Holyford Woods

Question 1

What is the fieldwork question for Holyford Woods?

Answer 1

“management strategies attempt to maximise biodiversity in Holyford Woods”

Question 2

What are the Hazards of Holyford Woods? Who are at risk for these?

Answer 2

• Brambles, nettles and insects
• Weather: rain, wind, sun
• Steep sided areas, uneven grounds

RISK= STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

Question 3

How are Brambles, nettles and insects a risk?

Answer 3

Cuts, thorns, allergic reactions, poisoning
Insect bites + scratches-> ticks= Lyme’s disease

Question 4

How is the Weather (rain, wind, sun) a risk?

Answer 4

Hypothermia
Sunstroke

Question 5

How are Steep sided areas/uneven grounds a risk?

Answer 5

Slips and trips
Falling + bruising
Broken/twisted limbs and bones

Question 6

What is the likelihood of these risks?

Answer 6

LOW RISK

Question 7

What is the proposed action to prevent risk of Brambles, nettles and insects?

Answer 7

Wear long sleeves + long trousers-> avoid risk

Identify hazardous plants to others and warn potential risks

Avoid sitting in long grass + check skin for ticks at home

Question 8

What is the proposed action to prevent risk of weather (rain, sun, wind)?

Answer 8

All children receive information asking them to be dressed appropriately for the weather conditions

Bring water + suncream

Question 9

What is the Proposed action to prevent risk of steep sided areas + uneven grounds?

Answer 9

Ensure all students and teachers are wearing appropriate footwear + sturdy boots + wellington boots

Warn participants of hazard at the beginning and throughout activity

Question 10

What is the landscape of Holyford woods like?

Answer 10

North side
- oak + ash trees
- holly, hazel, hawthorn, birch

South side
- conifers planted in 1960’s by owners at the time, South West Water

Animals
- dormice
- insects, bats, deer, foxes, badgers, woodpeckers

Question 11

What is Primary Succession?

Answer 11

When a new area of land is populated by a group of species for the first time

Question 12

What is Secondary Succession?

Answer 12

When an area of land previously occupied by living species goes though a major disturbance, and repopulates

Question 13

Where did secondary succession occur in Holyford woods?

Answer 13

Site 1- cleared area

Question 14

What were the methods used to collect data?

Answer 14

• Vegetation survey: tree and shrub layer
• Vegetation survey: field and ground layer
• Annotated sketches
• Photographs

Question 15

What were the Primary Quantitative methods of data collection?

Answer 15

• Counting number and variety of species in deciduous woods
• Used 50cm x 50cm quadrats with 6 different groups
• Used 20cm x 20cm quadrats for shrub layer
  Used Simpson’s biodiversity index

Question 16

What were the methods of Primary Qualitative data collection?

Answer 16

• Took photographs
• Evidence of management
• Evidence of secondary succession
• Sketched

Question 17

What were methods of Secondary data collection?

Answer 17

• Compared old photos to new photos to show how sites regenerated over time
• Compared to old data of how many different species and numbers of species with new data

Question 18

What were the methods of data representation used for Quantitative data?

Answer 18

Pie charts
- easy to interpret and compare different sites and different species

Question 19

What were the methods of data representation used for Qualitative data?

Answer 19

Photos and Sketches-> taken + annotated

Question 20

What statistical method was used to represent biodiversity in the sites?

Answer 20

Simpsons biodiversity index
- See and calculate how biodiverse different areas of the woods are

Question 21

What were the sampling methods used?

Answer 21

• 6 groups along a line used transects
• Used a large area to cover more area
• Threw quadrats randomly to avoid bias

Question 22

What are the 3 guiding principles of woodland management?

Answer 22

Diverse
Connected
Native

Question 23

What are the 3 sites surveyed?

Answer 23

1. Cleared area (2005)- shrubs, not much diversity, sights of regeneration, secondary succession
2. Conifer plantation- no diversity, no shrub layer, non native
3. Deciduous woods- high diversity between all layers, native climax community

Question 24

Why was Holyford woods a good location to choose?

Answer 24

3 sites-> diverse between them, all connected
Many management strategies have been put in place, can be seen
Local nature reserve-> easy access

Question 25

What is the process of primary succession?

Answer 25

• Begins in a place with no soil
• Arrival of living things that don’t need soil to survive ie lichens
• Soil starts to form because the lichens erode the rock
• They die + decompose, adding minerals from their organic matter to the rocks-> fertile soil
• Simple plants grow, ie moss and ferns
• When these plants die they add minerals from their organic matter to the soil, making it more nutrient rich
• The soil thickens and more plants can grow
  -More plants → better soil → better plants → introduction of animals

Question 26

What is the process of Secondary succession?

Answer 26

• Occurs when there is already soil
• Occurs faster than primary succession
• Different pioneer plants
  -Occurs in places like forest fires, or man made areas

Question 27

What are pioneer plants?

Answer 27

Plants which colonise previously diverse areas

Question 28

What are coniferous trees?

Answer 28

Pine trees/ needles

Question 29

What are deciduous trees?

Answer 29

Trees which lose their leaves for parts of the year

Question 30

What were the management strategies used?

Answer 30

• Natural reserve so biodiversity is maintained
• Fallen trees are moved out of paths, but left to decompose
• Bird boxes installed → track how many birds are in the forest and allows for them to protect themselves from extreme weather conditions
• Branches and dead plants are left to decompose giving nutrients to the soil

Question 31

What is the evaluation of the Data?

Answer 31

Site 3, deciduous= most biodiverse (scores between 0.6-0.78)
- Oldest site, undisturbed for longest, at climax vegetation
- Plenty of sunlight for plants to grow on ground + shrub layer-> further increasing biodiversity

Site 1, cleared coniferous= least biodiverse (scores between 0.39-0.45)
- Cleared in 2005, secondary succession, no growth in canopy layer, less biodiversity
- no cover of sunlight, brambles dominated ground layer, less biodiversity

Site 2, coniferous= middle (score around 0.5)
- plantation since 1961, more plants in site 1 already, so site 1 is higher
- lower than sight 3, conifers= only plant, less biodiversity + interdependence. Evergreen, less light on floor, less biodiversity
- 60 years since plantation established, not enough time to reach climax vegetation

Question 32

What are the 3 limitations of the data collected?

Answer 32

Accuracy
Reliability
External problems

Question 33

What are limitations to the Accuracy of the data collected?

Answer 33

ACCURACY
- app used to identify different species, may not have been reliable.
- if app was unable to identify a particular species it had to be left out
- Sites 1 and 2 were inaccessible due to Honey fungus, so some species may have been left unseen in our 20m quadrat sample from outside the boundary
- Some numbers of certain, very common plants had to be estimated-> could lead to inaccuracies

Question 34

What are limitations for the reliability of the data collection methods?

Answer 34

• 20x20 zones were only measures lengthways, so the accuracy of the width of the quadrat may have been inaccurate-> people may have measured more or less

Question 35

What are limitations of the data collecting methods due to external problems?

Answer 35

• unable to access site 1 and 2, less accurate data collecting, only samples small area of site, leads to inaccuracies in number of species in larger area

Question 36

What are methods to improve the usefulness of the data?

Answer 36

Collect data at different times
-Different seasons-> plants flowering at separate times would be counted, more complete picture of the species at the site

Collect more data
- take more samples at each site, be able to access site 1 and 2