Production Ecology of British Moors and Montane Grasslands PDF
Preview Production Ecology of British Moors and Montane Grasslands
Ecological Studies Analysis and Synthesis Edited by w. D. Billings, Durham (USA) F. Galley, Athens (USA) O. L. Lange, Wiirzburg (FRG) 1. S. Olson, Oak Ridge (USA) Volume 27 Production Ecology of British Moors and Montane Grasslands Edited by w. O. Heal and D. F. Perkins Assisted by Wendy M. Brown With 132 Figures Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York 1978 Dr. O. W. HEAL The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology Merlewood Research Station Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria LAll 61U Great Britain Dr. D. F. PERKINS The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology Penrhos Road Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2LQ/Great Britain For explanation of the cover motive see legends to Fig. 6 (p. 42), Fig. 6 (p. 68), Fig. 9 (p. 262), and Fig. 2 (p. 358). ISBN-13: 978-3-642-66762-6 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-66760-2 DOT: 10.1007/978-3-642-66760-2 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data. Main entry under title: Production ecology of British moors and montane grasslands. (Ecological studies; v. 27). Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Biological productivity-Great Britain. 2. Grassland ecology-Great Britain. 3. Moor ecology-Great Britain. 4. Mountain ecology-Great Britain. I. Heal, O. W. II. Perkins, Donald Francis, 1935-. Ill. Brown, Wendy M. IV. Series. QHI37.P75. 574.5'264. 77·17853. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data banks. Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law where copies are made for other than private use, a fee is payable to the publisher, the amount of the fee to be determined by agreement with the publisher. © by Springer-Verlag Berlin· Heidelberg 1978 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1978 The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Preface The International Biological Programme (IBP) was a cooperative effort on the part of scientists throughout the world, whose goal was an integrated study of the basic processes of biological productivity. The challenge of meeting the increasing food needs of a growing population demands optimum productivity from natural and managed ecosystems, which has not hitherto appeared to be compatible with the maintenance of environmental quality. The basic problem in natural resource development is how to transfer the high productivity and stability characteristic of natural ecosystems to managed ecosystems whose yield is in more useable form. The IBP studies aimed to investigate the basic production parameters of natural ecosystems, for use as base lines to assess the factors which control agricultural production (Worthington, 1975). It was realised that much was to be gained by close cooperation between the countries within IBP, to describe global patterns of production and to utilise fully the limited financial resources and scientifically qualified personel available in the various disciplines in individual countries. Within the Terrestrial Productivity section (PT) four major habitat types (Biomes) have been recognised-woodland, grassland, aridland and tundra. In each Biome the ecosystem structure and production, the interrelationships of the various components, and the factors influencing the operation of the systems, have been analysed. Tundra is variously defined as comprising areas of permafrost or as approximating to areas with a mean annual temperature <0° C at 1.5-2.0 m altitude. Although not strictly falling within the category of tundra by either of these definitions, it has become increasingly clear that the severe climatic conditions encountered on the exposed high moorland sites at Moor House and the biota have more in common with those of tundra than with other biomes, and close links were established between the Moor House and the International Tundra group. The data obtained by the various national groups are being compared and synthesised to produce a Biome-wide ecosystem analysis (Wielgolaski and Rosswall, 1972; Bliss and Wielgolaski, 1973; Holding et aI., 1974; Rosswall and Heal, 1975; Moore, in prep). At Moor House the bog ecosystem has been analysed in considerable detail, providing a description of carbon and mineral cycling with emphasis on the development of mathematical models to simulate the ecosystem and its com ponents. Results from supporting research studies on other moorland and low land heath systems (Chap. 12-14) have contributed valuable additional information to provide a broader appraisal of the structure and function of dwarf shrub ecosystems. VI Preface Fig. 1. The distribution of the main study areas and other places mentioned in the volume Preface VII The Snowdonia sites are sheep-grazed, semi-natural montane grasslands and research has concentrated on plant and herbivore production and their inter action. The Snowdon sites are linked with the International Grassland Biome whose synthesis will be published in Coupland (in prep) and Breymeyer and van Dyne (in prep). A general comparison of the UK IBP grassland sites and moorland sites is given in Heal and Perkins (1976). The emphasis in this volume is on detailed description of the ecosystem structure at the sites, an approach similar to that adopted in the volumes on the West German and Scandinavian projects in the Ecological Studies series (Ellenberg, 1971; Wielgolaski, 1975). The coordination of the UK contribution to IBP was through the British National Committee with a Sub-Committee for Studies on Productivity of Terrestrial Communities. The Royal Society provided considerable advisory, administrative and financial assistance and the research was also supported by funds and facilities from the Natural Environment Research Council, Universities, Nature Conservancy, and other Institutes. The cooperative effort of these organisations, and the many administrative, scientific and support staff, is gratefully acknowledged. We are grateful to the publishing house of Springer for bringing the projects into the Ecological Studies series, thus combining the results in one volume, so that each aspect can be viewed as part of the whole and not in isolation. The editors would also like to apologise to those authors who submitted their chapters at an early date for the long delay in publishing, which resulted from problems in the completion of the final manuscripts. January, 1978 O.W.HEAL D. F. PERKINS Contents I. The Moor House Programme 1. Introduction and Site Description O.W.HEAL and R.AH.SMITH (With 3 Figures) 3 2. Field Estimates of Primary Production R.AH.SMITH and G. I. FORREST (With 9 Figures) 17 3. Physiological Aspects of Bog Production at Moor House lGRACE and T. C. MARKS (With 15 Figures) . . . . 38 4. Ecology of Moorland Animals J.C.COULSON and lB.WHITTAKER (With 20 Figures) 52 5. Microbial Populations in Peat V.G. COLLINS, B. T.D'SYLVA and P. M. LATTER (With 1 Figure) 94 6. Nutrient Availability and Other Factors Limiting Microbial Activity in the Blanket Peat N.J. MARTIN and AJ. HOLDING (With 3 Figures) . . . . . 113 7. A Study of the Rates of Decomposition of Organic Matter O.W.HEAL, P.M. LATTER and G.HOWSON (With 6 Figures) 136 8. A Simulation of Production and Decay in Blanket Bog H.E.JONES and AJ.P. GORE (With 8 Figures) 160 9. A Model of Peat Bog Growth R.s.CLYMO (With 17 Figures) . . . . . . . 187 10. The Blanket Bog as Part of a Pennine Moorland M.RAWEs and O.W.HEAL (With 6 Figures) . .224 II. Supporting Studies-Dwarf Shrub Communities 11. The Productivity of a Calluna Heathland in Southern England S.B.CHAPMAN andN.R.WEBB (With 9 Figures) . . .247 12. Production in Montane Dwarf Shrub Communities C. F. SUMMERS (With 6 Figures). . . . . . . . . . 263 13. Heather Productivity and Its Relevance to the Regulation of Red Grouse Populations G.R.MILLER and A. WATSON (With 1 Figure) ............ 277 III. Snowdonia Grasslands 14. Snowdonia Grassland: Introduction, Vegetation and Climate D.F.PERKINS (With 3 Figures) .................. 289 x Contents 15. Physiography, Geology and Soils of the Grassland Site at Llyn Llydaw D.F.BALL ........................... 297 16. Primary Production, Mineral Nutrients and Litter Decomposition in the Grassland Ecosystem D.F.PERKINS, V.JONES, R.O.MILLAR and P.NEEP (With 5 Figures) 304 17. The Role of Slugs in an Agrostis-F estuca Grassland J. LUTMAN (With 8 Figures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 332 18. Sheep Population Studies in Relation to the Snowdon ian Environment J.DALE and R.E.HUGHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 348 19. The Grazing Intensity and Productivity of Sheep in the Grassland Ecosystem S.BRASHER and D.F.PERKINS (With 8 Figures) ........... 354 20. The Distribution and Transfer of Energy and Nutrients in the Agrostis F estuca Grassland Ecosystem D.F.PERKINS (With 3 Figures) 375 References . 397 Subject Index 417 Contributors BALL,D.F. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Penrhos Road, Ban gor, Gwynedd, LL57 2LQ/Great Britain BRASHER,S. c/o Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Penrhos Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2LQ/Great Britain CHAPMAN, S. B. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Furzebrook Research Station, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 5AS/Great Britain CLYMO,R.S. Department of Botany, Westfield College, Kidderpore Avenue, Hampstead, London, N.W. 3/Great Britain COLLINS, VERA G. Crags ide, Atkinson Court, Fell Foot, Newby Bridge, Ulverston, Cumbria, LAl2 8NW/Great Britain COULSON,J. c. Department of Zoology, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DHI 3LE/Great Britain DALE,J. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Penrhos Road, Ban gor, Gwynedd, LL57 2LQ/Great Britain FORREST, G. I. Forestry Commission, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian/Great Britain GORE,A.J.P. Institute ofTerrestrial Ecology, Monks Wood Experi mental Station, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, PEl7 2LS/Great Britain GRACE,J. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Uni versity of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JU/Great Britain HEAL,O.W. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Merlewood Research Station, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, LAll 6JU/ Great Britain HOLDING,A.J. Department of General Microbiology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG/ Great Britain HOWSON, GILLIAN Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Merlewood Research Station, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, LAll 6JU/ Great Britain HUGHES, R. E. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Penrhos Road, Ban gor, Gwynedd, LL57 2LQ/Great Britain XII Contributors JONES, HELEN E. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Merlewood Research Station, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, LAll 6JU/ Great Britain JONES, VERNA Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Penrhos Road, Ban gor, Gwynedd, LL57 2LQ/Great Britain LATTER, PAMELA M. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Merlewood Research Station, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, LAll 6JU/ Great Britain LUTMAN, JANE c/o Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Penrhos Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2LQ/Great Britain MARKS, T. C. Department of Biology, Liverpool Polytechnic, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF /Great Britain MARTIN,N.J. Department of Microbiology, West of Scotland Agri cultural College, Auchincruive, Ayr, Scotland/Great Britain MILLAR,R. O. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Penrhos Road, Ban gor, Gwynedd, LL57 2LQ/Great Britain MILLER, G. R. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Hill of Brathens, Glassel, Banchory, Kincardineshire, AB3 4BY/Great Britain NEEP,P. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Penrhos Road, Ban gor, Gwynedd, LL57 2LQ/Great Britain PERKINS,D. F. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Penrhos Road, Ban gor, Gwynedd, LL57 2LQ/Great Britain RAWES,M. Nature Conservancy Council, Moor House Field Station, Garrigill, Alston, Cumbria/Great Britain SMITH, ROSALIND, A. H. Nature Conservancy Council, 12 Hope Terrace, Edin burgh, EH9 2AS/Great Britain SUMMERS, C. F. Institute for Marine Environmental Research, Seals Research Division, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OET/Great Britain D'SYLVA, BARBARA T. c/o State Electricity Department, P. O. Box 2629, (now Mrs. B. T. COLIGAN) Doha, Qatar, Arabian Gulf WATSON, A. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Blackhall, Banchory, Kincardineshire, AB3 3PS/Great Britain WEBB,N.R. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Furzebrook Research Station, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 5AS/Great Britain WHITTAKER,lB. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lancaster, Bailrigg, Lancaster/Great Britain
The list of books you might like
