Tag Archives: landscape

Seed banks in soil

Posted on June 15, 2014 by argylesock

Chris at woodlands.co.uk tells us about ‘soil seed banks’. Growers and farmers know very well how seeds can live in soil, ready to germinate when conditions change. This can be wonderful, terrible or both. Chris’s article stirs an old seedbank … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged bog, bryophyte, conservation, ecosystem, farmer, gardener, habitat restoration, keystone species, landscape, mining, moss, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, seed, seedbank, soil, wetland | Leave a comment

Stowaways in potted plants

Posted on April 18, 2014 by argylesock

Potted plants can seem so benign. Beautiful, fascinating, good to grow and give, but they may carry invasive species which are not benign. Tom Bawden at The Independent tells us about invasive species reaching Europe, including the New Guinea flatworm … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology, horticulture, money and trade | Tagged alien species, America, Argentine ant, arthropod, Asia, Asian hornet, beetle, biosecurity, coleopteran, Europe, flatworm, garden, harlequin ladybird, herbivore, hymenopteran, insect, invasive species, invertebrate, ladybird, landscape, lepidopteran, light brown apple moth, lily beetle, mollusc, moth, native species, New Guinea flatworm, New Zealand flatworm, oak processionary moth, pest, plant_dicot, plant_gymnosperm, plant_monocot, predator, rosemary leaf beetle, slug, snail, Spanish slug | 5 Comments

Exotic trees

Posted on December 9, 2013 by argylesock

Lewis at woodlands.co.uk tells us about the exotic (alien) trees which are familiar in our British landscapes. Lewis tells us how many of these trees arrived during colonial times when great houses and gardens were built. He doesn’t mention how … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology | Tagged alien species, arboriculture, disease, disease reservoir, ecosystem, forest, garden, hedge, history, human, invasive species, landscape, native species, naturalised species, plant_dicot, plant_gymnosperm, plant_monocot, sugar cane, tree, wood, woodland | Leave a comment

Concreting over our National Parks

Posted on October 11, 2013 by argylesock

Mr Owen Paterson, UK Environment Secretary I admit that the title to this post is somewhat over the top but it is the vision that springs to the minds of many people I have spoken to about UK Environment Secretary…

Posted in ecology | Tagged conservation, history, land use, landscape, national park | 2 Comments

Paving the Way For Invasive Species

Posted on September 29, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on Living With Insects Blog:
Horticulturalists help bring beauty to our gardens and landscapes by introducing plants from other parts of the world and breeding them for aesthetic characteristics. In the past, not enough attention was paid to…

Posted in ecology, horticulture | Tagged alder buckthorn, alien species, aphid, arthropod, brimstone butterfly, ecosystem, garden, hemipteran, insect, invasive species, landscape, lepidopteran, native species, pest, plant_dicot, shrub, soybean aphid, tiger moth | Leave a comment

Bracken

Posted on September 7, 2013 by argylesock

If you’re in the British uplands, you’ll be very familiar with bracken (Pteridium aquilinum). It’s part of our landscapes here, beautiful but not always good news. Robin J Pakeman at Animal Briefs tells us about bracken. It’s a native species … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged academia, Asulam, bracken, ecosystem, farmer, fern, gardener, glyphosate, herbicide, invasive species, landscape, law, livestock, native species, pH, poison, rhizome, Roundup, shade, soil, spore, weed | 3 Comments

It’s agricultural, but is it art?

Posted on August 21, 2013 by argylesock

Jeremy Cherfas at Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog shows us two art projects about grains. I love the one about high fructose corn syrup. The one about printed landscapes is harder to understand, but as Jeremy says, art is supposed to make … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology, knowledge transfer | Tagged art, biodiversity, biofuel, corn, crop, ecosystem, finance, food, food processing, grain, habitat fragmentation, knowledge, landscape, maize, oats, plant_monocot, technology, wild flower, wildlife | Leave a comment

Coronation campaign to revive wildflower meadows

Posted on June 26, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on Green Living London:
Sixty “Coronation meadows” have been identified across the UK as part of a new campaign to restore threatened wildflower meadows. The campaign, launched to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation, follows reports…

Posted in ecology | Tagged conservation, ecosystem, grassland, habitat restoration, history, landscape, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, seed, wildlife | Leave a comment

Tree of the month: Willow

Posted on June 25, 2013 by argylesock

This photograph of willow leaves, provided to the Centre for Biosciences Imagebank by Prof Paul F. Brain at the University of Wales, Swansea, illustrates an instalment in my Tree of the Month series. I base this series (‘ogham’ tag) loosely … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology | Tagged arboriculture, bacterium, biofuel, bird, bryophyte, conservation, ecosystem, fungus, habitat creation, human, invertebrate, lake, land reclamation, landscape, lichen, moss, ogham, pharmaceutical, plant_dicot, pond, poplar, protozoan, river, tree, vertebrate, wildlife, willow | 2 Comments

How ‘ecology’ went mainstream

Posted on May 11, 2013 by argylesock

I’d like to honour two famous fakes. Crying Eyes Cody, remembered as the Crying Indian, wasn’t Native American. He was an Italian actor. Chief Seattle really was Native American but he never said the beautiful words quoted as his. They … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology | Tagged conservation, culture, ecosystem, history, landscape, tradition | Leave a comment