Planning for visitors on unwardened nature reserves

Biological Conservation 1993, 64, 95--100

SELECTED ABSTRACTS The abstracts reproduced here have been selected from the coverage of Ecological

Abstracts. Further information on Ecological Abstracts, and the associated online database GEOBASE is available from Elsevier/Geo Abstracts, Regency House, 34 Duke Street, Norwich, UK, NR3 3AP. of ecological resemblance, it is simple, efficient and robust. Significant difference is defined by means of a resemblance coefficient. A threshold value denoting significant difference can be defined either by species overlap or other attributes of the data. For presence/absence data the Czekanowski coefficient provides a suitable measure of ecological resemblance. Traditional discriminant analysis does not provide a viable alternative due to its limitations in accommodating ecological data. -Author

NATURE CONSERVATION General 93Z/00001 Monitoring ecological change I. F. Spellerberg, (Cambridge University Press), ISBN (hardback) 0 521 36662 3, (paperback) 0 521 42407 0, price £45.00 (US$79.95), £15.95 (US$27.95), 1991, 334 pp, index. Monitoring is the process by which we keep the characteristics of the environment in view to provide the essential information on how systems are changing. Monitoring provides feedback loops to management. It is not possible to measure everything, but selection of appropriate data and criteria is crucial to the value of any monitoring exercise. Physical or chemical variable are relatively easy to measure, but they tell us little about response of species or ecosystems. The logic of biological monitoring rests on the integrating properties of living organisms, and their biological efficiency, productivity or balance within the ecosystems they compose indicate the overall health of the system. Early chapters of this book consider how monitoring is both art and science; the nature of international monitorhag organisations and their programmes; and biological monitoring in the USA and in Europe. There follows a suite of chapters on the biological and ecological basis for monitoring, including discussion of biological indicators, diversity, similarity and biotic indices. Monitoring in practice is then examined, with chapters o n pl.ann'.mg, bird populations, freshwater ecosystems, msulansatlon and nature conservation, and land use and landscapes. The final chapters review environmental impact assessments, and species monitoring and conservation. Ap~. ndices are on: construction of a dendrogram for use wRh similarity indices; organisations; and selected sources of information for identification of taxa. -P.J.Jarvis

93Z/00004 Planning for visitors on u n w a r d e n e d n a t u r e reserves J. Andrews, British Wildlife, 2(4), 1991, pp 206-213. This practical article on wildlife habitat management advocates a systematic approach to the assessment of likely benefits, impacts and costs for individual sites or as part of a visiting strategy covering many sites managed by one organization. The author discusses the vulnerability of sites of woodland, grassland, heathland and moorland, waterbodies and coastal sites, discussing the likelihood of significant damage as a result of trampling, uncontrolled dogs and fire; the disturbance to birds and plants; and the relevance of the provision of hides. Reasons for encouraging access to nature reserves, including financial reasons, are discussed, and attention is turned to the design of entrance po'.mts, unplanned access, paths, boardwalks, visual screening and the siting of hides. -J.W.Cooper 93Z/00005 Plant species richness in farm woodlands M . B . Usher, A. C. Brown & S. E. Bedford, Forestry, 65(1), 1992, pp 1-13. The UK Farm Woodlands Scheme (FWS), introduced in 1988, contains an implicit assumption that farm woodlands produce important benefits, in terms only of plant species richness, that can be discerned in farm woodlands that were established during the first half of the 20th century. A survey of 33 farm woodlands (0.1-30.6 ha) in the Vale of York produced lists of 54 species of trees and shrubs and 133 species of non-woody flowering plants and ferns. Area was a good predictor of species richness but, contrary to some expectations of island biogeography theory, neither isolation nor woodland shape could predict species richness. The majority of typical woodland herbaceous species Is absent in woodlands <1.5 ha. To achieve the potential 'wildlife dividend' of the FWS, larger areas (at least 1.5 ha and preferably >5 ha) should be planted, incorporating existing woody vegetation, but avoiding bogs a n d a n c i e n t meadow remnants. -from Authors

93Z/00002 The value of a watershed as a series of linked multiproduct assets R . R . Gottfried, Ecological Economics, 5(2), 1992, pp 145-161. Views ecosystems as long-lived multiproduct factories. Increased use of one ecosystem good or service (function) often affects the supplies of other ecosystem functions. The relationships between these functions c a n be modeled in terms of key variables related to ecosystem management. Thus, the analyst can determine the different mixes of functions an ecosystem can perform. -from Author

93Z/00006 Conservation headlands: a practical combination of intensive cereal farming a n d conservation N. W. Sotherton, in: The ecology of temperate cereal fields. 32nd symposium, BES, Cambridge, 1990, ed L.G. Firbank & others, (Blackwell Scientife; BES Symposia, 32), 1991, pp 373-397. The conservation headland strategy, and the practice of reduced pesticide inputs its advocates, will fit in well with any plans for cereal extensification that may soon be forthcoming to satisfy EC demands. This is vital if we are to conserve species that are unique to the cereal ecosystem. For many species abandonment of arable land or a change of its use to farm woodland or grassland is not the answer,

93Z/00003 Comparing two sets of community data: a method for testing reserve adequacy L. Belbin, Australian Journal of Ecology, 17(3), 1992, pp 255-262. Comparing a new set of samples to what may be considered a reference set is a common problem in ecology. The investigator may be interested in the degree of correspondence or any anomalies. For example, does a set of existing reserves adequately cover the range of communities sampled in a region? A technique for such comparisons is proposed. Being dependent solely on estimates

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