Dean Water Vole Field Signs and Habitat Assessment

A Practical Guide to Water Vole Surveys
Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-1-78427-255-5
Verlag: Pelagic Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 112 Seiten

Reihe: Conservation Handbooks

An essential guide to assist those surveying for water voles, whether as a professional ecological consultant, a researcher or simply an interested amateur. This book provides detailed descriptions of all the habitats used by water voles, including ideal habitats as well as less typical places, with annotated photos to help the surveyor home in on just the right areas to look. It also contains a comprehensive photographic reference guide to assist in the correct identification of water vole field signs, and explains how to distinguish them from those of similar species. Tips on where and how to search for field signs are also provided, along with guidance on how best to record survey data.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dean, Mike

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Wirbeltiere (Vertebrata) Säugetiere (Mammalia)
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften, Biologie: Sachbuch, Naturführer
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Tier- und Umweltschutz

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

A bit of background

Personal experience

Legal protection in the UK

Competence

2. Habitat

Where do you find water voles?

What does ‘ideal’ habitat for water voles look like?

Habitat requirements

Dry areas for burrows or above-ground nests

Herbaceous vegetation as food and cover

Water

How to assess likely value of habitat

Water voles in terrestrial habitat

3. What does a water vole look like?

4. Looking for field signs

Different field signs

When to search

Where to search

How to search

Other factors to consider

Health, safety and biosecurity

5. Droppings and latrines

Characteristics of water vole droppings

Latrines

How many droppings constitute a latrine?

What can latrines tell us?

Terrestrial, or fossorial, water voles

Rat droppings

Field vole and bank vole droppings

DNA analysis

6. Feeding remains

7. Burrows

Characteristics of ‘active’ water vole burrows

Burrows of similar species

Detailed examination of burrows

8. Nests

9. Other field signs

Footprints

Runs through the vegetation

10. Other species

Droppings

Footprints

11. Recording the information

What information needs to be recorded?

How to record the information

What happens next?

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Dean, Mike
Mike Dean has worked as an ecological consultant since 1997, with roles in varying size consultancies from the very small (one or two staff members) to the very large multi-disciplinary consultancy, and a few in between. He’s undertaken ecological surveys and produced ecological reports of all different types and sizes. In 2013 he joined the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management’s (CIEEM) Professional Standards Committee, tasked with producing guidelines on, amongst other things, ecological report writing. He’s been delivering training on report writing for CIEEM since 2015.