An example of how to build conservation evidence from case studies:Fire and raking to enhance Pulsatilla vernalis populations

• tCan data collected by practitioners during practical conservation work be used as decision support? Tofind out, we used unpublished data from attempts to enhance populations of the vascular plant Pulsatillavernalis in Sweden. About half of the 50 located cases had generated data useful for meta-analysis. Wecould show that burning had a positive effect while mechanical disturbance had negligible effects onnumber of plants in short-term follow-ups. Furthermore, we suggest that follow-up variables related toflowering are inferior for monitoring intervention success as flowering varies greatly between years. Inthe broader context, our example shows that simple records from practical conservation work can be arich source of information. It was also obvious that there is great potential for more useful evidence bymaking just small improvements in field protocols, documentation, and archiving. Finally, we suggestthat biologists and researchers need to develop an appreciation of "different levels of evidence", and thatin circumstances where we lack relevant experiments or observational studies, case studies might beuseful for improving interventions.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

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