Mapping natural capital

A presentation from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) on mapping natural capital. In the first section, Dr Lisa Norton talks about modelling approaches using site survey for national scale mapping, explaining why natural capital is mapped and how it is useful for land managers, with examples including Countryside Survey and the UK Soil Observatory.

In the second part of the talk, John Watkins of CEH focuses on the Ecomaps application, which will enable researchers to take such work forward.

Update - Ash dieback resources from CEH

Ash dieback is continuing to dominate UK environmental headlines with the BBC and Guardian devoting considerable resources to the story today.

CEH has been busy collating information relevant to the problem from our long-term UK data sets and projects, and also from our scientists who work on tree issues.

Dr Michael Pocock, an ecologist from the Biological Records Centre (BRC) at CEH writes, "Based on the current evidence, it seems likely that the spread of ash dieback cannot be stopped in the UK. If this disease takes off and does kill many of our ash trees, in a similar manner to the sequence of events in other places in Europe, there is a potential for very serious impact on our countryside.  Trees and woodlands are hugely important in our ecosystems, both in terms of capturing and storing carbon, within cities for decreasing air pollution, for recreation, for landscape aesthetics, and finally of course for wildlife."

There are many insects and other animals and plants that depend on ash trees and ash woodland. Dr Marc Botham from CEH says, "Over 100 invertebrates have been recorded feeding on Ash in the Database of Insects and their Food Plants (DBIF) , including almost 50 moths, over 25 bugs and more than 20 beetles.  Over a third of these have been recorded solely on Ash trees, with a number of mites and flies in particular, entirely dependent on them. In addition, some species like the Dusky Thorn, a moth found throughout England and Wales and whose caterpillars rely on ash, have already declined significantly across their range in the UK."

Ecological background for ash can be found within the Online Atlas of British and Irish Flora on the Biological Records Centre website  including 4 distribution maps. The BSBI Tetrad Map shows that ash has been recorded from most 2km squares - the gaps in England are recording gaps rather than genuine absence.

 

Yesterday we published a summary of data on ash tree distribution using data analysis from one of our existing long-term, Great Britain (GB) wide data sources, the Countryside Survey (CS). The full analysis can be read here [PDF]. The CS team have done more work overnight and have just sent me an updated map showing ash coverage density within GB.

Dr Lindsay Maskell writes, "We used CS data to work out the areal extent of Ash in each of the 32 (note not 45) CS land classes. Then using the 2007 Land Cover Map and the information it provides on the amount of broadleaved, mixed and yew woodland in each square kilometre across GB, the estimated areal extents were scaled accordingly."

This is the new map:

Links

Biological Records Centre

BBC Online Ash dieback summit brings tree experts together 

Guardian Can ash dieback be stopped in the UK?



Mapping the distribution of Ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) in Great Britain

A newly arrived disease is threatening one of Britain’s most common trees, the Ash. According to the Forestry Commission, “Chalara dieback of ash is a serious disease of ash trees caused by a fungus called Chalara fraxinea (C. fraxinea). The disease causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees, and it can lead to tree death.”

CEH has been asked to prepare a summary of data on ash tree distribution for the relevant government departments and agencies. The analysis was carried out using one of our existing long-term, Great Britain (GB) wide data sources, the Countryside Survey (CS). Countryside Survey is a study or ‘audit’ of the natural resources of the UK’s countryside, which has been carried out five times between 1978 and 2008.

The ash tree distribution analysis, which can be read here [PDF], uses CS data to estimate how prevalent ash is across the countryside. It confirms:

• that Ash is the most common hedgerow tree species (i.e. species growing as a full standard as part of a hedgerow)
• that there are an estimated 2 million individual ash trees (outside of woodlands which contain tens of millions of ash trees) in GB
• that Ash is the second most common individual tree species in GB (after the Oak)
• that there is approx 214.4 (‘000 hectares) of ash woodland in GB
• that Ash trees increased in number in linear features, which include hedgerows, between 1978 (the first survey) and 2007 (the fifth survey).

The analysis was used to produce maps of the areal extent of Ash trees and individual distribution, including this map:

Areal extent of ash based on % cover in Broadleaved woodland habitat parcels,

mapped using landclass means. Shading relates to % landclass containing

ash woodland.

Additional links

Distribution of Ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) in Great Britain from Countryside Survey [PDF, 0.5mb]

Countryside Survey website

Forestry Commission Pests and Diseases: Chalara dieback of ash (Chalara fraxinea)