The Status of the Gipsywort Weevil Datonychus Arquatus on Pembrey Air Weapons Range in 2016.
The gipsywort weevil Datonychus arquatus, currently classified in Britain as Red Data Book: Indeterminate, is known in the British Isles only from Pembrey Air Weapons Range (SN3604) where it was first discovered in 1997. It is an Independently Qualifying Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) Feature of the Arfordir Pen-bre/ Pembrey Coast SSSI and a Conservation Objective has been developed (Boyce 2007). This contract sought to repeat the monitoring of 2006 to assess the current Condition of the SSSI Feature. Three Stations were identified in 2006 as supporting an abundance of the foodplant, gipsywort Lycopus europaeus, and the targets for Favourable Condition require assessment of each of these Stations. However, all of the fen vegetation in Stations 1 & 2 had been mown in the week prior to survey, which would have caused the loss of any sub-populations of D. arquatus in these areas had they been present. Survey of the adjacent grazing enclosure revealed an additional area of suitable habitat and this was assessed in addition to Station 3. A total of seven adult arquatus was recorded - five in Station 3 and two in the newly-discovered area, here designated as Station 4. Ten large patches of foodplant were recorded in total, but in four of these the plants were either too short or the area of the patch was insufficient. The loss of Stations 1 & 2 meant that an outcome of Unfavourable: Declining was inevitable and Station 4 is not big enough to compensate for the loss of habitat in those Stations. Management recommendations are given for each Station, which include the need to allow fen vegetation to recover in Stations 1 & 2 by stopping the current practice of mowing. In Stations 3 & 4 regular small-scale management of scrub encroachment will be needed to ensure that gipsywort patches are not lost to succession. Light grazing should be continued in the enclosure alongside Station 2 to help maintain open fen conditions. A visit was also made to the nearby Ffrwd Farm reserve of the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales to sample gipsywort populations there for D. arquatus. Here cattle grazing is sufficiently high to restrict gipsywort to protected situations underneath established willow carr etc., although other parts of the reserve without grazing stock, which weren't surveyed on this visit, may have healthier populations of the foodplant. No examples of D. arquatus were found but further surveys are recommended.
- Identification
- Extent
- Distribution
- Quality
- Keywords
- Spatial Reference System
- Content
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- Maintenance
- Metadata
Identification
- Identifier
- NRW_DS116797
- Alternative Title
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- Statws y Gwiddonyn Datonychus Arquatus ar Faes Arfau Awyr Pen-bre yn 2016.
- Metadata Language
- English
- Lineage
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Sampling techniques included hand and visual searches. Invertebrate identifications were by a competent taxonomist.
- Additional Information
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Fowles, A.P. (2016), The status of the gipsywort weevil Datonychus arquatus on Pembrey Air Weapons Range in 2016, NRW Evidence Report No. 180 25pp, Natural Resources Wales, Bangor.
- Dataset Reference Date (Publication)
- 2016-11-30
Temporal Extent
- Begin date
- 2016-08-12
- End date
- 2016-08-13
- Topic category
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- Biota
Extent
Extent
- Geographic Extent
- Carmarthenshire (44)
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Distribution
Distribution
- Format Type and Description
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Database
Database
()
- Specification
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A] The final report in Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF formats. [B] Species records, which are held on the NRW Recorder 6 database.
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Database
Database
()
- Resource Locator
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Data Download
World Wide Web page
Quality
Data quality
- Quality Scope
- Dataset
- Lineage
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Sampling techniques included hand and visual searches. Invertebrate identifications were by a competent taxonomist.
Keywords
Keywords
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2008-06-01
Keywords
- NRW Thesaurus
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- invertebrates (see also specific species)
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-12-31
Spatial Reference System
Content
Content Information
NRW Profile
Custom Elements
- NRW Related Title
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The status of the gipsywort weevil Datonychus arquatus on Pembrey Air Weapons Range in 2016
Constraints
Constraints
Limitations on Public Access and Use
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- Other restrictions
Access Constraints Directive
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- no limitations
Access Constraints Text
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There are no access restrictions to this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely.
Use Constraints
- Use constraints type
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
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© CNC/NRW Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and NRW's copyright. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose.
Metadata
Metadata
- File Identifier
- 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313136373937 XML
- Metadata Language
- English
- Resource type
- Dataset
- Metadata Date
- 2024-05-31T09:40:56.609Z
- Metadata Standard Name
- NRW
- Metadata Standard Version
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1.0