ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULT - MARWELL ZOO

Another university project ive had to do, is pretending to be an Environmental Consultant investigating Marwell Zoo and its suitability in terms of active conservation efforts.

A Brief History of Marwell:

Marwell Zoo covers 140 acres in Hampshire. It is situated in the estate of Marwell Hall, which was built around 1320 by Walter Woodlock. Ownership passed to the Seymour family in the 1500's and it is believed to be the place Henry VIII courted Jane Seymour. During WWII, an area of the estate was used as an airfield.

Marwell Hall

The zoo was founded by John Knowles and opened in 1972. It was one of the earliest zoos in Europe to place an emphasis on animal conservation. In 1977 a male giraffe tore a muscle and fell to the ground, unable to get up. Press suggested this occurred during mating. Attempts to help him to his feet failed and it became an international news story. He died of a heart attack. The publicity turned Marwell into a major tourist attraction when the female gave birth.

In 1999, Marwell lost all its penguins (22 African and 5 Macaroni) to Avian Malaria. Marwell was the only zoo to lose its entire colony. It was re-stocked with Humboldt penguins, which are endangered in the wild but common in captivity.

In 2003, after constructing a new enclosure for Amur leopards, a female escaped from its enclosure and fell from a tree to its death. The female was replaced and a cub born in 2005. The cub escaped from its enclosure into the male’s enclosure and was killed. On 18^th November 2007, a female Amur leopard cub was born as a result of a European Conservation Breeding Programme.

Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) cub

Marwell Zoo is home to over 1200 animals and 235 species. They have the largest collection of ungulates in the UK.

A bit of conservation history at Marwell:

Marwell Preservation Trust was established in 1972 to manage Marwell Zoological Park. A complementary education service supporting wildlife conservation and environmental goals was subsequently developed and the Trust established a record of supporting a range of in-situ conservation initiatives. Recently, the Trust invested resources to establish and develop its own portfolio of international conservation projects. Its new identity of Marwell Wildlife seeks to address causes of extinction and manage vulnerable populations of threatened species to ensure their survival.



Current projects include:

BRITISH WILDLIFE - Marwell contributes to the conservation of biodiversity in Hampshire and the surrounding counties of southern England. Beginning with responsible stewardship of the land owned by Marwell, habitat and species restoration projects and biological surveys are undertaken and monitoring to evaluate the impacts of land management. Marwell works formally within protected areas.

SAHARA - Long term aim is to reintroduce Scimitar-Horned Oryx back into the Sahara. Marwell works with like-minded organisations and plays an active role in establishing and developing the Saharan Conservation Fund, which aims to conserve the wildlife within the Sahara and the surrounding grasslands.

Scimitar-Horned (Oryx dammah) Oryx

KENYA - The flagship for work in north Kenya is the Grevy’s Zebra, which is threatened by competition from livestock, habitat degradation and hunting. The aim is to help secure the future as part of a broader contribution to the conservation of its ecosystem. Marwell is supporting the national strategy for Grevy’s zebra conservation and the work is also supported by the Dutch Zoo Conservation Fund.

Grevy's (Equus grevyi) Zebra

ZIMBABWE - the Marwell Zimbabwe Trust (MZT) was established in 1977. it makes long-term contributions to the conservation of some of Zimbabwe’s most critical wildlife resources. It works with the Parks & Wildlife Management Authority on an agreed plan for the conservation of the country’s rhino populations. It also has a mandate to determine the population size and distribution of cheetah and to reduce human-predator conflict. An important function of the MZT is to provide opportunities for the training and development of local conservation professionals. MZT is based at Dambari Field Station near Bulawago.


In 2009, Marwell Zoo:

·         Did a review of national and international biodiversity conservation programmes.

·         Supported development of a new plan for MZT.

·         Did post-release monitoring of the addax and Scimitar-Horned Oryx in Tunisia.

·         Did ecological monitoring surveys and habitat restoration of Eelmoor Marsh SSSI in Hampshire.

·         Captive bred and released 65 sand lizards on heathlands in Dorset.

Sand Lizard (Lacerta agilis)

Environment: In 2009, Marwell used 3.5% less energy, including 5% efficiency in heating animal houses, reduced waste by 20% and increased recycling by 88%.

BIRD DIVERSITY AT WHISBY NATURE PARK

I have recently spent a day observing and identifying birds at Whisby Nature Park, Lincoln for the Conservation of Biodiversity module of my course. The point of the study was basically to see whether lakes with different characteristics have an effect on, 1) the average total count of birds observed, 2) the average species richness, 3) The average Simpson and 4) Shannon Diversity Indices.


Whisby Nature Park is a 150 hectare Local Nature Reserve made up of flooded gravel pits of different sizes and characteristics. The two lakes chosen for the study were Thorpe Lake and Grebe Lake, which are significantly different from each other. Thorpe Lake is very deep, with steep sloping sides and has an almost constant water level all year round. Grebe Lake is of varying depths with many islands and shallow margins.

Grebe Lake

Observations were carried out for 5 mintues, then a 5 minute rest period before the next 5 mintue observation period. This was done 5 times on each lake and all species seen on the water during the observation period recorded. All of the data was collected and analysed.


Results showed an obvious increase in numbers of birds on Grebe Lake with 1976 birds seen, and only 826 seen on Thorpe Lake (P=0.003). Species Richness was also greater in Grebe Lake (P=0.046) and the same can be said for the Simpson Diversity (P=0.042). Shannon Diversity showed no significant difference however (P=0.743). I'm not sure why this is. It could be that I calculated the Shannon Diversity indices wrong in the first instance, therefore effecting the results of the statistical analysis.

There are a number of bird species that favour flooded gravel pits as their general habitat, such as the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula), Pochard (Aythya farina), Gadwall (Anas strepera), Coot (Fulica atra), Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), Grest-crested Grebe (Podiceps cristalus), Canada Goose (Branta Canadensis) and the Cormorant (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) in winter (Sterry 2004).

In general, Grebe Lake shows higher numbers and diversity of species. This could be due to its varying levels of depth. The shallows provide excellent feeding habitat for dabbling birds (birds that filter the first few centimetres of water) such as Shovelors (Anas strepera) and Wigeons (Anas penelope) (Guillmain, Martin & Fritz 2002).  The mid depth and deeper waters are great for diving birds such as the Tufted duck, Pochard, Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) and Coot. The tufted duck feeds primarily on molluscs (Olney 1963), pochard usually feed on water plants such as Charophytes (Olney 1968), and the Goldeneye usual diet is pondweed (Jones & Drobney 1986), as is the Coots.


Male Tufted Duck

The mid depth waters are the perfect habitat for these species, and they were therefore seen in greater numbers than on Thorpe Lake. There is also a much greater number of Gulls at Grebe Lake, again due to the shallower water levels and the availability of food. Gulls also winter inland, and feed on human refuse (Horton, Brough & Rochard 1983). Whisby Nature Park has a visitor centre with a café so there will be refuse coming from the centre, as well as Lincoln and other town nearby with plenty of refuse.

Weather conditions should also be taken into account. It was very windy on the day the observations were carried out, and Thorpe Lake appeared to be a lot less sheltered and the water was slightly rough. Grebe Lake was more sheltered by surrounding foliage and the water appeared calmer. The ducks may have chosen the more sheltered of the two lakes on this particular day. Also, the time of year causes fluctuations in numbers due to influxes of birds from Europe (Sterry 2004) which would have effected the number observed.

The assessment could be made more accurate by doing observations at different times of day and maybe over a number of weeks or months. This would give a more accurate picture of the actual numbers of birds and the numbers of species that visit the lake. Doing the assessment over a number of weeks would give us an indication of which animals are more common on the lakes during the winter months. The assessment could be carried out at different times of year to give an example of species found throughout the year but at different times. This would give an overall greater picture of the diversity at the lakes. 

References:

Guillmain M., Martin G.R., Fritz H (2002) Feeding methods, visual fields and vigilance in dabbling ducks (Anatidae). Functional Ecology 16(4):522-529.

Horton N., Brough T., Rochard J.B.A. (1983) The Importance of Refuse Tips to Gulls Wintering in an Inland Area of South-East England. Journal of Applied Ecology 20(3):751-765.

Jones J.J., Drobney R.D. (1986) Winter Feeding Ecology of Scaup and Common Goldeneye in Michigan. The Journal of Wildlife Management 50(3):446-452.

Olney P.J.S (1963) The Food And Feeding Habitats of Tufted Duck, Aythya Fuligula. Ibis 105(1):55-62.

Olney P.J.S (1968) The food and feeding habits of the Pochard, Aythya farina. Biological Conservation 1(1):71-76.

Sterry P (2004) Collins Complete Guide to British Birds. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-00-723686-2.

Jambo!

Well hello. Im Beccy. Will try not to bore you so much with what i post...not that anyone will read it really.
Will probably mainly post about uni work and campaigns etc, such as stuff from Sussex Wildlife Trust or National Trust etc...or jus other random crap that i fancy ssaying in my times of boredom. We'll see. Im very good at chatting bout useless crap! Then i gotta figure out the deal with this thing and how to post pictures....im sure ill manage.
Much love xx