Open Association of Landscape Industries
Lawn biodiversity
I am going to check the number of insects in a two foot
square area of lawn that has not been treated for the last
seven years, and compare it to a similar area from a lawn
that has been treated for the last seven years.
The soil will also be sifted to find worms etc.
My question is this, how do I check these areas of turf
for insects ?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David Channon on -
It depends how accurate you want to be. the total solution is to lift your turf, including subsoil and dunk it into a bucket of water containing a small amount of detergent.
Carefully fish out and rinse the grass and roots, examining each to make sure that they're clear.
The soil should sediment out and you need to sieve the residual liquid to collect the insects. Some ike Springtails can be very small so be gentle on the fine meshes or you'll break them up.
Store the insects in surgical spirits until you are ready to put them under the microscope.
The alternative is to make pitfall traps from plastic drink cups set into the turf at root level with about an inch of soapy liquid in the bottom. Put one to every square yard and the results will enable you to compare the profile across the lawn from any angle.
The result is relative rather than absolute but it gives a good guide.
Empty pitfall traps regularly because they stink will stink your kitchen out when you come to record your results. Filter and store in surgical alchohol in the fridge and they'll keep for ages until you have time to count and ID them.
Keys for insect ID of some species used to be available from Pemberly Books
Earthworm key here: http://www.earthwormsoc.org.uk/news/new-key-to-british-earthworms
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Pip Howard on -
I've had the privilege of aiding some very eminent scientists in their work, (being the man with the spade!), and have seen some bizarre methods of gathering data; from merely shaking a tree through to dunking a removed portion of sod into a bucket and seeing what floats. It is the percentages that are important and the statistical information gathered therafter. Bird numbers in the UK are measured by a system of volunteers going out and simply counting what they see on a given date. therefore once we get a system that provides data, that can be carried out by many, simply and without cost, then we are getting somewhere. No this will never be 'peer reviewed' but it will be transparent and will be useful. What John is suggesting sounds very similar to a pooter, which is widely recognised as a method of measuring biodiversity.
Kevin Barnett said:It seems your employee understands more about this than yourself. A simple test perhaps yes, a quick test perhaps no! What seasonality factors are out taking into account. Can you identify the bugs your going to blow out, will they be beneficial, non beneficial ? Lacewing larvae, wireworms ?
You still have not specified what chemicals you consider to be harmful.
There is an enormous amount of information to be considered other than just lifting a piece of turf , shaking or blowing it then counting the amount of insects etc that fall out to judge how ' healthier it is'
I'm looking forward to reading the gathered, analysed information.
Kevin
www.gardencoaching.blogspot.com
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Permalink Reply by John on -
I think I was going to use the leaf blower the wrong way, and now know
that it needs to be used in reverse... thanks Pip
I now have two problems, the first is trying to get the garden fleece
or gauze to stay in the pipe without it getting sucked into the fan.
The second is to try and find the plastic pipe that sucks up the leaves, that
we never use.
Once assembled it should be easy to work over a square area without even
having to dig up the turf, just to get a few initial figures, and to get an idea
of the best positions in the gardens for the test.
I think the turf will have to be shreaded afterwards and then placed in water, and
the top soil sieved.
Pip Howard said:I've had the privilege of aiding some very eminent scientists in their work, (being the man with the spade!), and have seen some bizarre methods of gathering data; from merely shaking a tree through to dunking a removed portion of sod into a bucket and seeing what floats. It is the percentages that are important and the statistical information gathered therafter. Bird numbers in the UK are measured by a system of volunteers going out and simply counting what they see on a given date. therefore once we get a system that provides data, that can be carried out by many, simply and without cost, then we are getting somewhere. No this will never be 'peer reviewed' but it will be transparent and will be useful. What John is suggesting sounds very similar to a pooter, which is widely recognised as a method of measuring biodiversity.
Kevin Barnett said:It seems your employee understands more about this than yourself. A simple test perhaps yes, a quick test perhaps no! What seasonality factors are out taking into account. Can you identify the bugs your going to blow out, will they be beneficial, non beneficial ? Lacewing larvae, wireworms ?
You still have not specified what chemicals you consider to be harmful.
There is an enormous amount of information to be considered other than just lifting a piece of turf , shaking or blowing it then counting the amount of insects etc that fall out to judge how ' healthier it is'
I'm looking forward to reading the gathered, analysed information.
Kevin
www.gardencoaching.blogspot.com
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Permalink Reply by John on
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Here is the link to the Pooter,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pooter
I don't think I will be using the small handheld device that
you suck the insects up with your mouth, I might suck up some rabbit poo.
- perhaps that is why it's so named.
John www.acegardenservices.co.uk said:I think I was going to use the leaf blower the wrong way, and now know
that it needs to be used in reverse... thanks Pip
I now have two problems, the first is trying to get the garden fleece
or gauze to stay in the pipe without it getting sucked into the fan.
The second is to try and find the plastic pipe that sucks up the leaves, that
we never use.
Once assembled it should be easy to work over a square area without even
having to dig up the turf, just to get a few initial figures, and to get an idea
of the best positions in the gardens for the test.
I think the turf will have to be shreaded afterwards and then placed in water, and
the top soil sieved.
Pip Howard said:I've had the privilege of aiding some very eminent scientists in their work, (being the man with the spade!), and have seen some bizarre methods of gathering data; from merely shaking a tree through to dunking a removed portion of sod into a bucket and seeing what floats. It is the percentages that are important and the statistical information gathered therafter. Bird numbers in the UK are measured by a system of volunteers going out and simply counting what they see on a given date. therefore once we get a system that provides data, that can be carried out by many, simply and without cost, then we are getting somewhere. No this will never be 'peer reviewed' but it will be transparent and will be useful. What John is suggesting sounds very similar to a pooter, which is widely recognised as a method of measuring biodiversity.
Kevin Barnett said:It seems your employee understands more about this than yourself. A simple test perhaps yes, a quick test perhaps no! What seasonality factors are out taking into account. Can you identify the bugs your going to blow out, will they be beneficial, non beneficial ? Lacewing larvae, wireworms ?
You still have not specified what chemicals you consider to be harmful.
There is an enormous amount of information to be considered other than just lifting a piece of turf , shaking or blowing it then counting the amount of insects etc that fall out to judge how ' healthier it is'
I'm looking forward to reading the gathered, analysed information.
Kevin
www.gardencoaching.blogspot.com
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Permalink Reply by John on
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I have been sent a test that can be used in any garden.
Take random plots 10 per 100m2 (5 per 50 sq2 )
Each plot of 100cm2 (10 cm by 10cm)
Using a pooter extract all the insects in that area
It is not essential to identify each insect but merely their
Genus herbivore, detritivore, carnivore, the latter is very
Important as it is a gauge of the wider species distribution
Remove soil to a depth of 10cm. A cube of 100 cm3
Dry this soil out completely by leaving the soil in a warm
place.
Once dry measure weight, then subject to intense heat- by Bunsen
burner, or on a stove or by blow torch, allowing smoke to leave but not
matter.
Then weigh the soil again, the loss in weight is the organic matter
measured as a percentage of the total weight before burning.
From what I can deduce, this test does not require the turf to be ripped apart
, so the problem of getting the customers permission is solved.
I would probably sieve the soil first before I heated it up to check for worms etc.
I am thinking that garden fleece stuck to the end of the pipe on the leaf collector
with duck tape might do the trick. - Still searching for the plastic pipe though.
A worm is an example of a detritivore, in case anyone was wondering :)
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Permalink Reply by John on
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Two customers have so far agreed to the test being done in their
garden, - these are people not going on holiday this year, so I kind of
had to ask :)
I don't think I will do the organic matter soil test for every hole, especially
if the lawn area is pretty much the same. Most of these lawns have been
cut by us for quite a few years so we know where they flood etc, and consequently
the areas to avoid.
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Permalink Reply by John on
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I have managed to find an electric leaf collector, and
very quickly wrapped some garden fleece around the end
of the pipe, pushing a few inches into the pipe. A bungee
was then tied around the fleece.
And it works, the fleece does not rip.
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Permalink Reply by John on
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This is a photo of a cross section of turf and the soil below, it was taken
from a lawn that has been chemically treated for many years. The previous owner
had about 100 tons of soil brought in to prevent the garden flooding in the winter,
he told me that it was about twenty years ago, but I will be seeing him tomorrow at
his new home, so I can find out exactly, and check if he treated it every year.
- The new owners have for about six years.
I found one small worm in the soil and nothing else, about 2 litres in quantity.
There does not seem to be a darker vein of soil just under the grass. It is all exactly the same.I am in the process of drying it out, and will then weigh it and heat it up and weigh again to find
out how much organic matter is in it.
It is too hot in Devon at the moment to do an insect check.
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by David Cox on -
I will do the same on my garden - on a bit that has been Mowed every year without treatment for the past 5 years or so - and the bit near my trees which has been left as a wildlife area - interesting to compare at 5 meters difference.
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Permalink Reply by John on
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Look forward to photo David,
I think intially I will take quite a few cross section photo's of
different lawns and the soil before I start to check the biodiversity.
It will be interesting seeing what is going on underneath, and perhaps
then understanding why specific problems are occuring.
David Cox said:I will do the same on my garden - on a bit that has been Mowed every year without treatment for the past 5 years or so - and the bit near my trees which has been left as a wildlife area - interesting to compare at 5 meters difference.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Barnett on -
David said to include the subsoil, you've just lifted a section of turf with the top soil.
You need to test the soil for its texture and structure, it's pH what is the soil temperature ( worms are active within a particular temperature range and soil pH. ) it is not good enough to make observations as to worm activity within such a narrow soil section without the additional information required to make informed observations.
What defines a synthetic fertiliser.
What other assessments of lawn / grass treatments are being made, other than the application of 'chemicals' have the areas been regu
Regularly scarifier, aerated etc.
Kevin
Www.gardencoaching.blogspot.com
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