Ecosystems Case Studies

Question 1

What is the deciduous woodland case study? How is it managed?

Answer 1

Haley Wood, Cambridgeshire
Owned and managed by the Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust, it occupies 150 hectares and it’s been used and managed over 700 years

Question 2

What types of plants in deciduous woodland (Haley Wood)?

Answer 2

• Grasses, brambles, ferns and wildflowers such as bluebells
• Oak trees, ash trees, elm trees, maple trees and willow trees

Question 3

What types of animals in deciduous woodland (Haley Wood)?

Answer 3

• Birds: Fieldfare, nuthatch, treecreeper, spotted flycatcher
• Mammals: Fallow deer, muntjac deer

Question 4

What type of soil is in deciduous woodland and what are the features?

Answer 4

• Brown earth soils

- Rich in humus due to thick leaf litter that accumulates in the Autumn

Question 5

What is the name of the wildlife corridor case study?

Answer 5

Kingsweston and Trym Valley

Question 6

What does Kingsweston and Trym Valley Wildlife Corridor link?

Answer 6

• Links Shirehampton and Henbury

Question 7

What are the principal roads in the Kingsweston and Trym Valley Wildlife Corridor?

Answer 7

Napier Miles Road, Shirehampton Road, Kingsweston Road - estate roads with parkland setting and stone boundary walls

Question 8

What are the key issues for the Kingsweston and Trym Valley Wildlife Corridor?

Answer 8

• Traffic and movement: heavily trafficked area , the portway had created a barrier between the original landscaped park to Kingsweston House
• Land use: pockets of land remain outside of heir use - inappropriate and intrusive, loss of rural character
• Town scape: estate landscape is sensitive to change, lack of landscape maintenance has led to a reduction in mature trees and loss of landscape

Question 9

What are the enhancement objectives for Kingsweston and Trym Valley Wildlife Corridor?

Answer 9

• Infrastructure designed to integrate into landscape
• Land management plan - maintenance and upkeep of traditional footpaths
• Preservation of the landscape is seen as the principal objective within this Conservation Area
• Follies, drives, watercourses and lodges - essential that these are retained, improved and given adequate maintenance

Question 10

What is the local conservation case study?

Answer 10

Trooper’s Hill in Bristol

Question 11

General info for Trooper’s Hill (what? where? what type of habitat?)

Answer 11

• Nature Reserve from 1995
• In St George, East Bristol
• Acidic grassland and heathland habitat covers central area of the site

Question 12

What type of plants can be found in Trooper’s Hill Nature Reserve?

Answer 12

• Grassland is unique due to acid soil tolerant
• Ling and bell heather
• Grassland fungi (waxcaps)
• Woodland - hawthorn, silver birch, oak, apple, broom and gorse
• Lots of bramble

Question 13

What type of animals are found in Trooper’s Hill Nature Reserve?

Answer 13

• Butterflies: common blues, holly blues, marbled white
• The mining bee, endangered species
• 280 species of invertebrates - 80 different moths and 20 types of butterfly
• Birds: buzzard, tawny owl, long tailed tit
• Mammals: foxes, shrews, roe deer and bats

Question 14

What strategies have been used to conserve Trooper’s Hill?

Answer 14

• Managed by ‘Friends of Trooper’s Hill’ volunteer group - work parties to help cut back scrub
• Acidic grassland and heathland are priority habitats in UK agreed by Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP)
• Scrub prevention - clearing areas that contained core habitat
• Stepping Forward Project - improving access to Troopers Hill and encourages visits
• Events
• Community payback

Question 15

What are the impacts of the conservation strategies in Trooper’s Hill?

Answer 15

• Cutting back scrub protects acid grass and heathland
• Events increase appreciation for the area
• Green Flag Award
• Educational walks for schools and groups - enhances protection
• Awarded 5 stars in RHS Pride and Parks Award Scheme
• Invasion of Japanese Knotweed meant that trees and scrub were cleared to protect grassland - replaced by tall herb vegetation providing a nectar source

Question 16

What is the tropical rainforest case study and where is it located?

Answer 16

The Amazon Rainforest, South America

Question 17

What are the climatic conditions of the Amazon?

Answer 17

• Temperatures between 25-30 degrees
• Significant cloud cover
• 80% humidity
• High average rainfall (12m a year)
• Between 50-60% of precipitation is recycled by evapotranspiration
• System relies on rain

Question 18

What are the features of the plants in the Amazon? Some examples?

Answer 18

• Large leaf area to maximise sunlight absorption
• Some plants grow on tree branches to be closer to sunlight
• Some plants use energy for thin rapid growth - cheese plant
• One single tree can be home to 200 specis of insect and spider
• Some plants grow fruit with seeds that can’t be digested so they can be put back into soil by dung beetles

Question 19

Why do trees and fungus in the Amazon have a vital relationship?

Answer 19

• Fungus attaches itself to tree roots- they absorb nutrients quicker than tree roots and faster than the rain can get to them
• The fungus is supplied with sugars and starch from the tree

Question 20

Some examples of wildlife in the Amazon?

Answer 20

• Marmosets (feed off tree gum)
• Ants (attack plants that aren’t their host plants)
• Hummingbirds can pollinate flowers
• Giant otters (live in oxbow lakes)
• River turtles (nest in sediment deposited into banks)

Question 21

What are the features of the nutrient system in the Amazon?

Answer 21

• 99% of nutrients are found in living tissues
• everything is recycled - dung, trees, dead bodies etc and keeps nutrients moving
• 1% of nutrients are found in soil
• Top 50cm of the soil has nutritional value

Question 22

What are the problems caused by deforestation in the Amazon?

Answer 22

• Land becomes infertile
• Cattle ranching accounts for 60% of deforestation in the Amazon
• Causes nutrients to be washed away by rain and the soil to be dried by the sun

Question 23

What are the impacts of human activity on the climate in the Amazon?

Answer 23

• Deforestation has contributed to 10% of CO2 to the atmosphere
• Burning of forest adds to greenhouse gases
• Reduction in the amount of oxygen produced

Question 24

What are the impacts of human activity on the environment in the Amazon?

Answer 24

• Loss of plant, animal and insect species
• Only 1% of plant varieties have been tested by scientists in medical exploration
• Increase in soil erosion and soil infertility
• Increase in the levels of mercury in the ater through mining

Question 25

What are the impacts of human activity on the people in the Amazon?

Answer 25

• Traditional livelihood of tribes are being threatened by loss of land, conflict and new disease

Question 26

What countries are included in the Sahel ecosystem?

Answer 26

Senegal, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan

Question 27

What is the Sahel ecosystem and why is it fragile?

Answer 27

• The eco-climatic and biogeographic zone of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and Sudanian Savanna to the south
• Fragile because: 175th poorest country, evapotranspiration is 4-5 times greater than rainfall, continual movement of livestock, drought and explosive population growth = overgrazing, deforestation and soil erosion

Question 28

What type of flora and fauna can be found in the Sahel?

Answer 28

Flora: grassland, savanna, woodland and shrubland

Fauna: Grazing animals- gazelle and buffalo, large predators - african wild dog, cheetah and lion

Question 29

What human activity is operating in the Sahel and the impacts?

Answer 29

• Selective hunting, gathering, bush fires, charcoal production- modification of Sahelian ecosystems and reductions in biodiversity and productivity
• Slash and burn has degraded envrionments
• Human induced stress on landscape through overgrazing, over-farming and quick population growth

Question 30

What is being done to manage issues in the Sahel?

Answer 30

• Famine Early Warning Systems
• Sahel and West Africa Club - set up to help identify issues and offer strategic support to Sahel countries
• Local Schemes - to aid understanding and promote protection the the resource- soil and water conservation techniques, improved farming technologies
• Soil and water conservation techniques: contour stone lines built across natural contour, terraces on slopes, hedges planted as windbreaks, making compost and using manure as fertility

Question 31

What countries are included in the Amazon ecosystem?

Answer 31

Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela

Question 32

What is the Amazon ecosystem and why is it fragile?

Answer 32

A tropical rainforest ecosystem with large deciduous trees and swamps

• Fragile as it is the only rainforest we have left in terms of size and diversity
• Impact of Amazon deforestation continues to undo the ecological process that have been refined over millions of years

Question 33

What type of flora and fauna can be found in the Amazon?

Answer 33

Flora: Papya, ormosia, guava, string orchid, cecropia

Fauna: Spider monkey, sloth, giant river otter, poison arrow frog

Question 34

What human activity is operating in the Amazon (large scale conservation case study)?

Answer 34

• Deforestation for human settlement
• Lumber, agriculture and mining industries
• Soil fertility only good enough to grow crops for a few years after it’s been cleared - leads to more being cleared
• Discovery of medicines
• Harvesting of renewable and sustainable resources

Question 35

What is being done to manage the issues in the Amazon? (large scale conservation case study)

Answer 35

• Agro-forestry - growing trees and crops at the same time, preventing soil erosion
• Selective logging - trees only felled when they reach a particular height, guaranteeing a longer life span for the younger trees
• Education - ensuring people involved in exploitation and management understand the consequences
• Afforestation - planting trees
• Forest reserves - protected areas
• Monitoring - checking for illegal activity