as recorded decline or occupancy of space. The choice of criteria was
somewhat arbitrary. Is the system robust, or would changes in criteria significantly alter the
lists?)
773) What are the minimum viable areas of BAP priority habitats and effective networks?
774) How well are UK endemic races and subspecies covered by BAPs and HAPs?
775) What scale and configuration of a protected areas network will guarantee the favourable
condition of species and habitats for each major ecosystem within it?
43
776) What are the main reasons for unfavourable condition of sites and species
populations, and the most effective means to address them?
777) A large range of conservation projects (for example, species recovery projects) are undertaken
in the UK. How successful have these been, and is it possible to generalise about what makes a
good project, and what a bad project?
778) In terms of overall biodiversity conservation, are the relatively large resources being used to
conserve individual species or small areas of habitat in the UK being mis-applied compared to
the effects that similar sums of money might have in areas of the world with less developed
structures but significantly higher biodiversity?
779) What are the actual trends in populations of the species and health of the habitats for which
there are UK BAPs?
780) Which underlying factors affect the comparative success or failure of the delivery of an action
plan?
C) Environmental policy, watershed management & protected areas
1.
Environmental policy - general issues
781) What are the most appropriate governmental intervention tools for securing the positive
management of land for wildlife (or for sustainability)?
782) Given that there is always a need for more research and policy decisions often have to be made
on the basis of imperfect knowledge, how do we know when we know enough? Is there a model
for adequate knowledge?
783) How relevant are ecological data gathered in one region to environmental policy debates in
another where no such data exists? In other words, how far can scientific results be
transplanted?
784) At the moment Sustainable Development is not in practice given an umbrella position within the
national (and EU) policy structures (vide UK energy policy, EU fisheries policy). What
difference would giving it this priority position make to: (a) our ability to deliver the
Government's stated conservation goals; (b) to the long-term sustainability of the physical and
biotic environment; (c) to the economy?
785) What conflicts exist between the EC Bird Directive and other EC Directives (e.g. the Urban
Waste Water Treatment Directive, Landfill Directive) and how should these conflicts be
managed?
786) Can we develop a “charge mechanism” for paying for large-scale conservation/landscape
conservation e.g. institute a car charging policy a la Ken Livingstone into National Parks?
787) The co-text is that everyone is talking about 'large areas' as a better way of protecting wildlife
than lots of little nature reserves - and also large sites offer an element of 'future proofing'
against climate change. So the question is just about: "Is there more 'biodiversity' in one site of
500 ha or ten sites of 50 ha?" And the date/location is about making it relevant now - so not
using islands off south-east Borneo or historical data, but lowland England, today.
788) How can we measure Favourable Conservation Status for each of the species and habitats listed
within the habitats directive?
789) How can this (FCS) be maintained and managed for species both inside AND outside these
protected sites? This will inform government policy on the Precautionary Principle.
44
790) How can the 2010 biodiversity targets be expressed as more specific objectives, and how can
they be measured to show success/failure?
791) What will be the impact of the Soil Framework Directive on the environment?
792) What are the environmental limits that need to be considered for sustainable development?
793) What contribution will the Natura 2000 network make to protecting ecosystem integrity and
functioning?
794) Most policy - for example the Water Framework Directive, CAP reform, Public Service
Agreements - requires advanced prediction of the ecological effects of management action. Can
we predict ecosystem behaviour to such complex interventions?
795) How do we define what is a sufficient area of habitat for birds? - The Birds Directive requires
Member States ‘to preserve, maintain or re-establish a sufficient diversity and area of habitats
for all the species of birds referred to in Article 1’ of the Birds Directive e.g. is the loss of
intertidal habitat due to coastal squeeze/sea level rise, likely to render the current resource
insufficient? If so how much habitat creation would be necessary (inc. what type and where) to
ensure that there is sufficiency for the purposes of the Directive?
796) Which UK landscapes should be prioritised for conservation?
797) Would incentives or legislation to increase the proportion of native plants sold through garden
centres benefit UK biodiversity?
2.
Surface waters & watershed management
798) Do current flood management practices enhance wildlife?
799) Can management changes to watersheds prevent flooding as effectively as (or as cheaply as) the
upgrading of lowland flood defences?
800) Can water quality be used as a ‘canary’ to warn of impending problems?
801) What does ‘good ecological status’ mean in the Water Framework Directive and how can we
measure it?
802) Can you manage catchments for both ‘good ecological status’ and improved flood control? If
not, how do we balance these competing needs?
803) Is the Water Framework Directive (WFD) the panacea for aquatic ecology?
804) Is catchment management for water quality good for all ecology?
805) What are the consequences for aquatic ecology as a result of changes in river chemistry and
morphology?
806) Do Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) have a beneficial value to Biodiversity Action
Plan/ Red Data Book species?
807) What would be the ecological outcome for surface water ecosystems from the introduction of
defined, mandatory buffer zones on watercourses?
808) How do you manage upland catchments, e.g. what level of grazing pressure is acceptable, to
improve their water holding capacity? - Think Carlisle.
45
809) Can we get a model that predicts the impact of land use change on the severity and duration of
river flows following rainfall? The questions would be: if 20% of a catchment is converted from
arable to grassland what would be the run-off/flow impact?
810) To what extent would the upper watershed of a river catchment need to be restored in order to
create a natural sponge (slow release of water) and reduction in downstream flooding?
811) If we are to 'reconstruct' our landscapes and farming to minimise impact on water (e.g. erosionsensitive soil management, buffer zones, land use change etc) what would be the landscape and
biodiversity impacts be?
812) Given all the effort spent on controlling phosphorus inputs to fresh waters, what are the likely
ecological effects of the resulting changes to the nitrogen:phosphorus ratio?
813) How can catchment management be used enhance landscapes and biodiversity, and reduce
diffuse pollution?
814) How does the quantity, timing and chemistry of runoff and ground water from semi-natural
catchment areas depend on the composition of the vegetation?
815) What land use practices actively promote sustained provision of safe, clean water resources?
816) Which anthropogenic activities (pollution, extraction, etc.) most threaten water resources and
how should they be regulated?
817) How can landscape management, land practices protect vulnerable urban environments from
flooding? Are natural defences effective?
818) How can measures to reduce the risk of flooding be made ecologically beneficial?
819) How can flood control be assisted by the extension of managed wetland habitats and water
meadows?
820) How can the ecological benefits of sustainable urban drainage systems be optimised?
821) How should drainage provisions change in relation to likely changes in weather conditions
(precipitation, drought etc), what would be the potential impacts of such changes on wildlife,
and how can adverse effects be minimized?
3.
Protected Areas
3.1 Protected areas - general issues
822) How appropriate is the current UK protected area network for protecting wildlife under current
conditions, and in the face of dynamic threats, e.g. climate change?
823) Where particular parcels of land are subject to a variety of different conservation designations,
which one wins? - How can a site be managed for multiple conservation objectives?
824) Has SSSI designation been effective?
825) Do the numerous designations (e.g. SSSI, LNR, etc.) given to some protected areas sometimes
conflict to adversely affect the way in which land is managed for conservation?
826) Does the current network and extent of Ramsar wetlands in the UK meet the objective of wise
use of wetlands?
46
827) How can a dynamic element be introduced to the protected area process?
828) Why are some waterbird populations declining on sites protected by statutory designations?
829) How much coherence is there between areas currently protected for their landscape value (e.g.
National Parks and AONBs) and areas which are important for biodiversity?
830) Should the official target of 1 ha of statutory Local Nature Reserve per thousand population in a
local authority area be reduced to 1 ha per 100 population (i.e. an increase from 10 m2 per
person to 100 m2 per resident)?
831) Can we start developing co-operative conservation schemes that cover not just single SSSIs but
large units of land to deliver conservation at the sub-regional and regional scale?
832) How do protected areas interface with wider landscapes and what is their conservation role
within those landscapes?
833) To what extent do protected areas serve to maintain populations of species of conservation
concern in surrounding matrix habitats, and over what scale?
834) Given that many migratory species spend a considerable portion of their time outside Marine
Protected Areas, what resources should be put into tracking of migratory species that occur
within UK sites (e.g. dolphins in Cardigan Bay and the Moray Firth)?
835) Will the creation of new marine national parks/SACs around our coastline adequately protect
marine wildlife? Is extinction risk autocorrelated in space (that is; are populations that are close
together disproportionately likely to share the same fate), and if so, how should that affect the
design of reserve networks?
836) Does the UK network of protected sites adequately represent our invertebrate fauna?
3.2
Special Protection Areas (SPAs)
837) There are currently no guidelines under the Birds Directive for the management of Special
Protection Areas (SPAs). How do you manage a site for its waterfowl populations? Is it
possible to compile a list of requirements / standards for SPA management?
838) Where an SPA is listed as nationally important for more than one species (1% national
population) and is, therefore, supposed to be managed for these species, how are conflicts
between species requirements resolved?
839) Given the mismatch between those sites identified by BirdLife International as Important Bird
Areas and the existing suite of Special Protection Areas in Britain, and the current bias towards
species which form dense flocks, how could the current SPA selection criteria be improved?
What is a feasible alternative to the all-encompassing 1% threshold?
D)
Energy
1.0
Biofuels
840) What are the consequences of biofuel production for British wildlife at field, landscape and
regional levels?
841) What are the consequences of biofuel production for British wildlife?
47
842) Can the use of domestic and farmyard effluent in biofuel generation be used as an ecological tax
incentive, and thus offset fossil fuel use whilst providing additional farm income?
843) To what extent does organic farming and biofuel production contribute to the Kyoto targets?
844) Where could bioenergy crops be grown in the UK without resulting in significant impacts on
biodiversity?
2.0 Windfarms/renewable energy
845) Do off-shore wind farms cause ecological damage or provide environmentally-friendly fishing
exclosures?
846) How will large-scale electromagnetic fields from offshore wind farms affect marine organisms?
847) What are the potential site specific and cumulative impacts of terrestrial windfarms on protected
species (e.g. birds and bats)?
848) How can we estimate large-scale cumulative impact of wind turbines on bird populations?
849) Can birds avoid wind turbines?
850) Are there defined weather conditions during which wind turbines pose an unacceptably high risk
to migrating birds?
851) What are the wildlife implications of offshore or terestrial windfarms?
852) What is the collision risk to migratory birds posed by wind farm construction down the Eastern
coast of Britain?
853) What are the likely impacts of renewable technologies on wildlife, especially windfarms (on and
off shore), biomass and tidal technologies?
854) Is the Scottish target for 40-% of its electricity production to be renewable by 2020 feasible,
using any known technology, without compromising wildlife safety?
855) Similarly, can 15% of UK supply be renewable by 2015, or 20% by 2020, without
compromising wildlife safety?
856) How can ‘windfarm habitat’ e.g. underwater structures, be enhanced to promote biodiversity,
e.g. adding crevices to wind turbines?
857) Could simple, inexpensive changes be made to built structures to improve their value in
enhancing biodiversity?
858) Should we embrace renewable technologies? Is it possible to model the potential impacts of
each technology to predict what their likely impacts on wildlife will be if UK is to meet its
renewable commitments?
859) What area(s) of the UK could produce truly sustainable biomass that would provide benefits for
biodiversity, efficient renewable power and be socially acceptable? - what percentage of the
UK’s power could these provide?
860)
Following the findings of Environmental Impact Assessments, what agency or agencies have
the final say as to whether an offshore windfarm development is allowed to proceed?
48
E)
Climate Change
861) What are the consequences of climate-induced changes in population distributions for
biodiversity and fisheries?
862) How will climate change impact marine ecosystem productivity over the next 50 years?
863) What is the influence of climate change on the occurrence and dynamics of marine diseases?
864) What time lags can be expected between climate change and ecological change?
865) What will be the ecological impacts of shifting agriculture in response to climate change?
866) Will water shortages associated with climate change make some reserves unviable?
867) How fast do habitat management prescriptions become outdated in the context of climate
change?
868) What range of dynamic policy responses should be considered to predicted climate change
effects on individual habitats and species? How should we select the appropriate response in
accordance with sustainable development principles?
869) Should we move species northwards when they are unable to spread naturally across agricultural
landscapes?
870) How will plant community boundaries shift in response to climate change and how flexible are
our current protection measures to accommodate such change and still protect all important
habitats? Which ones are most at risk from inadequacies/insufficient flexibility in the current
protection systems?
871) Can management prevent conversion of the Caledonian forest to deciduous woodland?
872) Which lowland heathland species are likely to be able to colonise the uplands successfully?
873) Should we give up on Rhododenron control in areas predicted to become broadleaved-evergreen
forest?
874) What is the impact of climate change on upland heather moors?
875) Should we introduce to Britain apparently benign species that have expanded northwards in
Europe, but failed to cross the English Channel?
876) In the context of climate change, from how far away must a species originate for us to consider
it undesirable, or an alien?
877) Can we predict where and what new communities will exist as the climate changes?
878) Will it be mean or extreme conditions brought about by climate change that will have the
biggest impact on ecology and society?
879) Which habitats are most likely to evolve successfully as areas of high biodiversity as the climate
changes and which are least likely to retain their value as semi-natural habitat?
49
880) Which habitats are most likely to be developed into more valuable and bio diverse sites as
climate changes through human intervention and changes in management?
881) What will be the effects of global environment change for the climate in different localities in
the UK?
882) What will be the effect of climate change on the distribution of existing species, communities
and habitats?
883) What controls the ability of species to respond (by adaptation or dispersal) to a changing
climate?
884) What is the time-scale of climate change and resulting biotic change?
885) What are the impacts of climate change on key ecosystems (e.g. uplands, coasts, etc.) and
ecosystem components (e.g. soils) and what are the most sensitive parts of the system?
886) How does climate change interact with other ecological pressures (e.g. invasive species, habitat
fragmentation) to create synergistic effects?
887) How do we take account of climate change, land use change, sea level rise, and other
uncertainty?
888) What is the potential adaptability of habitats and species to climate change?
889) Which species can disperse and which cannot, and what patterns might emerge at a landscape
scale?
890) How can a dynamic element be introduced to the protected area process in response to climate
change?
891) How do we structure our risk assessment and decision making?
892) How can we disassociate the difference between natural population fluctuation, human induced
population fluctuation, and those associated with climate change?
893) How can we best model the conservation and management approaches to climate change with
two scenarios - (a) slow incipient (current) climate change with a change of 6 0C by 2100, and
(b) a scenario where we get a catastrophic slowing or shutting down of the NAO/Gulf Stream in
our waters. What are the knock on effects?
894) How should public policies and funding for conservation and land management adapt to reflect
expected climate change impacts? e.g. should we be requiring more tolerant species to be used
in publicly funded work, such as tree planting funded through the Woodland Grant Scheme?
Should public policy and funding be used to create migration corridors for species susceptible to
climate change?
895) In the face of climate change, what are the critical habitats? How much effort is justified to
protect them and what forms of intervention would be appropriate?
896) Given that habitat change will follow climate change, can we define critical thresholds for
habitats which will correlate with critical thresholds for landscape change?
897) How should adaptation and mitigation measures for climate change deliver optimum benefits
for biodiversity, alongside other public benefits?
50
898) We have landscape character descriptions for each Countryside Character Area, covering the
whole country. When considering future aspirations and management options for these areas,
how should we take account of the impacts of climate change on the landscape (e.g. on plant
species and water availability)?
899) What landscapes and habitats might we lose more or less completely because of climate
change? Where these are lost what should we aim to create in their place?
900) Will wildlife be as threatened by climate change as suggested by some recent 'climate envelope'
models, or will species be able to adapt to a changed climate? Can habitats be built in to these
species / climate models?
901) What ecological mismatches (e.g. in phenology of predators and their prey) will be driven by a
changing climate?
902) Have species in the UK already responded systematically to climate change, or have we just
picked up a few more extreme cases?
903) How can we mitigate the impacts of climate change on species. For example, will this be helped
by habitat corridors, stepping stones or enlarged nature reserves?
904) How will marine ecosystems be affected by climate change? Will, for example, seabird
populations change as sea surface temperatures change?
905) How do we help sedentary species cope with climate change? In translocation, what are the
most successful techniques?
906) How far does climate change affect migratory species?
907) Which species are likely to be trapped by climate change in our fragmented landscape?
908) Can changes in population or migration patterns be a useful indicator of climate change?
909) How will climate change affect sustainable levels?
910) Climate change may result in increasing frequency of severe storms of the type experienced in
October 1987 and January 1990 which resulted in large scale ‘damage’ to woodlands. How
should we respond to future major storms of this severity in the future?
911) How accurate does our knowledge of variation in weather need to be to predict the growth,
dynamics or extinction of plants and animals (natural resources)? OR If our ability to predict
variation in weather improves by 10%, will our ability to predict patterns in natural resource
dynamics improve by the same amount?
912) Can we predict the impact of climate and land use change on species distribution?
913) Which types of species will have difficulty tracking habitat changes or shifts that may occur
with climate change?
914) What effect will climate change have on river temperature regimes over the next 50 years and
what will be the consequences for the flora and fauna?
915) What will the impacts of climate change be on moorland flora and fauna distribution and timing
of reproduction?
51
916) Does climate change affect a) species; b) assemblages; c) ecological processes and d) ecosystem
goods and services in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems? (How?)
917) Which UK species are at risk from projected climate change scenarios?
918) Which species would be at risk from a projected rise in sea levels?
919) Will climate change affect the UK’s globally important seabird populations?
920) Can we predict and preserve potential relictual sites (e.g. the coolest microsites in a warming
landsape, or the wettest ones in an increasingly droughty one) in which refugees from climate
change will be able to maintain refugial populations?
921) With changing global climates, what is the role of transition zones in species conservation?
922) Can management intervention prevent northern species from becoming extinct in Britain?
923) Will changing climates and species pools result in the creation of novel “non-analogue”
communities in Britain, or are current vegetation and community types likely to shift as a unit?
924) What are the effects of climate change scenarios on wintering waterbirds and how should
statutory designations take account of any changes?
925) What is the potential adaptability of organisms to climate change?
926) Can carbon trading be established between industry and commercial farming (such as new grant
schemes for farm woodlands and buffer strips)? What would be the biodiversity benefits of such
a scheme?
927) Which species are most at risk of decline/extinction due to climate change?
928) What are the climate change/GHG limits, or thresholds, beyond which damage to the
environment and to individual species becomes most serious? –
929) What can changes to species distribution (or other changes, e.g. physiological) tell us about the
reality of, and impact of, climate change?
930) What are the key constraints on, and opportunities for, the UK food and non-food chains
resulting from UK climate change scenarios?
931) How would further increases in agricultural efficiency interact with climate change scenarios to
affect land use?
932) As UK farming adapts to climate change, what impacts will this have on farmland biodiversity?
933) What impact will climate change have on weeds and pest species?
934) How will climate change affect plant/ vegetation growth and how will this affect biological
communities and ecological systems?
935) What time lags can be expected between climate change and ecological change among different
taxa of both animals and plants?
936) Which species management objectives of designated sites are likely to prove difficult to achieve
because of climate change by a) 2040 and b) 2080?
52
937) Which species are likely to arrive and thrive in the UK as a result of climate change a) naturally
arriving and b) accidental introductions?
938)
How will the vegetation map of the UK change as a result of climate change in a) 2040s and b)
2080s?
939) How will the comparative dispensability across a wide range of invertebrate organisms affect
their long term population viability in a fragmented landscape, with particular reference to
climate change scenarios? (Including studies of dispersal ability of invertebrates from one site to
another and their frequency of extinction on fragments? Dispersal models need to be populated
with real data from groups as diverse as snails, ants, earthworms and beetles. The inclusion of
real habitat distribution data enables the modelling of how habitat specific species will respond
to a changing climate).
940) What affect does climate have on the over wintering success of the six common species of UK
bumblebee? How might populations be affected by climate change and what are the economic
implications for agriculture?
941) How can we improve the chances of invertebrate spp. to be able to migrate within the landscape
in response their ‘climate window’ shifting as a result of climate change? e.g. linkages between
favourable habitats, ‘habitat corridors’, agri-environment initiatives.
942) Impacts of climate change on the UK network of protected sites - will sites become irrelevant to
their interest features?
943)
F)
How can the network of protected areas become more dynamic to account for potential change?
Oddments
Public attitudes to wildlife & conservation
944) What are the current attitudes of society towards nature conservation and what trends in
attitudes are detectable over time?
945) How does the public perceive the countryside and those who manage it?
946) What are the attitudes of ethnic minorities to the countryside and to wildlife?
947) Can we start to look at land management in a holistic way where all costs and benefits are taken
into account?
948) How can the views of local people be incorporated into priorities for habitats and species, and
the environment more generally?
Scientific Research
949) What can science contribute to our understanding of conservation value and decisions about the
conservation of particular habitats and species?
950) Can we predict the long-term survival prospects of a population within a protected area using
e.g. climate surfaces in addition to patch size, isolation and habitat?
951) Can we develop a robust cost/benefit analysis methodology to allow the relative efficacy of
different conservation efforts to be compared? What would be the appropriate currency?
952) How good are ecological models at predicting outcomes?
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953) How can we quantify the relative value of long-term vs. short-term studies/data sets in ecology?
954) What did the landscape look like (with associated estimates for key and habitats and flagship
species), not just in overall qualitative terms, but quantitative, regionally differentiated models
in 9000 BP, 7000 BP, 5000 BP, 2000 BP, 1000 BP, 500 BP, 100 BP?
955) What is most cost effective: modelling intensively at small “scale” (providing detailed
knowledge about a limited number of species) or at large “scale” (providing a little information
about many)?
956) How comparable are similar ecosystems in different parts of the Globe; can we safely apply
conclusions of research done on the effects of policy in one country or region to the planning of
policy in another?
957) How can statistical estimates of the reliability of trends be applied to a wider range of indices?
958) What statistical tests could be applied to data relating to the extent of habitats or communities to
increase confidence in claims relating to the success of Habitat Action Plans?
959) Do developments in remote sensing technology enhance its usefulness for habitat mapping and
monitoring?
960) Can remote sensing methodologies be developed which would reliably distinguished between
semi-natural plant communities of different species composition and conservation value,
especially grasslands? (Detailed vegetation survey is still labour intensive. Remote sensing can
distinguish between major vegetation types, but cannot yet aid in the mapping of subtle
differences).
961) Why do ecologists not do repeat studies and report them, as in medical research?
962) Can somebody please develop a satellite tag less than a few grammes in weight? Would be
enormously beneficial if they could.
Economics
963) We define ecological functions of biodiversity and use this to estimate the economic value of
wildlife in supporting these functions. At what point do species become 'functionally' (rather
than actually) extinct – i.e. we lose the value of their role in ecosystems?
964) How can we measure Natural capital (renewable & non-renewable resources)?
965)
How can we integrate a measure of Natural capital into GDP? What is the value of wild nature
to UK plc? -
966) What are the costs or benefits to health from contact with open spaces and wildlife?
967) How can the environmental functions of ecosystems (for example, flood protection, noise
reduction, air quality improvements) be more effectively quantified and costed in economic
terms?
968) What are the net economic gains of managing the uplands under one or more of the broad land
uses (nature conservation, agriculture, forestry, renewable energy, recreation), have we an
economic tool to guide this?
969) What is the quantified economic and environmental importance of bumblebees with regard to
pollination benefits?
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Sustainability
970) How sustainable are current conservation initiatives?
971) What are the indicators of non-sustainable exploitation in terrestrial, marine and freshwater
ecosystems? How we do we recover those ecosystems exploited beyond this point?
972) How can sustainable landscape management be prioritised in term of ecological processes?
973) What modern land uses will deliver sustainable management of economically redundant habitats
such as heathland and reedbed in ways that deliver biodiversity?
Soil ecology
974) What impact do they have on soils where most of the biodiversity resides?
975) How does soil biodiversity respond to stress?
976) What is the relationship between the fungal and bacterial component of soil and plant diversity?
977) What are the dynamics of nutrient (especially P) depletion in grassland and how does this vary
on different soil type?
978) What limits are there on the UK’s soil resources for sustaining agricultural/forest production and
natural habitats into the next century?
979) How to we define and measure soil health from an ecological perspective?
980) What are the impacts on soil and surface active invertebrate populations of poaching and soil
compaction at different stocking levels in the uplands and lowlands?
Other
981) Can we have a decision support tool which provides conservation managers with advice on the
impacts on nature conservation interests of a specified development?
982) How can we combine scientific and practitioner knowledge (from e.g. deer stalkers,
gamekeepers) to best develop and implement conservation management plans?
983) Is it possible within a particular habitat type to characterize the biodiversity carrying capacity of
an area by easily derived indices other than biological ones?
984) Modern land management prescriptions, designed to enhance biodiversity, generally concentrate
on vegetation, birds, butterflies etc.
985) What is the best way to measure biodiversity? (Particularly in view of the global pledge by
political leaders to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010).
986) How resilient are reserves (and networks of reserves) against rare but major environmental
perturbations (on the scale of the recent SE Asian tsunami)?
987) Given that natural habitat islands may take 1000’s of years to “relax” to equilibrium species
numbers, are there ways we can manage habitat isolates for “supersaturation”?
988) Can we develop a policy of professionalism in environmental science, research and consultancy
commensurate with the Chartered status enjoyed by vets, engineers and accountancy
professions?
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989) How can indigenous knowledge and traditional lifestyles be supported and preserved in order to
assist conservation projects?
990) Do “fair trade” products have conservation benefits overseas?
991) What would happen to British wildlife if urbanisation, industrialisation, agricultural practices
and conservation efforts were to remain at current levels? What would happen if these
processes were to continue current trends?
992) What is the potential environmental footprint of new land use patterns and its consequences?
993) Should conservation agencies and research organisations generate an annual environmental
“state of the nation” report that is independent of government?
994) Leaving aside other factors, what land use pattern or patterns will deliver all the UK’s
biodiversity targets? How would they change when other environmental targets are also
considered? Is/are the resulting land use pattern / patterns compatible with socio-economic
targets?
995) Will the UK's biodiversity continue to decline?
996) How should we assess and account for turnover in bird populations using defined sites?
997) Why are long-distance migrant birds declining?
998) Does ivy cause damage to bridges and other structures?
999) What is the current trend and magnitude of change in populations across all habitats of : ground
active invertebrates; air borne invertebrates; moths; nocturnal invertebrates; soil invertebrates;
pollinators (esp. bumblebees); riverflies; earthworms; aquatic invertebrates; marine benthic
invertebrates; Orthoptera ?
1000) What are the causes of decline in populations of: air borne invertebrates; moths; nocturnal
invertebrates; pollinators; riverflies; Orthoptera; declining Biodiversity Action Plan species?
1001) What constitutes sufficient habitat at a landscape level to support the endangered invertebrate
fauna associated with dry, ruderal and ephemeral habitats?
1002) What are the particular habitat parameters required in the construction of a brown-roof able to
deliver a habitat suitable for rare species of invertebrates?
1003) If the government gave more money to ecologists, would the country be better off
(economically and/or in terms of quality of life)?
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