Natural Environment Research Council Institute of Terrestrial Ecology Absorption by plant Animals á Natural Environment Research Council Institute of Terrestrial Ecology Annual Report 1981 2 ©NERC Copyright 1982 First published 1982 Printed in Great Britain by The Lavenham Press Ltd., Lavenham, Suffolk ISBN 0 904282 65 1 Institute of Terrestrial Ecology 68 Hills Road Cambridge CB2 1LA 0223 (Cambridge) 69745 Cover design was prepared by Dr Julia Wilson of ITE Bush. It shows schematically the pathways of 'sulphur' and 'nitrogen' air pollutants in a forest. The solid arrows indicate the parts of the network being investigated within ITE. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Institute wishes to thank Miss Sarah Anthony for drawing the figures in this report. The work was carried out as part of her year's sandwich course at our Monks Wood Experimental Station, Huntingdon. Sarah is a cartography student at the Luton College of Higher Education, Bedfordshire. The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) was established in 1973 from the former Natu're Conservancy's research stations and staff, joined later by the Institute of Tree Biology and the Culture Centre of Algae and Protozoa. ITE contributes to and draws upon the collective knowledge of the fourteen sister institutes which make up the Natural Environment Research Council, spanning all the environmental sciences. The Institute studies the factors determining the structure, composition and processes of land and freshwater systems, and of individual plant and animal species. It is developing a sounder scientific basis for predicting and modelling environmental trends arising from natural or man-made change. The results of this research are available to those responsible for the protection, management and wise use of our natural resources. One quarter of ITE's work is research commissioned by customers, such as the Nature Conservancy Council, who require information fOr wildlife conservation, the Department of Energy and the Department of the Environment, and the EEC. The remainder is fundamental research supported by NERC. ITE's expertise is widely used by international organizations in overseas projects and programmes of research. 3 Contents Section I 7 INTRODUCTION-IS ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH REALLY NECESSARY? Section II 10 LONGER RESEARCH REPORTS 11 The diversity of invertebrates on fragmented heathland in Dorset 13 Establishment and succession of communities in limestone quarries 15 Bark stripping by grey squirrels 19 Methodology for studying habitats used by coastal otters 23 Fluoride in small mammals 28 Mersey bird mortalities 1979-81: a pollution problem resolved? 33 Monitoring for the effects of pollutants 35 Ecology, 'epidemiology' and effects of some sheathing lecto-Imycorrhizal associations 39 Report of a symposium to honour Charles Darwin, father of soil zoology Section III 42 RESEARCH OF THE INSTITUTE IN 1981 INVERTEBRATE ECOLOGY 42 The rate of infill and colonisation by invertebrates of borrow pits in the Wash (SE England) 43 Habitat preferences of spiders on heathlands 44 Recolonisation of Hartland Moor by spiders 44 The role of young workers in the development of an ant society 45 Relatedness between queens and workers in the multi-queened colonies of Myrmica rubra VERTEBRATE ECOLOGY 46 Faecal pellets as indicators of body size in red deer 48 Inherent changes in aggressive behaviour in relation to population regulation in red grouse 49 The importance of polygyny to hen harriers 51 Effects of human impact on ptarmigan and red grouse near ski lifts in Scotland ANIMAL FUNCTION 51 Testis development in young rabbits 52 Reproductive effort in the common frog (Rana temporaria) 55 Polymorphism in arctic skuas 55 Organochlorine pollutants in seabirds from St Kilda 57 Pollutants in guillemot eggs 59 Fidelity to territory and mate in sparrowhawks 61 Kestrels in farmland 61 Annual cycle of reproductive hormones in the feral pigeon 63 Seasonal changes in corticosterone levels in starlings PLANT BIOLOGY 63 Biological monitoring of the Forth Valley 65 'Crop' and 'isolation' ideotypes in forestry 66 Genetic gain by clonal selection of Sitka spruce and lodgepole pine 67 Manipulation of cone formation in the Cupressaceae 70 The growth strategy of bracken 71 Population ecology of the marsh gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe) 72 The use of isoenzymes in the analysis of plant population structure 4 PLANT COMMUNITY ECOLOGY 74 Effects of tree species, planted pure and in mixtures, on vegetation and soil at Gisburn 75 Monitoring in woodlands 76 Mapping Broadland vegetation 76 Recovery of vegetation in a Caledonian pinewood after fire 77 Scrub control on lowland heaths 78 Grazing studies on sand dunes 79 Some current problems of sea coast vegetation management 80 Ecological perspectives of amenity grass research SOIL SCIENCE 81 Geochemical cycling in an upland grassland ecosystem 82 Predictions of change in moorland vegetation 83 Botanical evidence in the soil of recent vegetation history 84 Application of the P-deficiency bioassay to trees 85 Stump decomposition DATA AND INFORMATION SERVICES 87 Computing 87 Biometrics 87 Remotesensing 87 Biological Records Centre RESEARCH 88 The birds of Shetland 89 Severn tidal power pre-feasibility study CHEMISTRY AND INSTRUMENTATION INTRODUCTION SERVICES 90 Analytical chemistry, Merlewood Monks Wood 91 Radiochemistry 92 Engineering 92 Plant culture 93 Photography RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 93 Monitoring changes in pine needle surfaces 95. Analytical technique development 96 Alpha-particles by solid state nuclear track detection 96 Radionuclides in a salt marsh 98 Radionuclides in sheep 99 Algal growth chambers 100 Environmental chambers for leaf photosynthesis studies 100 Microprocessor studies 101 Radio tracking 101 Mist propagation studies CULTURE CENTREOF ALGAE AND PROTOZOA GENERAL REVIEW 101 Preservation of genetic diversity 101 Distribution of cultures 102 Research 105 A protozoan blood parasite of squirrels Section IV 107 PROJECTS 5 Section V 113 STAFF LIST Section VI 117 PUBLICATIONS Section VII 127 CONTRACT REPORTS Section VIII 129 COMMISSIONED RESEARCH CONTRACTS Section IX 130 PUBLICATIONS FOR SALE á Section I 7 Is ecological research really necessary? In these days of recession, when the activities of the the policy for cheap food may lead to greater intensifi- productive and service industries are constrained by cation of agriculture on the better soils, by increased reduced demand, when local and central Government use of monocultures over large areas, by new and agencies are being cut back in staff and kept within greater use of pesticides, and the continued removal of strict cash limits, it is sensible to ask if the research marginal land (including hedges, ditches, etc). As these which is done by institutes like ITE is really necessary. better soils also support the greatest diversity of wildlife, The question is particularly pertinent when universities attempts to improve grassland by drainage, the use of are also being pruned back hard. On the face of it, fertilizers, or by re-seeding, with a consequent effect on scientific research into the environment might seem a herb-rich grasslands, have major effects on wildlife luxury, and, certainly, Government Ministers and their conservation. As a result of the intensification of advisers, if not Members of Parliament, seem increas- agriculture and horticulture on better soils, unimproved ingly to take this view, if we are to judge by the marked grassland is likely to be even less actively managed than reduction in the research which is commissioned by at present, and so to become scrub and woodland Government departments and agencies. which will be used mainly for recreation, forestry, or energy production. The importance of external The reader will hardly expect the Director of a Research influences, including such factors as the cost of energy, Council Institute to suggest that the research his climatic change, and political decisions about pricing Institute does is not necessary! However, in these days policies in the EEC, may, in all these influences, be of cash limits and staff reductions, it requires more than overwhelming. The present trend towards increased a bold assertion to justify spending money on environ- production of grass, together with the reliance on mental research, and the spending of that money in a imported concentrates, also seems to indicate the need Research Council Institute rather than in the universities. for more information about the effects of nitrogen on It is not sufficient to assert that, because the "environ- crop, semi-natural and natural ecosystems as a result of ment" is a "Good Thing", research on the environment the marked increase in the use of nitrogen fertilizers by must, by association, also be a "Good Thing". farmers and foresters. The presence of nitrates in water supplied for drinking represents an unacceptable The major environmental problems of the 1980s in the hazard, and the sources of these nitrates remain largely United Kingdom were summarised briefly in ITE's obscure. Annual Report for 1980. It will, however, do no harm to repeat that summary here, not least because the In the uplands, the major issue is almost certain to be warning that it contained of urgent ecological problems the possibility of extending the area of forest, as a has largely fallen on deaf ears. The over-riding need is to response to world shortages of timber and wood pulp, ensure that the limited resources of the world are used and the increased reluctance of exporting nations to sell to the best advantage, leading to an understanding that the large volumes of timber which Britain imports our use of these resources will place even greater annually. Studies of the effects of this increased area of pressure on the environment in the future. Much of the forest, which has been variously estimated as being concern is likely to be focused on the development of between 8 and 12% of the total land area, are now energy resources, including oil, coal and nuclear power, urgently required. Such studies will include the effects the exploration and exploitation of which are likely to that this increased area of forest will have on the have major effects.