Mysterious and ghostly tales about ponds

Carl Sayer, Ewan Shilland, Dave Emson, Helen Greaves, Emily Alderton, Katie Andrews, Ian Patmore, Kris Chan,

Paris Stephanoudis, Jan Axmacher, Emily Smith (ECRC, UCL)

Gordon Copp (Cefas), Keith Wesley (Bedwell Fisheries)Bernard Dawson, Norfolk, Bernard Cooper, Norfolk

Ponds Tour 2013-14

• Jan 13 - Bodham/Beckham Farmers Wives• April 13 - Hempstead Natural History Society• May 13 - Holt Farmers Club• Oct. 13 - Bodham/Beckham Farmers Wives• Dec. 13 - Queen Mary, Geography• Dec. 13 - British Dragonfly Society• Feb. 14 - Kings, Geography• March 14 - Birkbeck Habitat management • May 14 - Wembley Arena

John Cottman c. 1810Norfolk marl pits

Ponds eveywhere!

Bodham

Brilliant watery patches in the farmlandPonds are important…

• They support at least 2/3 of aquatic taxa native to the UK

• 80 UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species

• Key importance to regional-scale biodiversity – small size and isolated nature…

• Key importance for connectivity in landscape –“pondscapes” idea

• – see Williams et al. (2004), Davies et al. (2008)

The apex predator…Stillwater (pond-lake) fish eaten more outside of the summer

22,000+ ponds in Norfolk (almost every field has one in some areas)95% of them look like this

Manor Farm credentials• Typical mixed farm with 40 field ponds

• 20 dragonflies (16 breeding), 50 water beetles, 23 submerged macrophytes, great crested newt (28 ponds), crucian carp (1 pond), 9-spine stickleback (2), eel (1), *Great Silver water beetle*

• Ponds managed on rotation – 4 per year

Part of Manor Farm, north-east Norfolk

Pond 10 after management

Pond 10 1 year after management

Sayer et al. 2012

Managed

Non-Managed

Sayers“Black Pit”!

What makes overgrown ponds so species-poor?What does terrestrialisation do to ponds?

3 ponds study

Sayers’s Black Pit

Sayer’s Black Pit, September 2011 Sayer’s Black Pit, November 2011

February 2012

September 2012

June, 2013 YES!

020406080

100120140160180200

Apr-2010

Oct-20

10

May

-2011

Nov-2011

Jun-20

12

Dec-20

12

Jul-2

013

Date

Wat

er D

epth

(cm

)

Management

Before restoration(2010-2011)

After restoration(2012-2013)

Aquatic macrop hytes

Pota mogeton natans Pota mogeton berchtoldii

Pota mogeton crispus

Ranunculus aquatilis Ranunculus sceleratus

Lemna m inor

Lemna trisulca Alisma plantago-aquat ica

Chara vulgaris

Aquatic mosses Dragonflies

Common Darter *Large Red Damselfly

Azure Damselfly *Common Blue Da mselfly *

Blue-tailed Damself ly *Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Emperor Dragonfly *Broad-bodied Chaser *

Ruddy Darter *Banded Demo iselle

Four-spotted Chaser Southern Hawker *

Emerald Da mselfy *Scarce Emerald Damselfy

Amph ibia ns

Common Toad *Common Frog *Smoo th Newt *

Great crested Newt *

600-700 year old germinating oospores

A forgotten little fish

Carassius carassius

Crucian carp biology

• Associated with small weedy ponds

• Tolerant of low O2 can survive for months in anoxic

• Will survive when others wont

Toughest fish in the world…can live for months with no O2 Our only native “carp”?

• Classified in 1972 as non-native

• In 1977 Wheeler re-classified species as native to SE

• Crucian carp’s pre-1960s distribution similar to other native fish species e.g. spined loach, silver bream, ruffe

• Might be old introduction? Naturalised?

Pre-1960s Why am I interested in the crucian carp?

• First fish ever caught at age of 8

• Was abundant in N. Norfolk until 1970s/80s

• Occurred to me in 2007 that I could not think of a pond to catch it in…

Sayer aged 10 Derek Sayer

“The species is thought to be almost extinct in Norfolk”

EA “Bite Size New” 2008

50+ Norfolk ponds studied, most known to have contained crucians in 1970s-1980s

Interviews withlocals…

Left: Roger Ditch

Right: Colin Wiper

1970s-1980s

Today75% decline

Why?Sayer et al. (2011)

Where did all the crucians go? Gone…

Gone, gone…Gone, gone, gone…

Gone, gone, gone, gone…

Ceratophyllum submersum

Potamogeton natans

Lemna minuta % cover

2008 4 0 1 <1 2007 0 0 1 <1 2006 0 0 1 <1 2005 0 0 5 90 2004 0 0 5 95 2003 0 0 5 100 2002 0 0 5 95 2001 0 0 5 90 2000 0 0 5 60 1999 2 3 5 90 1998 4 4 1 <5 1997 4 4 1 <1 1996 4 4 1 <1

Did not go fishing! ? 1986-early 1990s Lemna

1978-1985 Non-Lemna “Rail Pit” duckweed history 1978-2008Plant abundance given as DAFOR

2003

2008

Suspense building non-necessary slide

A lone survivor…

Oct. 2008 March 2009

Hope for the future…

March, 2011

Top notch! 217 crucian carp

March 2011

March 2013400+ YES!!!

If this cant survive…!

Pond conservation advice…

• “Trees growing in, over and around ponds make a good place for wildlife…don't be tempted to clear trees or branches unless there is real health and safety issue” Pond Conservation website

• “Invasive habitat management (e.g. plant clearance, dredging) should be undertaken only where there is little risk of damage to the existing biodiversity value of the pond site” UK Pond Habitat Action Plan (HAP)

Norfolk crucian carp BAP

• Set up in 2010 (Copp & Sayer, 2010)• Restore ponds and crucian populations

• 4 crucian carp pond restorations• 8 crucian re-introductions (4 new sites for

crucian carp – 2 new breeding pops)• Lots local talks on ponds and crucians• 60+ surveys…search on-going

Other amazing fish found….

Newts and fish…the old good fish is a dead fish!

Evil fish and lovely newts

• “Great Crested Newts will generally avoid ponds with fish. Recent research has indicated that they sniff the air when nearing a pond and avoid ones in which they can smell the presence of fish” (pondecologist.com)

Poor old fish• “Analysis of Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s pond survey data has

re-inforced the message that fish – even small numbers of tiny stickleback – can significantly reduce the wildlife value of a pond. Data from over 900 ponds showed that 17% of Suffolk ponds contained fish. Different fish species affect amphibians, plants and insects in different ways”

• Did the “good ponds” also contain fish?!

ARC Fish Control Methods

•“Great crested newt (Triturus cristatus) larvae are extremely vulnerable to predation by fish; their eggs are also taken opportunistically”

•“Rotenone application is often the most effective and desirable means of eradicating fish for newt conservation purposes”

50 ponds20 ponds had GCN- 9 with GCN and native fish- 11 with GCN and No fish

Kris Chan MSc

All fish and GCN ponds were plant-rich, had low shading +good buffering from farmland

Cladoceran zooplankton20 ponds with fish, 20 ponds without fish(Stefanoudis UCL MSc thesis)

Fish increase landscape-scale species diversity

Ghost Ponds The Ghost Ponds Project

Guestwick Ghost Pond

Sept 2013

Oct 2013 Ideas and implications• We need to restore some terrestrialised

ponds to create heterogeneous pond landscapes

• We can dig out old filled in ponds and resurrect lost species

• HLS and pond conservation initiatives needs to more fully embrace the pond restoration approach in *farmland*

• Pond restoration gets the public involved and engaged

Looks like the Somme!

Oases in the farmland Thankyou!

• Norfolk Biodiversity Partnership• Environment Agency• River Glaven Conservation Group

(http://www.riverglaven.co.uk/)• Many landowners/fishermen • Manor Farm, Briston• http://ghostponds.wordpress.com/ -

Emily’s blog