Some years ago, I worked with a researcher to translate their work into the classroom.
It was written for the RGS-IBG's From the Field project.
The work looked at how peat moorlands recovered after fires. There have been a number of fires in the Peak District and such fires are becoming more common with high temperatures and drought conditions.
Aims
Once a heathland ecosystem has been damaged by fire, it can take many years to become re-established. Like any area of vegetation, relationships become established between the plants and the animals that inhabit them, and across the trophic levels that make up the network ecology.
Rose’s work is to explore the mechanisms for the restoration of pollination, and the extent to which this has been successful over time. As an area recovers from fire, it will also move through the stages of plant succession: a process which will have been arrested by the fire.
This is essential if the ecosystem is going to recover. The restored heathland network tends to have a different structure to the ancient heathland, with fewer interactions between the plants, bees and parasites that live on the bees.
The work was funded by Goldsmiths Company.
Rose’s work is to explore the mechanisms for the restoration of pollination, and the extent to which this has been successful over time. As an area recovers from fire, it will also move through the stages of plant succession: a process which will have been arrested by the fire.
This is essential if the ecosystem is going to recover. The restored heathland network tends to have a different structure to the ancient heathland, with fewer interactions between the plants, bees and parasites that live on the bees.
The work was funded by Goldsmiths Company.
