Current research areas of the Wildlife and Countryside Science Unit
Countryside Survey 2000 (CS2000)
The Countryside Survey 2000 is a major national survey which will provide an up to date assessment of the state of the British countryside at the end of the Millennium and give a measure of the changes which have occurred in the 1990's. The survey (carried out in the summer of 1998/99) recorded changes in the land cover, ecological characteristics and landscape features of the wider countryside in Great Britain. Repeating the ongoing programme of Countryside Surveys previously undertaken in 1978, 1984 and 1990, this provides a time series of countryside change. It is the first survey to be based on the integration of information from satellite imagery and traditional field survey methods. A new element of the work programme includes a survey of breeding birds in the spring and summer of 2000. Results from previous surveys have informed policy on protection of field boundaries, agri-environment measures, access to open countryside and indicators of sustainable development. The data are also contributing to EU requirements for a harmonised land cover map of Europe. Further information on this can be found on the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) CORINE web pages.
The survey involves a partnership of several Government Departments, Agencies and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in the form of a jointly funded research programme.
Timescale: Details and preliminary results of the survey, launched in November 2000 by Rt. Hon Michael Meacher are reported in 'Accounting for nature: assessing habitats in the UK Countryside'. Haines-Young R.H. et al.
Contractors: CEH Further information about the report, progress of CS2000 and newsletter can be found at the CS2000 Web Site: http://www.cs2000.org.uk/
Land Cover Map 2000 (LCM2000)
Land Cover Map 2000 is a part of Countryside Survey 2000. It provides a comprehensive survey of the countryside of the United Kingdom in the form of digital maps and databases plus a range of derived products held in a geographical information system (GIS). The map updates and upgrades the Land Cover Map of Great Britain, made in 1990-92. LCM2000 is a classification of spectral data recorded by satellites; external datasets add context to refine the classification.
LCM2000 was funded by a consortium, which has policy, and / or operational remits which require for their implementation, sound information on the status and trends in natural resources. LCM2000 provides comprehensive information on land cover and terrestrial, freshwater and coastal Broad Habitats in the UK; it shows their patterns, inter-relations and environmental contexts.
Timescale: LCM2000 was launched by Lord Whitty, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for science in Defra on 31st October 2001 at the Mapping The Countryside event.
Contractors: CEH
Further information about LCM2000 and GIS data products can be found on Land Cover Map Web Site: http://www.ceh.ac.uk/data/lcm/
Finding Out Causes and Understanding Significance (FOCUS)
FOCUS is a programme of research, designed to further analyse data from CS2000, with the aim of answering a specific set of questions. Where necessary, data from other sources will also be used. The objectives of FOCUS are:
- to undertake further critical analysis of the data arising from CS2000 to answer a series of specific questions concerning interpretation and understanding of the results in terms of ecological processes and land management effects;
- to acquire and use other contextual data to assist in the analysis, interpretation and assessment;
- to recommend improvements to survey protocols;
- to establish and consult a steering group and organise workshops as necessary to ensure that user requirements are defined, clearly understood and addressed;
- to publish the results in technical reports and concise non-technical summaries and to present the results at a seminar; and
- to maintain the CS2000 website following completion of the current Module 16 and to facilitate internet publication of the results of ongoing CS2000 projects.
Timescale: FOCUS contract to be completed by 30/06/03
Contractors: CEH
Further information about FOCUS can be found at the CS2000 Web Site:
http://www.cs2000.org.uk/FOCUS_home.htm.
Countryside Information System (CIS)
The Countryside Information System (CIS) desk top software package, has been designed to give policy divisions easy access to information about the British Countryside and rural environment. In designing the system the aim has been to develop a tool which is simple to use, presents data in ways which are policy relevant and enables the easy exchange of information between organisations. The system allows the user to access information about the environment for a selected locality or to identify where in the UK a particular environmental characteristic is likely to occur. The initial stimulus to the development of CIS was the need by DETR and other government agencies to gain easy access to and wide dissemination of the results of Countryside Survey 1990. The system holds census and sample based information for each 1km square cell of the Ordnance Survey National Grid, and can be used to display these data for any geographical region defined by the user. CIS displays information by means of maps and tables, and allows the user to transfer information to other computer packages. It also presents information upon the errors (both statistical and logical) associated with different data sets and offers definitions of the various data items. Meta data is held in an additional environmental catalogue.
The system has been extended to include results of Countryside Survey 2000 and a wide range of environmental data (e.g. species distribution, biological records, OS data, critical loads) and administrative data (e.g. designated conservation areas and local authority boundaries). It is commercially available and has been purchased by over 70 organisations.
Timescale: CIS dissemination and support contract to be completed by 31/01/02
Contractors: WS Atkins, Dart Computing and CEH
Further information about CIS, how to download a copy and obtain datasets can be found at its web site address: http://www.cis-web.org.uk/.
Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside (MAGIC)
The MAGIC project is being developed by the Rural Development Service (RDS), (formerly Farming and Rural Conservation Agency, FRCA) a division of Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), with funds from the Invest to Save Budget and DEFRA. The other partners in the project include English Heritage, English Nature, Countryside Agency and Forestry Commission. The partners recognise that effective development and implementation of policies at all levels relies on access to integrated information. MAGIC aims to create a shared geographic information resource for rural and countryside schemes and designations by the end of March 2002
Existing data such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Environmentally Sensitive Areas and Scheduled Monuments will be brought together into a single accessible Geographical Information System (GIS) and will act as definitive source of these datasets for partner organisations. MAGIC will also increase access to rural and countryside scheme information by providing data for other rural information systems, including National Biodiversity Network (NBN), Countryside Information System (CIS) and agency and departmental websites. MAGIC will also be accessible to a wide range of organisations including the Environment Agency, Local Authorities, National Park Authorities and the wider public. Further details and access to the interactive map search facility can be found at http://www.magic.gov.uk
Timescale: To be completed by 31/03/03
Contractors: Rural Development Service
Ecological Factors Controlling Biodiversity of the British Countryside (ECOFACT)
The UK Biodiversity Action Plan and Sustainable Development Strategy set the agenda for conservation of biological diversity in the UK. This agenda requires the targeting of policies and management of advice where it can be most effective in maintaining and enhancing biodiversity. ECOFACT's objectives are to inform ministers about the ecological factors underlying recent changes to the biodiversity of the British countryside, to extend and develop the presentation and dissemination of the results of Countryside Survey 1990 and to improve the understanding of the survey by non-specialists.
Botanical information is particularly valuable because not only is it the essential component of most terrestrial ecosystems, including those important for agriculture or forestry use and conservation of biodiversity, but also because the plant species themselves carry information about the changing environmental conditions in which they grow. In practical terms, plant communities are mostly immobile and change relatively slowly - they are, compared to other organisms, simple and feasible to survey on a national, synoptic basis.
ECOFACT aimed to describe, measure and evaluate changes in vegetation
using the Countryside Survey 1990 (CS1990) vegetation plot data. Multivariate
statistical techniques were used to allocate vegetation plots into classes
with similar botanical composition and to identify groups of species with
similar ecological affinities. This exercise has resulted in a new classification
of vegetation found in the wider countryside of Great Britain, known as
the Countryside Vegetation System (CVS). The CVS contains 100 vegetation
classes which describe the floristic character and variation of vegetation.
- Ecofact Volume 1: Sound knowledge about the state of the British countryside is fundamental to policies for conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development. The botanical data from the 1978 and 1990 Countryside Surveys consist of over 13,000 vegetation plots, recorded to consistent and rigorous standards. A new statistical classification of the vegetation plots has been undertaken as the basic building block for the subsequent development of botanical indicators and analysis of vegetation change. This new Classification, the Countryside Vegetation System (CVS) is described in this report, Volume 1 of the ECOFACT research report series. (A full summary of ECOFACT Volume 1).
- Ecofact Volume 2: Sound knowledge about the state of the British countryside is fundamental to policies for conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development. The botanical data from the 1978 and 1990 Countryside Surveys have been analysed in order to detect long-term ecological change in Great Britain. Indicators of Botanical Diversity have also been identified as the basis for analysing whether the trends detected will have continued after 1990, as part of the Countryside Survey 2000 programme. These results are described in this report, Measuring change in British vegetation, Volume 2 of the ECOFACT research report series. (A full summary of ECOFACT Volume 2).
- Ecofact Volume 3: Volume 3 of the ECOFACT research report series presents an analysis of the causes of change in British vegetation between 1978 and 1990. The factors considered include different aspects of land management and atmospheric deposition of pollutants. The report summarises a series of case studies designed to improve our understanding of the processes of ecological change. Implications for nature conservation policies are discussed. (A full summary of ECOFACT Volume 3).
- Ecofact Volume 4: Patterns of Biodiversity in the Landscape. This report examined landscape pattern and its change over time and the development of appropriate indices. Land cover area and linear field boundary data from 1990 and 1984 were analysed in conjunction with ITE satellite Land Cover Map 1990. The mean number of patches, patch richness and mean patch size were found to be the most useful pattern measures. The results indicated that the countryside is becoming sub-divided into smaller patches and linear features are in overall decline in length. However, the report also identified some methodological constraints and recommended future work to resolve them. (A full summary of ECOFACT Volume 4)
Full reports are available on the internet at the CS2000
website, or copies of Volume 1 are available from DEFRA Publications,
Admail 6000, London SW1A 2XX. Tel: 08456 556000
Copies of Volumes 2 and 3 are available from the Publication Sales Section,
CEH Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambs. PE17 2LS.
Timescale: Completed on 30/09/00
Contractors: CEH
Further information about the CVS software can be found on the internet at CEH Software page.
Biodiversity Research Working Group
The Biodiversity Research Working Group (BRWG) includes representatives from the Biodiversity Challenge Group, statutory conservation agencies, academia, the collections, Natural Environment Research Council and Government Departments. The focus of the group has been on the needs of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. It has aimed to identify cross-cutting strategic issues, such as those likely to arise within a 3 to10 year time-frame, and those likely to have a wide impact. Cross-cutting projects are those that impinge on many species or habitats, or that involve different sectors of human activity or research funding responsibility.
The work of the group has been facilitated by a contract managed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on behalf of BRWG. The Biodiversity Research Support contract has been undertaken by The Nature Conservation Bureau, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Martin Newman. The support contract had the following aims:
- To organise, manage, conduct and report on five technical workshops covering cross-cutting themes or groups of related issues.
- To establish a mechanism for the exchange of information about biodiversity research.
- To ensure that the work is co-ordinated with other strategic review activities of related research programmes in the UK and Europe.
- To organise a senior-level seminar intended to raise the profile of biodiversity issues amongst research sponsors and leaders of the scientific community.
- To provide administrative and technical support to the Biodiversity Research Working Group.
Identifying the research agenda
One of the ways in which the definition of the cross-cutting research agenda has been progressed is through the organisation of five technical workshops, each addressing one cross-cutting theme, identified from earlier work as a priority. The themes were not intended to be comprehensive of all the possible cross-cutting issues but to address perceived gaps where progress could usefully be made by BRWG taking account of other ongoing initiatives.
The workshops were attended by specialists from a range of government, research and voluntary organisations involved in biodiversity conservation and research. This included universities, the statutory nature conservation agencies, conservation charities, government departments, other public sector agencies, research institutes as well as independent consultants and industry representatives.
The five themes that were selected for the workshop were:
- Biodiversity and agriculture: focus on pastoral systems (grazing management and policy)
- Introductions, translocations and genetic conservation
- Coastal and marine issues
- Landscape ecology, habitat fragmentation and land use change scenarios
- Biodiversity monitoring and indicators
The series of workshops is now complete. The five workshop reports setting out the objectives and rationale behind each workshop and the conclusions reached by workshop participants have been published on the UK Biodiversity web site (www.ukbap.org.uk).
The value of these reports is that they provide a useful collection of ideas generated by the UK biodiversity research community, including both scientists and practitioners. The ideas are presented in different formats reflecting the individual workshop discussions. Some topics are well defined but others relate to more general issues and concerns. Not surprisingly, a number of cross-cutting issues were identified by more than one workshop. BRWG therefore decided to look at all five workshops reports together to develop a clear and agreed consensus on the priority topics for cross-cutting research that have emerged, to decide why these issues are priorities and how they should be taken forward.
As a result the following six programmes of cross-cutting research were identified.
A. Science for the conservation of genetic and native species diversity
B. Addressing the impacts of introduced species
C. Understanding the roles of biodiversity in ecosystem function
D. Science-based monitoring of biodiversity and evaluation of actions
E. Science-based management of habitats and ecosystems
F. Developing tools to optimise policies to favour biodiversity
They are themselves inter-related but each encapsulates a programme of work to address an area of major, strategic importance for the UK BAP. The programmes represent a high level classification of research needs such that where new requirements come to light these will often fall within the programme structure.
These six research programmes were presented to the biodiversity research community at the Science in Action seminar at the Natural History Museum in November 2001. A report 'Science in Action for Biodiversity' has been produced which covers the work of the group and outlines the six research programmes. This report together with further information on the work of the BRWG can be found on the UK Biodiversity website (www.ukbap.org.uk).
Information exchange mechanism for research projects
At the project inception it was agreed that an information exchange mechanism on biodiversity research should be developed. It was envisaged as an Internet-based search facility that would act as a "one-stop shop" for information on research projects.
Work was undertaken to develop a working pilot for such a mechanism. This work quickly established that there are standard formats for managing such information, and mechanisms for web searching and access. Specifically the work identified that the National Biodiversity Network had a web-based 'index' mechanism that could be adapted to meet the needs of searching research project information. After these initial stages, the work reviewed how organisations involved in biodiversity-related research manage an overview of their activities.
It became apparent that the management of information on research projects in a structured electronic format is not yet common practice, and so developing the pilot any further would not help demonstrate the benefits of searching and linkage between differently sponsored or delivered research projects. However the standard formats identified by the pilot could, in principle, be used to deliver organisation and strategic research programme level information, which is clearly more manageable to achieve as a centrally co-ordinated task.
Timescale:
To be completed by 28/02/02
Contractor: Nature Conservation Bureau (NCB) and CEH
UK Climate Change: Impacts on Biodiversity
Regional Impact Study (ReGIS)
The prospect of rapid climate change (i.e. 0.2 oC per decade) and sea level-rise raises some fundamental questions about the objectives of, and approaches to nature conservation in the UK. Climate change impacts is a cross cutting research theme identified in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. The likely impacts on wildlife are highly uncertain and will be subject to complex interactions between ecosystems, water resources and land management. The Department's Global Atmosphere Division has established a UK Climate Impacts Programme Office (UKCIP) to co-ordinate integrated studies on climate change impacts in the UK. The Department has a particular interest in ensuring that wildlife issues are fully integrated in this work and that understanding of impacts is extended to other areas where wildlife is sensitive to climate change impacts.
The general objectives of the integrated climate impacts assessment are to collaborate with the Water Industry in co-funding an integrated assessment of climate change impacts for two regions (East Anglia and North West England). Such studies ensure that impacts on wildlife are fully incorporated, develop methods for impact assessment that are transferable to different regions in the UK, assess in particular the likely impacts of climate change on relevant BAP species and habitats, and protected sites, and make recommendations for policy development to mitigate the effects of climate change. Further details are available on the ReGIS web site.
Timescale: Completed
Contractor: Cranfield University and ECI
Climate Change Impacts on UK Habitats and Species
The prospect of rapid climate change and sea level rise raises some fundamental questions about the objectives of, and approaches to nature conservation in the UK. Current policy broadly aim to protect and conserve the most important species and habitats in situ and, in some special situations, to reintroduce species or restore and recreate habitats in areas from which they may have been lost in recent past. In a rapidly changing climate, these policies and practices may be less effective and may need to be adapted to improve opportunities for species to move to and successfully colonise new sites, emphasising the importance of habitats within the wider countryside. Rising sea levels will pose a particular problem for some internationally important coastal mudflat, salt marsh and strandline habitats.
This project used a literature review and expert consultations to:
- review climate change impacts on species, habitats and current policy commitments (focusing on terrestrial and freshwater environments in UK BAP priorities;
- consider and outline policy responses and a framework for implementing those policies; and
- recommend prioritised research as an early detection system.
The final publication from this project is available from:
Wildlife and Countryside Science Unit
Defra
Zone 106B
Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Temple Quay
Bristol BS2 6EB
Phone 0117 372 8862
Fax 0117 372 8642
Email rosemary.brooks@defra.gsi.gov.uk
A pdf version of the report is available for download at www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/climatechange/nature/index.htm
Timescale: Completed
Page last modified: 4 May 2005