In a genus wide study of Drakaea (Orchidaceae) we examined the role of pollinator and mycorrhizal availability in species rarity in a phylogenetic context. While the availability of specific mycorrhizal fungi was not limiting, low pollinator availability was correlated with species rarity. We propose that specific pollination systems may lead to rapid speciation and a higher likelihood of species rarity.

 I report experiments where cheap, permeable pads are inserted into tree holes as a soil.  They are removed to a Tullgren apparatus to extract the arthropods.  Both plastic and metal pads were readily colonised by both arboreal and soil-associated Collembola. This is a minimally invasive technique that could be widely used to monitor arthropod communities (eg in caves).

Due to its volcanic activity, Iceland has a vast number of geothermally affected ecosystems. Such systems offer unique scenarios for investigating ecological and evolutionary processes which may be linked to the possible effects of climate changes. Some of these systems harbour communities which form ecological “islands” which have proved to be excellent systems testing meta-community theories.

We investigated the effects on ladybirds of climate and habitat factors, species-level traits and niche overlap with the invasive non-native species Harmonia axyridis, on local-scale extinction and colonisation dynamics across mainland Britain.  Several factors were significant, including habitat, climate & trait factors, but the strongest relationship was between extinction and niche overlap with H. axyridis.

Cardinal temperatures of pollen germination and pollen tube growth were estimated for 26 species with different altitudinal ranges. Initial temperatures of both processes were found to be strongly negatively correlated to altitude. Increasing negative temperature stress along an altitudinal gradient may, therefore, limit upward distribution of species with high temperature requirements of the progamic phase.

The presentation will examine the results of a five-year, multi-site, observational study of restoration interventions (revegetation and slope-stabilisation) made to areas of bare peat on the Bleaklow Plateau, Peak District. Bare and ‘least-disturbed’ sites are used as comparitors. The key finding is that: sites with slope stabilisation are most successfully revegetated and revegetation reduces net loss of CO₂.

Maximum entropy modelling has been used to generate environmental envelope models based on historic foray data. These were tested in the face of issues such as the sporadic nature of fungal fruiting, uneven sampling effort in space, and uncertainty surrounding the functional importance of the character being modelled, for their validity and suitability as baseline distribution maps for UK fungi. 

We present preliminary results from an on-going investigation into niche evolution of South American trees. We leverage a unified network of tree plots spread across lowland tropical South America in combination with a genus-level phylogeny covering all taxa and a species-level phylogeny for Leguminosae to examine patterns of climatic and edaphic niche evolution.