Integrating the needs of England's priority species into habitat management
We are seeing a shift to a more integrated approach to biodiversity conservation with the aim of recovering both habitats and species as well as the ‘ecosystem services’ that they underpin. This change in approach is set out in ‘Securing biodiversity’ - a new framework for delivering priority habitats and species in England.
High brown fritillary on bracken
The review of the UK BAP priority list in 2007 has generated a large increase in the number of habitats and species requiring action. New approaches to BAP delivery across the UK are placing greater emphasis on achieving our biodiversity targets through habitat-based delivery. Natural England have published a Research Report on integrating the needs of priority species into habitat management. The overall objectives for this report were to:
To identify the habitat requirements of all UK BAP species relevant to priority habitats.
The compilation of a list of those priority species relevant to each Biodiversity Integration Groups (established to bring together habitat and associated species interests at an England level).
An analysis of the known habitat features required by each species.
An assessment of any regional variation required in habitat-based approaches due to species differences between regions.
What was done
Information on the habitat requirements of UK BAP priority species in England was reviewed and collated. The resultant pen pictures of habitat requirements for each species were divided into broad component requirements (for example, bare ground, shelter, flower-rich grasslands, etc). An analysis of the component requirements was then undertaken to give an overall picture of habitat niches/components required by species within each priority habitat.
As an example, for the lowland heathland priority habitat, over 60% of species were found to require some form of shelter (in terms of scrub and topography to provide shelter from the wind but exposure to sunlight), 55% of species were associated with bare ground and 37% of species required some grasslands or grass-heath matrices.
Results and conclusions
Our analyses suggest that for species conservation to be effectively integrated into a habitat-based approach we need to place much greater emphasis on creating the component niches and resources required by BAP species, rather than managing habitats generically. For example, structural variation within and between habitats is often an important factor, both because different species require different structural states and because many species rely on many different states to complete their life cycles. For wetlands, hydrology, water quality and the transitional zone between aquatic and terrestrial habitats are all critical components of priority species requirements.
Download report and tables
Natural England Research Report No. 024 – part 1 main report and part 2 annexes
For each Biodiversity Integration Group (BIG), the associated UK BAP species were analysed further in Excel spreadsheets. A copy of each of these is available for download below:
