EFFECTS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT ON ACULEATES
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THE EFFECTS OF LANDSCAPE SCALE FOREST MANAGEMENT ON ACULEATE COMMUNITIES IN BRECKLAND, EASTERN ENGLAND LEE RUDD Study aims and objectives Research is needed to support sustainable forestry management in order to conserve and support biodiversity in both our current and future created forests (FC, 2008). This is especially true of plantations on rare geographically limited habitats, such as lowland heathland which are known to support unique flora and fauna (Dolman & Sutherland, 1992; Dolman et al., 2010). This includes Thetford Forest Park which is the largest lowland conifer plantation in the UK, but management is representative of other conifer forests located in heathland regions, including Cannock Chase, Dorset, Surrey, and Suffolk Sandlings. Measures to mitigate negative impacts on biodiversity have been highlighted in forestry policy in recent years (FC, 2004). Where one of the aims of sustainable forestry often includes the retention or creation of open space within plantation forest to enhance biodiversity (BARS, 2011). However, the value of these open areas will largely depend on the habitat type chosen, the open-space size, shape and wider landscape context (Oxbrough et al., 2006). Within this study we look to explore how open-spaces within plantation forest shape aculeate communities in Thetford Forest, Breckland, eastern England. The specific aims of the project are too; 1. Determine if current management practices undertaken by the Forestry Commission support bee and wasp communities within plantation forest open spaces 2. Establish if bee and wasp communities are influenced at the within trackway level and/or at the wider landscape 3. Explore the influence of open spaces of different area amounts and/or habitat types on bee and wasp communities at different landscape scales 4. Identify if individual genera that have special requirements (e.g. habitat type) differ from the aculeate communities as a whole in response to management of open spaces 5. Recommend and contribute to future land management practices and policy that would benefit bee and wasp communities as a whole Method and Materials Study area and sampling locations Aculeate and plant sampling surveys took place between April and June during 2011 in a forest and open habitat mosaic landscape in Breckland, eastern England which covers an area of approximately 185 kilometers2 (km2) (Lin et al., 2007; Eycott et al., 2006). The forest is predominantly planted with non-native corsican pine (Pinus nigra subsp. laricio) which were planted onto heath and agricultural land in the early twentieth century (Lin et al., 2007). However, since the 1970s, the forest has been opened up (c. 11%) as the mature forest has been harvested for timber. The forest is now maintained by
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 47 (2012)