BIOD - Creating Habitats Flashcards
Describe briefly what is meant by ‘layering’ in planting design
Advantage:
Layering of plantings: to provide a mosaic of habitat types, and mimics
natural habitats
Layered planning refers to having planting that has distinct layers:
> trees: birds nest
shrubs: food for birds, nesting.Example: Crataegus monogyna
climber: Hedera helix, offers late season nectar and fruit
perennial
ground level perennials: (Ajuga reptans
Advantage: different habitats for wildlife shelter, food, breeding
What is a transition zone?
Give two examples which might be found in a garden
A transition zone is the zone between two habitat or vegetation types:
woodland edge
Pond edge
What is a wildlife corridor?
Narrow habitat which is wildlife friendly:
> generally unmanaged
> with a diverse layered planting which enables a range of animals from birds and mammals dow to insects
> to easily and securely move between larger areas of quality habitat
How does the concept of ‘corridors’ help us plan for improving biodiversity?
Give an example of how the concept might work in an suburban area.
“Corridors are very important as the connections they make between small patches of quality habitats can results in a single much larger area.
In some cases making transitions between between very different habitats, link habitats:
> e.g. between pond in one garden and dry areas all around.
> in sub-urban area, hedges and the back-ends of gardens where there is not much going on are perfect
Woody plants where branches link up.
Why is bare soil in a garden borders an undesirable feature for biodiversity?
What are the alternatives and their advantages?
Bare soil offers no cover for many invertebrates, or indeed amphibians, reptiles or small mammals .
Anything running across is vulnerable to being eaten by something higher up in the food chain.
> A vegetation canopy or simply dead and decaying
leaves and provides cover, nesting material, and microhabitat for small
invertebrates, which can be food for larger ones or birds.
Name 3 non-planted garden features which can play a role in supporting biodiversity, and explain briefly how they can do this
Log and twig piles - they slowly root down, providing roosting and feeding sites for a variety of invertebrates, possible hibernation sites for small mammals too
Bee ‘hotels’ – hollow canes and other materials that offer dry roosting and
hibernating sites for solitary bees, lacewings and other insects.
Ponds, however small, offer a source of water, sometimes mud for building
nests, and microhabitat, often supporting completely different invertebrates
to those on dry land.
How important is it to include a high proportion of native plant species in a garden or planting, primarily for a biodiversity benefit?
This is a controversial issue, but also one which may have very different answers in different places.
Outline a few points for doing this, and also outline why this might not be so important.
Native plant species have co-evolved with their invertebrate predators, including native species we can assume that automatically we provide food sources for insects.
Not all native species feed that many insects: holly e.g.
Most useful species which are now to support a large number of insects species, Quercus spp., Salix spp.
In the British Isles many invertebrates are generalist, so the importance of native species is therefore reduced. More important may be general diversity
in the garden – diversity of species is most likely to provide continuity of food
supply through the year and to contribute to diverse habitat.
The importance of habitats is identified including:
Layering of plantings: to provide a mosaic of habitat types, and mimics
natural habitats
Diversity of habitat, e.g. ground cover, trees: to include meadows, water,
bare ground, mud, and shade.
Nesting sites, outbuildings, climbers and shrubs can all create potential
nesting sites.
Shelter, layered plantings allow multiple canopies to provide shelter and
cover.
Food, nectar and pollen, leaves for fodder, aphid populations, wild berries.
Overwintering/hibernation sites, undisturbed fallen leaves, hollow stems,
crevices, gaps, rotting timber.
Access for foraging animals, wildlife often forage quite large distances,
hedgehogs often wander 12 miles in one night foraging for food.
Habitat corridors, wildlife often need corridors, which can be at ground level
or in canopies.
Soil, is often overlooked as a habitat.
It is used in nest building and as habitat
by solitary bees. Soil also has an unseen ecosystem.
how gardens can be designed and maintained to create such habitats
and encourage wildlife.
Garden design > Design to include layered plantings from groundcover, to herbaceous, sub shrub, shrub, and tree.
> Examples could be woodland edge plantings, or forest
gardens as a productive growing system.
Maintenance
Minimal interventions, as required to maintain the layer
integrity, reducing excessive shade, removal of nontarget species, and mulching.
Diversity of habitat, e.g. ground cover, trees
Garden design The deliberate inclusion of habitat within the garden
design process. Minimising hard surfaces, and maximising
plantings. Design areas to include bare soil or mud
adjacent to ponds and water features, or within swales
and rain gardens.
Maintenance Ensuring that habitat areas are maintained to preserve the
habitat, for example, height of cut of hedging, which
impacts on wild bird nesting. The RSPB website has
information about height ranges for wild bird nesting.
