Plants and Biodiversity

Question 1

What is the food chain?

Answer 1

fungi and bacteria that bring about the decomposition of all the rest of that life when it dies. They are at the bottom; they are nature’s ultimate recyclers.

Producers: Plants Plants are using light to fix carbon dioxide to turn
it into sugars, this produces the carbohydrates that are then eaten by animal life.

Primary consumers: Herbivores who eat the plants (caterpillars, slugs, rabbits)

Secondary consumers: Eat herbivores

Tertiary: Eat everything (fox/human)

Question 2

What is the relationship between plant diversity and associated primary and secondary producers in a habitat?

Answer 2

Need biodiverse plants so all species have food. Example: Cinnabar moth only eats ragwort.

Question 3

Is it important to re-evaluate the concepts of pests/weeds in the garden?

Answer 3

YES. Pests will be eaten up the food chain, provide diverse habitat to attract all. Only if out of hand should you deal with it.

Question 4

How do hort affect biodiversity?

Answer 4

the impact of plant selection on biodiversity, the benefits of natural plantings on local communities, the importance of community
engagement, and the value that can be derived from developing the UK’s gardens as biodiverse spaces

Question 5

What is an invertebrate?

Answer 5

any animal that lacks a vertebral column, or backbone. make up 94% of the world’s animal species.

Question 6

WHat are the two kinds of invertebrates and what is the distinction?

Answer 6

SPECIALISTS: Eat only one very narrow food source. many butterflies, moths and other insects whose larvae only eat particular plant species. If plant not there, those insects won’t be there either.

GENERALISTS: Eat a far wider range. Aphids/Greenfly eat anything!

EX Cinnabar Moth larvae only feed on ragwort.

Question 7

Habitat and plants

Answer 7

Roosting and Nesting places - different habitat for diff insects.

Question 8

List some destructive pests

Answer 8

Molluscs
Deer
Rabbits

Question 9

Are birds, bees destructive?

Answer 9

No. They are berry eating, pollinators and seed eaters. We can cope sharing. They don’t reduce the plant to the ground like snails. FOLIAGE EATERS

Question 9

Explain diversity

Answer 9

The more plant species the more opportunity for invertebrates to find food sources.

The more plant species there are, the more spatially complex and varied the garden plant community and the more possible food sources.

Role of spontaneous plants (weeds) - if not competitive or seed too much leave them for pollinators.

Question 9

Explain density

Answer 9

dense habitats offer more opportunity, and better shelter for invertebrates. (micro habitats).

Question 10

How are diversity and density intertwined?

Answer 10

Garden biodiversity depends on plant diversity and having a density of planting.

Have a dense habitat in the garden is the best thing for providing plenty of micro-habitats for invertebrates.

No bare soil..stems and leaves meshed together.

Question 11

Questions to ask regarding weeds

Answer 11

1. Are weeds a ‘cosmetic’ problem or do they compete?
2. Many species are not competitive and therefore harmless
3. Diff areas of garden need diff levels of weed control (veg and annuals need control; perennials and shrubs ok to have some).
4. Diff weeds present diff problems.

Question 12

Re-think ideas about pests.

Answer 12

All ‘pests’ are food for someone else

Most insects on plants are effectively harmless

Are pests a ‘cosmetic’ problem or do they really affect performance?

More naturalistic plantings styles are more ‘forgiving’ of imperfections

Whole range of non-chemical means of control.

Question 13

WHat is the framework for a mini-nature reserve?

Answer 13

1. Not every cm needs to be managed. Unmanaged areas (often hidden) are beneficial. Often great for wildlife habitat.
2. Private gardens and community space should link up. Corridors of continuity to allow insects, birds, mammals to move across urban/suburban landscape.
3. density/how much diversity
4. Density/diversity guarantee good habitat for biodiversity.
5. Be pragmatic about weed and pest management.

As a general rule we want to encourage as much life as possible in the garden - but need to bear in mind what our expectations are and much are we willing to share with nature.

Question 14

Mini Nat. Res in public/botanical gardens.

Answer 14

1. wild areas are teaching opportunities (survey techniques, ecology, nature study)
2. Public gardens (as part of another visitor destination (museum etc.)) potential mini nat res.

Question 15

How to combat an untidy nature reserve

Answer 15

Interpretations (notices explaining what is going on can help).

Gardener led tours involving local naturalists

Important that pernicious weeds or invasive species are controlled.

Question 16

Give some conservation locations

Answer 16

City of Hull planting Alder Buckthorn to benefit Brimstone butterfly.

Great Dixter Biodiversity audit.

Orchard project: Why are they priority habitats?

Forestry Commission: Best practice guide of benefits of natural plantings.

Community groups/charities/organizations championing importance of natural planting:

Orchard Project
Wildlife Trust
Plantlife
RHS
Woodland Trust
Greensand Trust
Watch Tree Trust
Moor Meadows.

Question 17

Example of a biodiverse garden

Answer 17

Wildflower meadow merges with bog garden.

Meadow cut mid summer and allowed to regrow.

Attractive
biodiverse
less maintenance
contributes to wildlife haven.

Question 18

How does the food web start

Answer 18

Plants photosynthesise, capturing the sun’s energy, using it to convert carbon dioxide – CO2, and water to glucose, the starter for a
whole web of other reactions.

When animals eat plants the energy from the
sun that the plant has captured is passed on. And when another animal eats
that animal, it then acquires that energy. When it dies and decays the energy
it has gets passed on to the bacteria, fungi and other organisms (nearly all at the microscopic level) which break it down.

In energy terms, all living things are either producers or consumers.
Plants are energy producers, they can create their food themselves by
photosynthesis. All animals, and fungi, are energy consumers. They have to go
out and get their own food.

Question 19

What are detritivores?

Answer 19

mutually beneficial relationships between differing organisms.

Question 20

What is the balance of nature?

Answer 20

idea that everything in nature is somehow in an equilibrium, essentially unchanging. IT ISN”T. Understanding the change is crucial in ecology.

More mollusks, perhaps more hedgehogs to eat them and more badgers to eat the hedgehogs… but too many badgers can upset the balance, causing a population boon in slugs if all the hedgehogs are eaten.

Question 21

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 21

Defined area where plants, animals and other organisms as well as weather and landscapes work together for form a living complex.

The various components are all linked through flows of energy
and nutrients: carbohydrates, nitrogen, phosphorus etc.

Question 22

How does what we do in our garden affect the ecosystem?

Answer 22

Our garden ecosystem is very permeable to the larger ecosystem (our
suburb/village, region or country) compared to a remote island. What we do
in it, will have implications for the surrounding larger ecosystem in which it is
embedded

Question 23

What is an exclusive relationship?

Answer 23

Cinnabar moth – SPECIALIST. lays eggs on Senecio genus. (Ragwort)

Question 24

Mullein moth

Answer 24

shreds the leaves of Verbascum (garden plant).

SLugs/snails devastate young plants.

Question 25

Where are there more specialist relationships?

Answer 25

North America therefore growing more native is more appropriate.

Question 26

What list of wild plants (weeds) do people have a legal responsibility to control and what act is it?

Answer 26

DEFRA Weeds Act 1959

Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea)

Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)

Creeping or Field Thistle (Cirsium avense)

Curled Dock (Rumex crispus)

Broad-Leaved Dock (Rumex obtusifolius) NOTIFIABLE for farmers, but not so with gardens.

Question 27

2 books about diversity

Answer 27

Wildlife of a Garden: Jennifer Owen suburban garden in Leicester - 2500 species recorded and she used pesticides.

Biodiversity Audit created for Great Dixter: a garden planted for ornament, with a high level of conventional garden planted and managed is a diverse resourse for wildlife. Varied garden, diff plants, high density and compost. proves biodiversity occurs.

Question 28

What is most important?

Answer 28

DIVERSITY. Think of habitats in garden.

Continuity important to encourage diversity. all year.

Layers of vegetation - traditional border layered works.

Trees esp. important esp. if underplanted with shrubs and perennials. Tres support whole ecosystems: damp condition, mosses, lichen and ferns (Polypodium vulgare). Old trees, esp. decaying are good micro habitat in cavities ‘ nesting habitats for woodpeckers’. Allows birds and mice to travel between trees: wildlife corridor.

Shrubs and climbers build continuity between ground and tree. also good nesting.

Question 29

Define a wildlife meadow

Answer 29

grassland which is cut for hay in mid-summer, as opposed to pasture which
is grazed by animals.

Question 30

why are wildlife meadows good?

Answer 30

home not only to many
wildflowers but a great many insects: there is nectar and pollen from many
different species, there is space for ground-nesting bees and other insects,
and a wide variety of food sources for butterfly and moths, seed heads for
birds and small mammals in the winter.

Question 31

What are the disadvantages to wildlife meadows?

Answer 31

meadows are more biodiverse and far more attractive on poorer soils,
preferably alkaline.

On fertile soils, grasses and a few strong-growing
wildflowers like knapweed (Centaurea nigra) take over;

One way diversity can be encouraged is by weakening the grass with the semi-parasitic plant yellow rattle
(Rhinanthus minor)

There is little in flower
after mid-summer. Therefore gardens with diverse borders and other plantings can provide more for pollinators and in many cases more
diverse habitat.

Question 32

What is BCGI

Answer 32

Botanic Gardens Conservation
International

Question 33

What does BCGI describe as the current role of botanic gardens?

Answer 33

• Horticulture and cultivation skills allow botanic gardens to grow plants that might be lost in the wild. (Seed banks safeguard species and restore/rehabilitate degraded habitats).
• Research and development into plant taxonomy and genetics, phytochemistry, useful plant properties and informing selection of plants that can withstand degraded and changing environments
• Education allows them to communicate the importance of conserving plants, reaching out to diverse audiences, and
  also to communicate how this may be achieved.
• Linking plants with the well-being of people, and also helping conserve indigenous and local knowledge, to encourage the sustainable use of plant resources for the benefit of all, as part of sustainable development.

Botanic gardens also provide schools with educational visits to share concepts of biodiversity.

Question 34

What does the organization Plant Heritage support?

Answer 34

supports a range of national
collections of various genera. These are collections of cultivars and other varieties selected over the years for use in gardens and designed landscapes, many of which are in danger of being lost

Question 35

What other gardens help with conservation functions?

Answer 35

Many private or other non-botanic gardens which could become increasingly important in the future as climate change impacts begin to be manifest.

Question 36

How do private and domestic gardens help with biodiversity?

Answer 36

domestic gardens in the UK is 700 000 Ha., which is
approximately 30% of the area of all National Parks in the UK.

Residential gardens comprise 29.5% of Great Britain’s total urban area.

Question 37

How does this help me in hort?

Answer 37

Gardens and designed landscapes can target the conservation of particular species by planting species to benefit specialist insects.

places in gardens or landscapes can be added as part of a plant mixture without detracting from higher value areas.

Question 38

Why grow a wide variety?

Answer 38

no particular reason to grow only natives - altho there are benefits (esp. North Am).

Question 39

What to be wary of when planting?

Answer 39

double flowers as useless to pollinators.

Naturalistic, ecological or other wild plantings need to be strongly visual enough to appeal to people, and relatively tidy

‘biodiversity’ projects
have been an excuse for reduced management or have not been managed
properly.

Public acceptance is all-important, so compromises between the visually striking and the bio-diverse are very important to achieve.

Active involvement of communities in managing public plantings encourages ownership values to be fostered.

Biodiverse gardens provide many opportunities for education and recreation abound, ranging from nature
studies to art classes.

Question 40

Define polyphagous

Answer 40

utilizing many kinds of food. General rather than specific feeders.

Question 41

LIst some plants and food sources

Answer 41

Osmanthus delavayi: Bumblebee and Hairy footed flower bee.

Amni majus: Yellow faced bee Pollen beetle

Lonicera periclymenum: White admiral butterfly

Question 42

List some plants as habitats:

Answer 42

Woodland trees (canopy): Connected canopy is an important habitat for both yellow necked mice and the hazel dormouse.

Hedera helix, Pyracantha
coccinea: Dense wall shrubs and climbers create habitat for nesting of songbirds.

Malus domestica: Early senescence of apple
orchards results in hollows for spotted woodpeckers. The
rough bark is host to lichen species. Dead wood is a host to coral spot.

Tree species: Host for Polypodium vulgare (Fern)
which grows on moss covered
branches of trees in areas of high rainfall.

Question 43

Name THREE common garden animals and describe them as Primary, Secondary or Tertiary consumers

Answer 43

a. Snails and rabbits: Primary (herbivores)
b. Spiders and birds: Secondary (eat herbivores and plants)
c. Foxes: Tertiary (eat anything)

MODEL:
Slug – primary consumer
Frog – secondary consumer
Heron – tertiary consumer

Question 44

Name one specialist and one generalist invertebrate
that could be found in a garden. Give examples of their food sources.

Answer 44

a. Specialist: Eat only one kind of food source: Cinnabar moth – larvae feed solely on ragwort.
b. Generalist: Eat a wide range of food sources: Aphids (roses; beans).

MODEL:
Greenfly – generalist – soft shoots of a wide range plants
Orange tip butterfly larvae – specialist - hedge mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

Question 45

What is the role of fungi in the garden food web?

Answer 45

Fungi is the ultimate recycler as it decomposes everything that was once living and returns the nutrients to the soil which then begins the cycle once again. Mycorrhizal fungi helps to connect plants with nutrient uptake from the soil as well.

MODEL:
Fungi are decomposers; they break down dead plant and animal material, as a result putting organic matter and mineral nutrients into the soil; the nutrients can be then be absorbed by plant roots.

Question 46

Outline THREE benefits that having a high level of plant
diversity in a garden can have for local animal biodiversity.

Answer 46

a. habit for wildlife – such as trees providing nesting places for birds.
b. Pollen and nectar – variety of shapes and colours of flowers for many different pollinators.
c. Increased variety of invertebrates – the variety of plants will feed a larger variety of invertebrate, which in turn will bring other wildlife in to feed on them (thus increasing the food source). The ecosystem will build and become somewhat “stable” as each level of the food chain feeds on the level below.

MODEL:
Continuity of supply of nectar and pollen for pollinators.

A variety of food sources for insect larvae, including some specialist species.

Dense habitat with a range of plant forms and sizes, creating a variety of
roosting, nesting etc. spaces.

Question 47

In what way can garden weeds benefit biodiversity? How might we be able to allow some weed growth but also control them?

Answer 47

a. Garden weeds provide pollen and nectar for pollinators which is important year-round. If the weeds are not an invasive species, it would be beneficial to allow some of them to stay, especially in perennial borders. If planted in areas such as vegetables and annual bedding it may be beneficial to remove the weeds as they will compete with the plants.
b. Having a dense planting scheme can help reduce the number of weeds as they will find it more difficult to grow under shrubs/perennials. By “crowding out” the weeds, you are controlling them. Additionally, removing weeds before they go to seed will help reduce the amount of new seedlings. However, do leave the weeds until they have flowered to allow the birds and pollinators to get food.

MODEL:
Many weeds will eventually flower, so benefiting pollinators. And since weeds
tend to fill gaps between our plants, that is all extra habitat density in the
garden. As soon as they have flowered, they can be removed or cut back, so
preventing seeding.
Some weeds will be food sources for insect larvae; perhaps we should remove
only the most visible, or most inconvenient.
Some weeds will be food sources for seed-eating birds. These may be more
problematic, as if the birds don’t eat the seeds, they may spread and grow.

Question 48

If you were to arrive in a medium-sized suburban type
garden, for example as a possible ongoing management
job and you were asked to do a very quick biodiversity
audit, what would you look for? Describe some typical
features that you would expect to find in such a garden and how you might suggest to the owners that they could be improved from a biodiversity perspective.

Answer 48

a. Are there trees on site for wildlife. IF not, plant some to encourage wildlife habitats and invertebrate nests.
b. Are the shrubs and climbers under the trees growing into the trees to allow wildlife to nest and travel safely through the canopy.
c. The garden is very manicured. Perhaps leave an area in the garden undisturbed (perhaps behind the shed) so ground dwelling wildlife can build nesting areas.
d. Where there is bare ground, build a compost heap to bring the fungi, bacteria and nutrients to the soil.
e. Rather than manicured lawn, grow a meadow for the pollinators and habitat for the wildlife.
f. The garden bed is full of annuals. Perhaps add perennials and native plants that will help feed the specialized invertebrates including Lonicera periclymenum for the White admiral butterfly.
g. In the bare paved area or perhaps the side of the garden, include a water feature to provide water and habitat for the birds and frogs.
h. The garden is well fenced. Put a hole somewhere in the fence to allow hedgehogs to get through.
i. If the borders have any space, fill them will plants to provide a dense canopy and reduce the number of weeds. However, weeds are also a good source for pollinators so allow some (as long as they aren’t invasive) to remain until they flower.

MODEL:
Borders all very heavily managed, a lot of bare earth between plants – I would
suggest adding more perennials to fill in more between plants creating
continuous vegetation, relaxing maintenance at the rear of borders, which are
less visible, allowing some limited weed growth there.

Large area of lawn, mown very close – I would suggest reducing mowing
frequency in outer areas of lawn, not necessarily very much, perhaps to no
more than 10cms. Even this would create a different habitat, and actually look
quite attractive too.

Several trees and fence posts – would make good locations for bird boxes

Bonfire site – I would suggest composting instead, but with woody material
cut up small and allowed to rot down in an out-of-the-way corner.

Shrubs clipped into rather unimaginative balls - I would suggest ‘letting a few
go’ to see what the effect would be like, and the resulting larger and looser
plant would be more attractive to bird life.