There are two new publications from different LTEs that look at the effectiveness of different methods of controlling bracken. A paper in Ecological Engineering looks at how long the treatment methods last at two sites at Sourhope, while a paper in the Journal of Environmental Management investigates the recovery of the acid grassland habitat at Bamford Edge.
A new paper has been published in Ecological Engineering which has used data from two LTEs at Sourhope in the Scottish borders which have been run by the James Hutton Institute and the University of Liverpool.
Ilgin AKPINAR was funded by the ministry of national education of the turkish republic to do her MRes.
Ilgin Akpinar took a sabbatical from her PhD in Turkey to do her MRes at Liverpool University where she looked at the Sourhope data on controlling bracken. Bracken poses a serious problem in the British uplands, and the problem with managing it is that it is unknown how long treatments that control it remain effective. Using the data from six treatments, Ilgin modelled responses in order to determine the “effect window”- the time period that each treatment had a significant effect relative to doing nothing. She did this for three key economic/ societal variables: How long the treatments worked on the bracken, whether the vegetation that was established after the treatment improved the grazing potential, species richness and biodiversity. She found that the “effect windows” were completely different for all variables between the two experiments which demonstrates the need for several LTEs across many sites.
Another paper on controlling bracken was published in the Journal of Environmental Management on the Bamford Edge LTE in the Peak District which is managed by Rob Marrs (University of Liverpool). This LTE ran for 17 years in two phases. From 2005-2012, six treatments were applied to the control the bracken at this acid grassland site. But from 2012-2021 once the treatments ceased, he looked at the recovery of the grassland community. He found that while three of the treatments helped restore the habitat there was also edge reinvasion. Therefore, the whole plot would need to be treated.
