The Lodge

About: The Lodge is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Biodiversity. The organization has 258 authors who have published 394 publications receiving 17100 citations.

Climate Change Adaptation: Putting Principles into Practice

Abstract: Carrying out wildlife conservation in a changing climate requires planning on long timescales at both a site and network level, while also having the flexibility to adapt actions at sites over short timescales in response to changing conditions and new information. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), a land-owning wildlife conservation charity in the UK, achieves this on its nature reserves through its system of management planning. This involves setting network-wide objectives which inform the 25-year vision and 5-year conservation objectives for each site. Progress toward achieving each site’s conservation objectives is reviewed annually, to identify any adjustments which might be needed to the site’s management. The conservation objectives and 25-year vision of each site are reviewed every 5 years. Significant long-term impacts of climate change most frequently identified at RSPB reserves are: loss of intertidal habitat through coastal squeeze, loss of low-lying islands due to higher sea levels and coastal erosion, loss of coastal freshwater and brackish wetlands due to increased coastal flooding, and changes in the hydrology of wetlands. The main types of adaptation measures in place on RSPB reserves to address climate change-related impacts are: re-creation of intertidal habitat, re-creation and restoration of freshwater wetlands away from vulnerable coastal areas, blocking artificial drainage on peatlands, and addressing pressures on freshwater supply for lowland wet grasslands in eastern and southeastern England. Developing partnerships between organizations has been crucial in delivering large-scale adaptation projects.

Opposing indirect effects of domestic herbivores on saltmarsh erosion

Abstract: Herbivores can sometimes influence the geomorphology of landscapes, particularly in systems dominated by hydrology. Salt marshes deliver globally valuable benefits, including coastal protection, yet they sometimes rapidly erode. Triggers for erosion are often unknown, but livestock grazing is a suspected cause in many regions of the world where agricultural use of saltmarshes is pervasive. To understand the influence of grazing on saltmarsh erosion, we sampled the plant community, soil chemistry and soil mechanical properties along 2–5 creeks in grazed and ungrazed marshes. Erosion was quantified as: (1) the rates of erosion of extracted soil–plant cores in a hydrological flume and (2) the number of erosional break-offs (‘slump blocks’) per creek. We found that domestic herbivores influenced saltmarsh geomorphology via two indirect and opposing pathways: one involving soil mechanical properties and the other mediated by plant traits and bare soil cover, all within a soil physico-chemical environment. The net effect of grazing results in a reduction in saltmarsh lateral erodibility and thus an increase in marsh resilience. Our results highlight the role of herbivores not only as controllers of the flow of energy and materials through the trophic web, but also as modifiers of the abiotic environment. Managers and scientists must remain vigilant to both the obvious direct and the more nuanced indirect pathways, which can influence grazed ecosystems. This study calls for a closer look to the biological side of the equation when assessing biogeomorphic feedbacks and plant–soil–animal interactions.