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Following the destruction of 95% of meadows during the twentieth century, there is an urgent need to understand what little unspoiled habitat remains in order to plan the management and restoration of existing sites, as well as re-creating future grassland habitats. This book is a much-needed guide to grassland restoration and management.
Providing a thorough overview of recent research on grassland restoration and its implications for practical grassland restoration and management, it introduces grassland communities and the wildlife they support, including examples of species of conservation concern, and considers the management of semi-natural grassland habitats with particular emphasis on drier grassland habitats.
Chapters cover:
- Grassland character and communities
- Introduction to grassland wildlife
- Managing semi-natural grassland
- Grassland restoration – threats and challenges
- Opportunities in grassland restoration
- Plant material for grassland restoration
- Defining success in grassland restoration.
A variety of management techniques are examined, including soil amendment, cultivation, harvesting and maintenance in creating suitable conditions for the successful restoration of species-rich grasslands.
It is essential reading for conservationists, site owners or managers, practitioners, conservation organizations and students of ecological restoration with an interest in the creation of new grassland habitats, the restoration of semi-natural grassland, as well as the continuing management of semi-natural (unimproved) grassland communities.
Blakesley and Buckley’s book provides great support to the practical implementation of grassland restoration and grassland management. Although the book focuses strongly on the United Kingdom, there are links to restoration activities applied in other parts of Europe. The management and restoration techniques discussed can be used outside the United Kingdom very well, not only as they apply to site management and restoration but also in education.
— Peter Torok
David Blakesley is an ecological practitioner, with experience in habitat restoration, project development and ecological surveys. He set up Wildlife Landscapes, an independent ecological consultancy in 2004. Since then he has undertaken projects in partnership with conservation organisations including the RSPB, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Woodland Trust and the Forestry Commission. He is a Chartered Environmentalist and a member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, and a co-author of numerous publications relating to woodland creation, woodland management and tropical forest restoration.
Peter Buckley is an ecologist, forester and botanist, specialising in ecological restoration and its application to wildlife conservation, biodiversity and development. He set up his own ecological consultancy in 2007 and is currently affiliated to the Centre for Development, Environment and Policy at the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London, and is also Visiting Lecturer at the Universities of Greenwich and Birkbeck College, London. Dr Buckley is a founder member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management and a long-standing member of the British Ecological Society. He is joint author of numerous publications relating to woodland creation and ecological restoration.
1. Grassland character and communities
2. Grassland wildlife
3. Semi-natural dry grassland management
4. Grassland restoration: threats and challenges
5. Opportunities in grassland restoration
6. Plant material for dry grassland restoration
7. Defining success in grassland restoration
References
Species Index
Subject Index