Portfolio https://www.esdm.co.uk/portfolio http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification mojoPortal Blog Module en-GB 120 no Review of occurrence and options for control of Common Cord-grass in Ireland Exegesis was contracted by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to review the ecology, occurrence and options for control of common cord-grass in Ireland. This work built upon the previous review of common cord-grass we undertook that focused on England. In England the species can be regarded as an endemic native, but in Ireland it is regarded as an invasive non-native.

The distribution of common cord-grass Sporobolus anglicus/Spartina anglica in Ireland.
Common cord-grass. © Tom Haynes.

The objectives of this review were to:

  • Review the ecosystem effects of common cord-grass
  • Map the distribution and extent of common cord-grass in Ireland
  • Review the options for the control and management of common cord-grass
  • Develop a common cord grass control action plan that can be applied to coastal sites in Ireland

Literature review suggested that the perceived impacts of common cord-grass are often speculative. There was evidence of an impact on macrobenthos diversity, which may explain reported impacts on wading birds that feed on these organisms. There is also evidence that it can impact eelgrass Zostera beds. However, few other reported impacts had strong support and there were suggestions that common cord-grass might facilitate other species. There are also uncertainties about the relationship of sediment regimes and common cord-grass, and the potential impact of management and dieback.

Data analysis was undertaken in PostGIS. The extent of common cord-grass was determined based on the two Saltmarsh Monitoring Projects and the SAMFHIRES project. These provided excellent and up to date coverage, suggesting that the extent of common cord-grass was in the range 688 to 1,223 ha. These data combined with presence based records of the species showed that common cord-grass was widely distributed in Ireland, with records intersecting 167 out of 214 coastal sites.

The threat posed by common cord-grass to Annex I habitats was assessed. It was found to pose a substantial threat to three Annex I habitats, with particular concern for the rarest habitat considered (H1420).

Based on the literature review, a mixture of cutting, smothering, excavation and herbicide application could be used to control common cord-grass. However, this came with caveats, as some techniques, such as cutting, are unlikely to be effective on their own, and all techniques risk impacting other species and habitats in the vicinity. We therefore developed a management decision tool to help guide managers though the analysis required to determine the amount of survey and management action required for a site. This was provisionally implemented on the 167 coastal sites with records of common cord-grass to estimate the extent and costs of actions required.

Note that common cord-grass is currently subject to a degree of nomenclatural uncertainty. Formerly known as Spartina anglica, it is now considered to be a member of the genus Sporobolus, as Sporobolus anglicus. However, this change has not been universally accepted.

Further information from Mike Lush.


Mike Lush]]>
https://www.esdm.co.uk/review-of-occurrence-and-options-for-control-of-common-cord-grass-in-ireland https://www.esdm.co.uk/review-of-occurrence-and-options-for-control-of-common-cord-grass-in-ireland https://www.esdm.co.uk/review-of-occurrence-and-options-for-control-of-common-cord-grass-in-ireland Wed, 23 Dec 2020 10:51:00 GMT
National Historic Landscape Characterisation (NHLC) Project Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) is a technique that allows the classification and presentation of historic aspects of broad landscapes. HLC is regularly used to support management, enjoyment, protection and planning, or to stimulate more detailed research.

Prior to the National HLC (NHLC) project, virtually all of England had been characterised through individual HLC projects, but these were at county or sub-regional level, with each of the studies using slightly different methodologies and categorisation methods. In early 2016, Natural England appointed Exegesis to compile a national HLC dataset, drawing together the existing sub-regional HLC datasets and applying a common framework, structure and terminology to a new unified dataset. The aim of the project was to improve the awareness, understanding, appreciation and ability to manage and monitor the historic dimension of England’s landscape at a national scale, for both professional and non-professional end-users.

Extract from the 1km grid NHLCThe database containing the terminology applied to all the different sub-regional datasets was cleaned and then the original terms used were mapped to a bespoke thesaurus, created to ensure that all could be mapped to a suitable, equivalent new term. The associated spatial data was also processed so that the irregular polygons were firstly imported to a merged dataset and then generalised into a gridded dataset. The gridded approach eliminated discrepancies in polygon size or accuracy, and overcame issues where there were small amounts of missing data in the original datasets.

The final gridded dataset was produced at 500m and 1000m scale, with each grid cell having a single associated record with information about the historic landscape character types (both broad types and narrower, character types) and period information. The datasets can be viewed and interrogated in GIS software packages, and when viewed alongside other datasets, the NHLC data can act as an indicator of historic landscape character and can therefore feed in to decisions about landscape management, planning, heritage asset management or research priorities.

View the outputs.

Further information from Abby Hunt.


]]>
https://www.esdm.co.uk/national-historic-landscape-characterisation-nhlc-project https://www.esdm.co.uk/national-historic-landscape-characterisation-nhlc-project https://www.esdm.co.uk/national-historic-landscape-characterisation-nhlc-project Mon, 07 Aug 2017 14:49:00 GMT
CMSi BARS Export Module CMSi BARS Export ModuleCMSi is software designed to support adaptive management of conservation and amenity areas. It is currently used for the management of many hundreds of sites across the UK and Europe. A significant proportion of the management activities entered into CMSi are actions that affect site biodiversity and so are directly relevant to BARS.

The BARS Export module for CMSi was commissioned by Natural England to help site managers to convert their CMSi projects to BARS actions, without the need to re-type them into the BARS website.

The contract included a period of consultation with the BARS technical team to establish the best translation between CMSi and BARS concepts. Next, a plugin interface was designed. The design goals for the interface were and to make it as quick, easy and transparent as possible for CMSi users to export their projects to BARS actions.

The solution was a single form in CMSi consisting of two panes and a set of editing controls. The top pane displays all CMSi projects in a grid with icons indicating whether they are ready for export or have been modified since the last export. These projects can then be copied down into the bottom export pane. Here the projects can be edited to match BARS term lists using auto-completion controls for bulk editing, filtering and sorting.

The module also remembers previous exports and displays a complete history including whether projects have been modified since the last export. This ensures that subsequent exports are even easier for users and the whole process is completely transparent.


Mike Lush]]>
https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-bars-export-module https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-bars-export-module https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-bars-export-module Fri, 23 May 2014 14:59:00 GMT
CMSi Designated Sites System In this ongoing project, Natural England are extending CMSi to use it for managing all designated sites in England both replacing their ENSIS system and extending its use to Marine Conservation Zones as well. This will allow users to record the features on designated sites, their condition, the ownership on those sites, find out which other designations overlap their site including which SSSIs legally underpin Natura2000 site amongst other requirements.

This information is shared with the public and stakeholders through the bespoke web site https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/

Further information from Colin Wright.


Mike Lush]]>
https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-designated-sites-system https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-designated-sites-system https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-designated-sites-system Tue, 03 Dec 2013 12:40:00 GMT
CMSi API The CMSi API is a set of web services based upon the Odata open standard. It allows CMSi data to be exported and imported into other systems via a standard HTTP requests and is typically used by web sites, mobile applications or other systems that need to create, read, update or otherwise interact with CMSi data. The API is available for all plugin modules to CMSi (for example the Property and Agreements module, Observations and Vegetation module) and is part of the core CMSi system.

Further information from Laine Skinner.


Mike Lush]]>
https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-api-1 https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-api-1 https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-api-1 Fri, 22 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMT
CMSi Property & Agreements Module Working with GBNL and Natural England, exeGesIS created a set of modules for CMSi that allowed ownership data, all property transactions, agreements, rights and assets to be integrated with site and management plan data held in CMSi. This allows work carried out traditionally by land agents to be viewed by site managers as it affects their work and transforms CMSi into a complete site management system rather than just about conservation planning and recording.

Further information from Laine Skinner, or see the Property and Agreements module on our website.


Mike Lush]]>
https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-property-agreements-module https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-property-agreements-module https://www.esdm.co.uk/cmsi-property-agreements-module Fri, 05 Jul 2013 23:00:00 GMT
Species Observations and Vegetation Recording Module Species observation and vegetation recording module for the Conservation Management System CMSiThe observations and vegetation mapping module for CMSi was developed to allow managers to integrate wildlife records and vegetation surveys with their site data.

Support is provided for entering data as CMSi monitoring projects associated with a site and for incidental records collected by volunteers. The module features a range of input forms that can be customised to suit a variety of recording needs. Data can be browsed from an intuitive tree interface, filtered, and viewed in the standard map window alongside other CMSi layers.

In addition, sophisticated reports can be specified using a wizard, which are then generated within the module and exported to GIS.

The system includes a mobile app (iOS, Android and Windows) and an API to communicate with the backend CMSi system. The mobile app is used by field surveyors throughout the GBNL consortium on iPads and a range of Android tablets. The surveyors record observations and sync these with the backend CMSi database. They typically deal with many thousands of observations and species dictionaries and data volumes are quite large.

The mobile app is map-centric and uses the device GPS and offline mapping for the entire country. The app also provides more advanced control over the map layers and allows additional KML and ESRI shape files to be imported and overlaid by the end user.


Mike Lush]]>
https://www.esdm.co.uk/species-observations-and-vegetation-recording-module https://www.esdm.co.uk/species-observations-and-vegetation-recording-module https://www.esdm.co.uk/species-observations-and-vegetation-recording-module Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:12:00 GMT
Development of CMSi for use as a protected area management system for Netherlands CMSi for use as a protected area management system for the NetherlandsexeGesIS completed a project for a consortium of Dutch organisations including Natuurmonumenten and Staatsbosbeheer and the CMSi Community to develop a new version of CMS (CMSi) software application to be used across the Netherlands for the management of nature conservation protected areas. exeGesIS were closely involved in the system design and undertook all the software development and capacity building work.

Further information from Colin Wright.


Mike Lush]]>
https://www.esdm.co.uk/development-of-cmsi-for-use-as-a-protected-area-management-system-for-netherlands https://www.esdm.co.uk/development-of-cmsi-for-use-as-a-protected-area-management-system-for-netherlands https://www.esdm.co.uk/development-of-cmsi-for-use-as-a-protected-area-management-system-for-netherlands Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:00:00 GMT
Management plans for sites in Northern Ireland Giants CausewayexeGesIS produced a set of 20 management plans for some of Northern Ireland's top sites, such as the Giant's Causeway, for the National Trust and in conjunction with Allen Mellon Environmental. This was done through a series of workshops with wardening staff in which the following was identified:

  • The features of the site
  • The factors affecting the features
  • The monitoring required
  • The management projects required.

The final plans were handed over in CMS7, giving the managers a working tool to record planned activities and data collected. CMS training was also provided to the site managers to allow future update of the plans.

Regional Conservation Advisor, Phil Davidson, said that “working with exeGesIS has proved an effective way to get our management plans up and going and their approach of working alongside our staff has made the whole process more inclusive and stimulating”

Further information from David Mitchel.


Mike Lush]]>
https://www.esdm.co.uk/management-plans-for-sites-in-northern-ireland https://www.esdm.co.uk/management-plans-for-sites-in-northern-ireland https://www.esdm.co.uk/management-plans-for-sites-in-northern-ireland Sat, 03 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Topla Landscape Park Management Plan In a joint project with Eurosite and the Slovenian Institute for Nature Conservation, we facilitated a management planning workshop to prepare a CMS plan for the Topla Landscape Park. Topla is a small alpine valley in northern Slovenia and has many SAC and SPA features including beech forests, capercaillie, black grouse and pygmy owls. Working out how to manage the interplay of these features made for a challenging but very productive workshop.

John Harvey, the Eurosite representative for the project writes, “The use of the CMS software was of great value in developing the plan, providing a structure within which decisions could be recorded, modified and manipulated with ease and speed. The skills of the exeGesIS representative enabled the software to be used to its maximum value.”

Further information from David Mitchel.


Mike Lush]]>
https://www.esdm.co.uk/topla-landscape-park-management-plan https://www.esdm.co.uk/topla-landscape-park-management-plan https://www.esdm.co.uk/topla-landscape-park-management-plan Thu, 12 Oct 2006 23:00:00 GMT