CASE STUDIES
December 2010
EXPERIMENTAL WET HEATH TRANSLOCATION IN DORSET, ENGLAND
Dr Phil Putwain was a joint author (with collaborating writers Dr John Box and Dr Mike Le Duc) of an article published recently in Ecological Engineering (www.elsevier.com/locate/ecology). This describes a translocation of wet heathland (in October 1993), within ball clay workings, to an engineered receptor cell in order to mitigate the otherwise total loss of the wet heath. Vegetation monitoring over a period of 12 years up to 2005 demonstrated that over a period of 7 years when the hydrological regime was actively managed, a mosaic of wet heath and mire vegetation community types developed including Sphagnum lawns and open bog pools. However, when active management ceased, the receptor site became drier and species were lost. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) revealed a hydrological gradient with a seasonal effect of water table depth correlated with clusters of mire and non-mire species. The translocation demonstrated that when a change in land use occurred, an acceptable outcome can be achieved but only if long-term hydrological and vegetation management are properly secured and implemented.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW A PDF OF THE ARTICLE