Plagioclimax Case Study - Heather Moorland

Question 1

what is the heather moorland and how big is it

Answer 1

an area of open country mostly covered by heather, The North York Moors are the largest area of heather moorland in England covering 1436 km2

Question 2

how were the moors created

Answer 2

human activity

Question 3

what did the moors used to be

Answer 3

an oak forest (a temperate deciduous woodland biome) where only small amount of heather grew at ground level

Question 4

what happened to the woodland that was once the moorland

Answer 4

• 5000 years ago people hunted and gathered the woodland for food, population grew and people began to clear most fertile areas to keep animals and grow crops
• 4000 to 2000 years ago, rest of woodland was cleared, clearing trees reduced soil quality

Question 5

what happened once the trees were cleared and the people moved on

Answer 5

few plants could grow in the poor quality soil, heather is a hardy shrub, was able to grow, flourished as there was less competition from other plants

Question 6

what happened 1000 years ago

Answer 6

sheep grazing became a major form of agriculture in North Yorkshire preventing the re-growth of other plants, reduced competition. Heather is fast growing so was able to cope with being graze and soon dominated the area

Question 7

how is the moorland being maintained

Answer 7

human activities - the North York Moorlands are a national park and the moorland is carefully maintained for environmental and economic reasons. Moors are an important habitat for rare plants (sundew)and birds (merlin) - used for sheep grazing and grouse shooting

Question 8

what would happen without active management

Answer 8

the moorland would eventually return back to a temperate deciduous forest and moorland plants and animals would lose their habitat and move on or die out

Question 9

what are the two management techniques

Answer 9

• sheep grazing

- controlled burning (primary management)

Question 10

how does controlled burning maintain the moorland

Answer 10

few sections are burnt each year in an 8-15 year rotation. if left alone, heather becomes tough and woody and eventually collapses, burning encourages new heather shoots to grow, provides better grazing for sheep and grouse, burning also destroys less fire-resistant plants which helps heather stay dominant