BICCO-Net II. Final report to the Biological Impacts of Climate Change Observation Network (BICCO-Net) Steering Group

• BICCO-Net Phase II presents the most comprehensive single assessment of climate change impacts on UK biodiversity to date. • The results provide a valuable resource for the CCRA 2018, future LWEC report cards, the National Adaptation Programme and other policy-relevant initiatives linked to climate change impacts on biodiversity

Multi-habitat landscapes are more diverse and stable with improved function

Conservation, restoration and land management are increasingly implemented at landscape scales1,2. However, because species interaction data are typically habitat- and/or guild-specific, exactly how those interactions connect habitats and affect the stability and function of communities at landscape scales remains poorly understood. We combine multi-guild species interaction data (plant–pollinator and three plant–herbivore–parasitoid communities, collected from landscapes with one, two or three habitats), a field experiment and a modelling approach to show that multi-habitat landscapes support higher species and interaction evenness, more complementary species interactions and more consistent robustness to species loss. These emergent network properties drive improved pollination success in landscapes with more habitats and are not explained by simply summing component habitat webs. Linking landscape composition, through community structure, to ecosystem function, highlights mechanisms by which several contiguous habitats can support landscape-scale ecosystem services

Evaluating the effects of riparian restoration on a temperate river-system using standardized habitat survey

10.1002/aqc.1096Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems20SUPPL. 1S96-S104AQCO

Data from: Plant species roles in pollination networks: an experimental approach

Pollination is an important ecosystem service threatened by current pollinator declines, making flower planting schemes an important strategy to recover pollination function. However, ecologists rarely test the attractiveness of chosen plants to pollinators in the field. Here, we experimentally test whether plant species roles in pollination networks can be used to identify species with the most potential to recover plant-pollinator communities. Using published pollination networks, we calculated each plant’s centrality and chose five central and five peripheral plant species for introduction into replicate experimental plots. Flower visitation by pollinators was recorded in each plot and we tested the impact of introduced central and peripheral plant species on the pollinator and resident plant communities and on network structure. We found that the introduction of central plant species attracted a higher richness and abundance of pollinators than the introduction of peripheral species, and that the introduced central plant species occupied the most important network roles. The high attractiveness of central species to pollinators, however, did not negatively affect visitation to resident plant species by pollinators. We also found that the introduction of central plant species did not affect network structure, while networks with introduced peripheral species had lower centralisation and interaction evenness than networks with introduced central species. To our knowledge, this is the first time species network roles have been tested in a field experiment. Given that most restoration projects start at the plant community, being able to identify the plants with the highest potential to restore community structure and functioning should be a key goal for ecological restoration

Field and laboratory studies reveal interacting effects of stream oxygenation and warming on aquatic ectotherms

Contains fulltext : 157120.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access

Results from the first GPS tracking of roof-nesting Herring Gulls <i>Larus argentatus</i> in the UK

Recent developments in GPS tracking technology allow the movements of bird species to be followed in ever-greater detail. Seabird research is benefiting greatly, due to the challenges of tracking species that often roam widely out at sea. Amongst the gulls, one of the pressing issues is to understand the ecology of the relatively recent urban colonists and how they differ from their counterparts in traditional rural colonies. Here, we present what we believe are the first GPS results from roof-nesting gulls. Four adult Herring Gulls (two males, two females) were fitted with GPS tags in May 2014 in the seaside town of St Ives, Cornwall (breeding colony c 250 pairs), and tracked for c 100 days during the 2014 breeding season. We estimated the home ranges of the four individuals and how their movement behaviour varied through the 24-h period and across the breeding season. The results highlight how variable movement behaviour was among individuals: whilst one bird roamed widely (90% range estimate = 560 km2), heading >50 km offshore and often active at night or roosting at sea, two birds had small ranges (<10 km2), always attended the colony at night and rarely headed more than a few hundred metres offshore, with the fourth displaying intermediate behaviour. All of the birds regularly utilised a few key sites within the agricultural landscape south of St Ives. Whilst this study was too small to allow general conclusions to be drawn about urban Herring Gulls, it reinforces how variable individual behaviour can be amongst the large gulls and will be particularly interesting when applied to a larger sample of birds, especially in big urban gull colonies further inland

Today's wastes, tomorrow's materials for environmental protection

Over the past 30 years the literature has burgeoned with bioremediation approaches to heavy metal removal from wastes. The price of base and precious metals has also increased. With the resurgence of nuclear energy uranium has become a strategic resource. Other 'non-carbon energy' technologies are driven by the need to reduce CO(2) emissions. The 'New Biohydrometallurgy' we describe unites these drivers by the concept of conversion of wastes into new materials for environmental applications. The new materials, fashioned, bottom-up, into nanomaterials under biocontrol, can be termed 'Functional Bionanomaterials'. This new discipline, encompassing waste treatment along with nanocatalysis or other applications, can be summarized as 'Environmental Bionanotechnology'. Several case histories illustrate the scope and potential of this concept. (c) 2010 Elsevier By. All rights reserved