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The wildlife of Wytham Woods by Abigail Campion Watt Headington School Oxford

Keith Kirby researching in Wytham Woods <i>(Image: Keith Kirby)</i>
Keith Kirby researching in Wytham Woods (Image: Keith Kirby)

Wytham Woods is home to an abundance of wildlife and different experiments being carried out by Oxford university. Keith Kirby, a woodland ecologist, who has been working in the woods since the 1970s, says that ‘there has most likely been an increase in tree diseases in recent years as diseases come with imports- ash dieback came from east asia’. Keith mentioned that ash dieback, which is spread by spores moving from tree to tree, is a big issue in the area because ‘around 95% of ash trees that get the disease are likely to die’. However, some ash trees are tolerant to ash dieback, the reason for which is yet to be discovered.

 

The effect on climate change can be studied by looking at trees, as ‘the tree rings are closer together in dry years and further apart in wet years’. Tree rings can also be helpful to archeologists in estimating the period of time in which pieces of wood have come from. ‘If someone gets a bit of oak out of an archeological dig, as long as there are a reasonable amount of rings, there are ways of matching that to the standard chronology of seven thousand years.’

 

On the subject of birds, the Wytham great tit study, led by Ben Sheldon, has been running since 1947, making it one of the longest running studies in the world- according to Keith ‘they see how many eggs are laid, if and when they hatch and the number of birds that fledge, and a transponder chip is placed just under the skin, meaning they can detect the bird when it is close to bird feeders. Researchers can subsequently know the movement of birds in the winter. Some birds do move but most stay in the area where they were hatched. There are good and bad territories for the birds, depending on factors including food sources and it does affect how long they survive.’

 

Another surprising topic that came up was the use of pollen to solve crimes. ‘Pollen is frequently used in detective work to tell where a body has come from’ due to the fact that ‘with a lot of species you can tell from the pollen which species it has come from’. Forensic palynologist Patricia Wiltshire used pollen evidence to solve murder mysteries.

 

Keith’s long research project into brambles led to an interest in the effects of deer populations on ground vegetation. To solve this problem, culling is continuously used in order to conserve the area.

 

To conclude, Wytham Woods is the most researched area globally and continues to be of high importance in the study of agriculture.