Biodiversity Change in the Irish Uplands – the Effects of Grazing Management
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UCC Library and UCC researchers have made this item openly available. Please let us know how this has helped you. Thanks! Title Biodiversity change in the Irish uplands - the effects of grazing management Author(s) Anderson, Roslyn M. Publication date 2013 Original citation Anderson, R. M. 2013. Biodiversity change in the Irish uplands - the effects of grazing management. PhD Thesis, University College Cork. Type of publication Doctoral thesis Rights © 2013, Roslyn M. Anderson. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Item downloaded http://hdl.handle.net/10468/1290 from Downloaded on 2021-10-10T21:00:39Z Biodiversity change in the Irish uplands – the effects of grazing management Roslyn M. Anderson, BSc. (Hons), MSc. This thesis is presented to the National University of Ireland, Cork, in candidature for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisors: Prof. Mark C. Emmerson Prof. John O’Halloran Head of School: Prof. John O’Halloran School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork April 2013 Declaration I hereby declare that the work presented in this PhD thesis is my own work and has not been previously submitted for another degree at any other university or institution. Roslyn M. Anderson For my parents, Alan and Fiona Anderson ‘What kind of growth will we find underfoot if upland farming declines even further, if sheep numbers collapse and all burning of furze and heather ceases?’ Dermot Somers, The Mountains of Iveragh: A Personal Journey, The Iveragh Peninsula A Cultural Atlas of the Ring of Kerry, 2009 i Acknowledgements This project would have been impossible without the support and guidance of many people. First and foremost, I wish to thank my supervisors, Mark Emmerson and John O’Halloran for their valuable advice, support and patience throughout this demanding journey and for having the insight to envisage the bigger picture and encourage me to step out of the detail. Huge thanks also go to Eileen O’Rourke and Nadine Kramm for fascinating discussions on socio-economics and for introducing me to interdisciplinary research, as part of the BioUp Project. I would like to thank Pàdraig Whelan and Mark Wilson for their indispensable advice on both fieldwork techniques and software tools. I am extremely grateful to Science Foundation Ireland for providing funding for this project and to the staff and students of the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) and the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) for their invaluable support. I would particularly like to thank Mairéad Kiely, Paul Bolger, Helen McMahon and Ger Morgan. I am indebted to the farmers and landowners who so generously allowed me access to their land and frequently provided a welcome cup of tea and a sandwich or a hot meal! Thank you all for your kindness. I would like to offer my special thanks to the NPWS Conservation Rangers based at Muckross, Co. Kerry, for their advice, access to equipment and for the provision of a warm, comfortable place to stay during the many arduous months of fieldwork. I would especially like to mention Paudie O’Leary, Tim Burkitt, Pascal O’Dower, Peter O’Tool and Allan Mee. I would like to thank Brendan Dunford and Sharon Parr (Burren Life Project) and Andy Bleasdale (NPWS) for advice in the early stages of the project and Helen Bradley (UCC) and Stuart Green (Teagasc) for their wonderful guidance in GIS. Although generally a long and lonely road, the solitude of data collection in the mountains was broken by a few resilient people. Isabelle Kozlik, Catherine Palmer, Órla McLaughlin and Richard Condon – you will never know how much your company meant on the hills, thank you. Jesús Fernández and Maike Pohlmann thank you for your persistence when confronted with the tedious task of vegetation sorting and for welcome conversation on the hills! For invaluable advice and support I would like to thank Christopher Cullen, Anne Oxborough (UCC) and Jon Yearsley (UCD) and for reading drafts of chapters, I am extremely grateful to Meg Pollock (Scottish Agricultural College). ii Acknowledgements To my wonderful friends and fellow travellers along the academic path I say thank you for your infinite support and fruitful discussions over the years – Marion Twomey, Catherine Palmer, Ute Jacob and Erin O’Rourke – you are amazing. To all my friends from Ireland, the UK and further afield, thank you for your wonderful chats. Rich, thank you for your limitless encouragement, patience, love and support. Mossy, Roy, Jen, Moonshine and Felix, thank you for your wonderful feline ability to calm. My sister, Kate and my brother, Davy, thank you for all your warm words of encouragement to spur me on! And finally, an enormous thank you to my parents for their unwavering support and belief in me and for instilling in me, a need to question everything. Their love and generosity know no bounds and without them this project would never have been accomplished. iii Table of Contents DECLARATION ....................................................................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................................ ix LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................................ xii ABSTRACT ..........................................................................................................................................................................xiv CHAPTER 1 - GENERAL INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 GRAZING .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 VEGETATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.4 GROUND BEETLES ............................................................................................................................................... 7 1.5 BIRDS............................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.6 SPATIAL SCALE AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES ................................................................................................................ 8 1.7 MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 10 1.8 STUDY OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................. 11 1.9 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2 - CHARACTERISATION OF UPLAND VEGETATION UNDER VARYING LEVELS OF GRAZING MANAGEMENT: EFFECTS ON PLANT DIVERSITY, COMPOSITION AND DRIVERS OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES ............................................................................................................................................................................. 22 2.1 ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................................... 23 2.2 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 24 2.2.1 Background .......................................................................................................................................... 24 2.2.2 Grazing management .......................................................................................................................... 25 2.2.3 Measuring grazing pressure ................................................................................................................ 26 2.2.4 Effects of grazing on vegetation .......................................................................................................... 27 2.3 METHODS ....................................................................................................................................................... 28 2.3.1 Study area ............................................................................................................................................ 28 2.3.2 Grazing state classification .................................................................................................................. 28 2.3.3 Management classification .................................................................................................................. 29 2.3.4 Soil sampling .......................................................................................................................................