Heather Moorland
- Created by: Sharon
- Created on: 07-04-16 21:50
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- Effects human Activity on Succession (Plagioclimax - Heather Morrland)
- Adaptions
- Old wood = dense cover reduce light below plant = less competition
- Small leaves sunken stomata, thick cuticles = reduce transpiration
- Roots form certain fungi = help seedlings grow in poor nutrients by decomposing matter. Fungi passes onto plant.
- Social History
- !5,000 years ago woodland.
- Stone age - people in uplands 'hunter gatherer' manipulate forest by burning clearings = more animals
- 5,000 BC more organised farming wider woodland clearance. Quality soil deteriorated.
- Sour soils blanket peat & heath spread But still grazed & rabbits = suppress vegetation.
- Grouse Moors
- Rich flora and fauna
- 60% Site specials scientific interest
- £9/10 on sustainable management private pocket
- Moorland Association = loss heather haltered recovered 57,000 last decade
- Aim return heather south of Scottish boarder
- Grouse shooting = loss 70% lower
- Red listed black grouse fastest declining in UK. Stable in North because gamekeeper's control predators
- More carbon stored in peat in UK than forest France & Britain management = carbon locked in
- Management
- Heather burning
- kept young, (autumn-spring), rotational cycle (7 years),
- only when peat wet = no loss, wind light = constant movement = germinate heather seeds quickly
- old = cover for gourse. Young = fo0d birds & sheep
- Sheep
- Most of income, clear heather snow in winter, need constant shepherding = no damage
- correct injections = tick mops
- Predator
- Controlling = grouse 3.5X more likely have chick
- Foxes shot, Larsen trap (foxes), 'live traps = release accidents
- Keppered moors = 5X likely birds abundant
- Bracken
- takes over heather 5% pa, kills vegetation (heather) poisonous animals
- Sprayed mid July to end August. Expensive so must keep grouse shooting going.
- Re-seeding
- areas harvested need work restore scars. 3 methods
- Transplanting - whole heather plants move area (time/£/labour)
- Brashing - cut to ground level, move allow germination
- Harvesting seed only - scarified soil, scatter seeds onto soil
- areas harvested need work restore scars. 3 methods
- Beetle
- feeds heather and lays eggs, = invade heather. management = least damage
- can advocate burning to when eggs hatch (DEFRA licence)///mow heather = eggs die sunlight///burn early next year for good growth
- Grouse shooting
- Sustainable income for uplands, only surplus
- 'shooting days' = income £15.2m
- employment 350 gamekeepers & 1,500 jobs
- Heather burning
- General Knowledge (Introduction)
- Semi-natural habitat (plagio-climax) evolved due to natural and human influences
- Rarer than rainforest, 75% in Briitain. 90% in national park. 49% EU special area (plants & birds)
- Managed for Red grouse one of largest habitats protected
- How
- UK once covered by Deciduous woodland, some heather. forest removed. Heather dominant. sheep = no woodland
- Managed burning = encourage roots,
- Adaptions
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