Seedling emergence studies underway at Wicken

An exciting three year research project, funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and based at Anglia Ruskin University, is currently underway designing methods and protocols for monitoring and evaluating the achievement of two large scale habitat creation projects; the Great Fen in Huntingdonshire and the Wicken Vision in Cambridgeshire.

As a part of this project, experiments are now underway which will help to build up a picture of the seed source currently available in the soils of the restoration land at Wicken.

In November 2007, a total of 480 soil cores (approximately 400 litres of soil) were taken from various areas within the restoration land and the National Nature Reserve. These soil cores were stored at 5ºc for four weeks before being sieved through a 10mm mesh, sub-sampled and placed in seed trays. In each of the 96 seed trays, two litres of 'Wicken' soil were placed on top of a thin layer of sterile sand and positioned in a large greenhouse at C.E.H. Monks Wood. Artificial conditions in the greenhouse will help to speed up germination of any seeds present within the trays, and on emergence all seedlings will be recorded and identified to species level. The process will take the better part of the year, but after only one week in the greenhouse, seedlings are already starting to emerge.

It will be fascinating to record what species do pop up, and the results of this experiment will be available on the website in due course.