Hedgerow Biodiversity

According to the UK Government advisors on nature conservation, the JNCC:

"hedgerows are the most significant wildlife habitat over large stretches of lowland UK and are an essential refuge for a great many woodland and farmland plants and animals."

Hedgerows are a primary habitat for at least 47 extant species of conservation concern in the UK, including 13 globally threatened or rapidly declining ones (more than for most other key BAP habitat). They are especially important for butterflies and moths, farmland birds, bats and dormice. There is an estimated ½ million km of hedgerow in England and Wales and c. 42% of British hedges (about 154,000 km) are ancient and/or species-rich.

Research into hedgerows at UCN has focussed on the potential of species-poor hedgerow to accumulate plant species and on the potential corridor function for plants. Janet Jackson's PhD work focussed on the colonisation of Enclosure hedgerows from adjacent ancient woodland. Following on from this work, Duncan McCollin and Janet organised a conference at UCN on hedgerows. This work led to a special edition of the Journal of Environmental Management, edited by Duncan, dedicated to hedgerows. Duncan and Janet also collaborated with workers from CEH Merlewood to use CS2000 data to analyse the potential of hedgerows to act as corridors for woodland herbs.

Filippo Carrara (right) continues his work on the occurrence of roe deer in relation to hedgerow structure on the Kelmarsh Estate. Filippo is doing a PhD at the University of Padova and is finding interesting relationships between where roe deer occur and the composition of hedgerow vegetation. In a similar vein, Gareth Thomas, an MSc student at The University of Northampton is also investigating the woody composition of hedgerows in relation to landscape structure on the Kelmarsh Estate for his MSc project.

Publications

McCollin, D. (2000) Editorial. Hedgerow policy and protection - changing paradigms and the conservation ethic. Journal of Environmental Management 60(1): 3-6

McCollin D, Jackson J, Barr, C. J., Bunce, R. G. H. and Stuart, R. (2000) Hedgerows as habitat for woodland plants. Journal of Environmental Management 60(1): 77-90

Jackson , J.I., Goodwin, T.J. & Baxter, A. (1999) What is a Hedgerow? - A legal definition . Poster Presentation. Abstract in: Hedgerow Conservation: Policy, Protection and Evaluation . University College Northampton (IALE( UK ) Workshop).

Jackson, J.I. & McCollin, D. (1997) Hedgerow diversity: dynamics of dispersal, colonization and establishment of woody plant species. In: Proceedings of the 6 th Annual Conference of the International Association of Landscape Ecology: Species dispersal and land use processes . Eds: Copper, A. & Power, J. (309-312).

Jackson, J.I. & McCollin, D. (1996) A preliminary study, into the dispersal characteristics of plants colonizing Enclosure Hedgerows in Northamptonshire. In: Proceedings of 5 th Annual Conference of the International Association of Landscape Ecology: The spatial dynamics of Biodiversity . Eds: Simpson, I.A. & Dennis, P. (167-170).