Lucy E. Ridding
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View article: Assessing land use change and the impacts on semi-natural habitats across England and Wales using four time points between 1930 and 2020
Assessing land use change and the impacts on semi-natural habitats across England and Wales using four time points between 1930 and 2020 Open
Context Habitat loss and degradation caused by human land use change is one of the major drivers of global biodiversity decline. Understanding historical patterns of land use/land cover (LULC) change over multiple time periods is essential…
View article: Habitat Classification from Ground-Level Imagery Using Deep Neural Networks
Habitat Classification from Ground-Level Imagery Using Deep Neural Networks Open
Habitat assessment at local scales -- critical for enhancing biodiversity and guiding conservation priorities -- often relies on expert field survey that can be costly, motivating the exploration of AI-driven tools to automate and refine t…
View article: Practical methods for the control of tor-grass (Brachypodium pinnatum s.l.) and the restoration of calcareous grassland
Practical methods for the control of tor-grass (Brachypodium pinnatum s.l.) and the restoration of calcareous grassland Open
Calcareous grasslands are sites of high conservation value across Western Europe; however, they are increasingly threatened by the dominance of a native competitive grass, Brachypodium pinnatum, which reduces the diversity of the grassland…
View article: Do plant traits influence primary succession patterns for bryophytes and vascular plants? Evidence from a 33‐year chronosequence on bare chalk
Do plant traits influence primary succession patterns for bryophytes and vascular plants? Evidence from a 33‐year chronosequence on bare chalk Open
During primary succession, the abundance of different species and their associated plant traits change over time. Understanding how plant traits linked to colonising and competitive abilities change through succession is important for dete…
View article: A model of sediment retention by vegetation for Great Britain: new methodologies & validation
A model of sediment retention by vegetation for Great Britain: new methodologies & validation Open
Soil erosion is an substantial environmental concern worldwide. It has been historically and is of increasingly concern currently. Next to natural processes, over 2 million hectares of soil are at risk of erosion through intensifying agric…
View article: Historical data reveal contrasting habitat amount relationships with plant biodiversity
Historical data reveal contrasting habitat amount relationships with plant biodiversity Open
Assessing habitat loss effects on biodiversity is a major focus of ecological research. The relationship between habitat amount and biodiversity, postulated in the habitat amount hypothesis, is usually assessed at one point in time, which …
View article: Does agricultural intensification cause tipping points in ecosystem services?
Does agricultural intensification cause tipping points in ecosystem services? Open
Context Agricultural intensification is being widely pursued as a policy option to improve food security and human development. Yet, there is a need to understand the impact of agricultural intensification on the provision of multiple ecos…
View article: Ecological restoration of agricultural land can improve its contribution to economic development
Ecological restoration of agricultural land can improve its contribution to economic development Open
Given the negative environmental impacts of intensive agriculture, there is an urgent need to reduce the impact of food production on biodiversity. Ecological restoration of farmland could potentially contribute to this goal. While the pos…
View article: Historical, local and landscape factors determine the success of grassland restoration for arthropods
Historical, local and landscape factors determine the success of grassland restoration for arthropods Open
In Europe, extensively managed grasslands have undergone large-scale declines due to intensive agriculture and abandonment. Their restoration supports arthropod biodiversity within farming systems. We investigated limiting factors for arth…
View article: Neonicotinoid use on cereals and sugar beet is linked to continued low exposure risk in honeybees
Neonicotinoid use on cereals and sugar beet is linked to continued low exposure risk in honeybees Open
Risks posed to bees from neonicotinoid seed treatments (clothianidin, thiamethoxam, imidacloprid) led in 2013 to the European Union instigating a moratorium for their use on mass-flowering crops, including oilseed rape in the UK. This rest…
View article: Inconsistent detection of extinction debts using different methods
Inconsistent detection of extinction debts using different methods Open
The extinction debt, delayed species extinctions following landscape degradation, is a widely discussed concept. But a consensus about the prevalence of extinctions debts is hindered by a multiplicity of methods and a lack of comparisons a…
View article: Human‐mediated dispersal and disturbance shape the metapopulation dynamics of a long‐lived herb
Human‐mediated dispersal and disturbance shape the metapopulation dynamics of a long‐lived herb Open
As anthropogenic impacts on the natural world escalate, there is increasing interest in the role of humans in dispersing seeds. But the consequences of this Human‐Mediated Dispersal (HMD) on plant spatial dynamics are little studied. In th…
View article: Long-term change in calcareous grassland vegetation and drivers over three time periods between 1970 and 2016
Long-term change in calcareous grassland vegetation and drivers over three time periods between 1970 and 2016 Open
Analysis of long-term vegetation change is limited. Furthermore most studies evaluating change only examine two snapshots in time, which makes it difficult to define rates of change and accurately assess potential drivers. To assess long-t…
View article: How to transition to reduced-meat diets that benefit people and the planet
How to transition to reduced-meat diets that benefit people and the planet Open
Overwhelming evidence shows that overconsumption of meat is bad for human and environmental health and that moving towards a more plant-based diet is more sustainable. For instance, replacing beef with beans in the US could free up 42% of …
View article: Ongoing, but slowing, habitat loss in a rural landscape over 85 years
Ongoing, but slowing, habitat loss in a rural landscape over 85 years Open
Context Studies evaluating biodiversity loss and altered ecosystem services have tended to examine changes over the last few decades, despite the fact that land use change and its negative impacts have been occurring over a much longer per…
View article: The effectiveness of herbicides for management of tor-grass (Brachypodium pinnatum s.l.) in calcareous grassland
The effectiveness of herbicides for management of tor-grass (Brachypodium pinnatum s.l.) in calcareous grassland Open
Calcareous grasslands are highly biodiverse semi-natural habitats. A particular challenge to European calcareous grassland management in recent years has been the increasing dominance of the competitive grass Brachypodium pinnatum. B. pinn…
View article: Neonicotinoid residues in UK honey despite European Union moratorium
Neonicotinoid residues in UK honey despite European Union moratorium Open
Due to concerns over negative impacts on insect pollinators, the European Union has implemented a moratorium on the use of three neonicotinoid pesticide seed dressings for mass-flowering crops. We assessed the effectiveness of this policy …
View article: Wildlife-friendly farming increases crop yield: evidence for ecological intensification
Wildlife-friendly farming increases crop yield: evidence for ecological intensification Open
Ecological intensification has been promoted as a means to achieve environmentally sustainable increases in crop yields by enhancing ecosystem functions that regulate and support production. There is, however, little direct evidence of yie…