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.

CEH's agri-science research showcased in new timeline

Research carried out by scientists from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology over recent decades is showcased in a new timeline, published by Research Councils UK (RCUK) to coincide with the government's agricultural technologies industrial strategy. RCUK is the strategic partnership of the UK's seven research councils, who annually invest around £3 billion in research.

The timeline, "Growing with agri-science", highlights key research that has taken place since the 1940s, demonstrating the variety of approaches the research councils take to support innovation and deliver long-term impact from the research they fund.

Highlights from CEH include:

• Carrying out the first ever Countryside Survey in 1978

• Training farmers to create bumblebee habitats through Operation Bumblebee in 2008 (a forerunner of Operation Pollinator)

• CEH's work on assessment of agri-environment schemes for Natural England and Defra

• Our major contribution to the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UKNEA) in 2011

• Our work on assessing the risk to crops from ozone damage (which includes this recent report)

• Development of the MySoil smartphone app with BGS which calls on members of the public to help map soil type across Europe

• Recent research that found that bacteria responsible for Johne's disease (chronic intestinal inflammation in cattle), and also implicated in Crohn's disease in humans, are widespread in UK rivers and soil

• Our leadership of the UK Farm Scale Evaluations, informing UK and EU policy decisions on genetically modified crops

 The timeline can be viewed on the RCUK website.

CEH's research covers agri-science across the landscape

 Related links

UK agricultural technologies strategy

NERC welcomes the UK's strategy for agricultural technologies

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)