Bats are a fascinating and diverse group of species, it is important that we protect them and try do our own little bit to help them survive the damage we have caused to their natural habitats. We spoke to Professor John Altringham, a leading bat expert at the University of Leeds to ask him some questions about the current situation with bats and advice on how we can do our own bit to help:

“We should protect bats for no reason other than the fact we should. They are fascinating creatures whose pure intrigue makes them worth protecting and have every right to live without even considering any of the other advantage they provide.”

Bats make up a part of several ecosystems and the knock on consequences of the removal of bats could be disastrous to biodiversity. In addition to this bats even provide economic advantages; a 2011 study gave an estimate of bats contribution to the US economy through pest control of $23 billion a year.

The largest factor effecting bats at the moment are those caused by humans. “Destruction, degradation and fragmentation of their habitat are the main pressures acting on bats. We are constantly chipping away at them, reducing the area and quality of habitat available to them.” As a result of the damage we have caused some species of UK bats are down to only a few % of the population that existed a hundred years ago.

It is often thought that individuals can’t have much of an impact on issues spanning such wide areas however studies have proven that a diverse urban or sub-urban habitat can have great beneficial implications on helping maintain biodiversity and conservation of species. So, how can you do your bit to help?

Make your garden a haven for insects

To help bats you need to provide them with food, by attracting a range of insects to your garden, not only will you help increase the biodiversity of your garden, it will provide a range of potential food for bats.

•  Use a range of plants including night scented species to attract night flying insects.

Evening Primrose:

Image source: http://www.aromaoilstore.com/files/product/small/Evening%20Primrose%20Oil.jpg

Jasmine:

Image source: http://www.behindthename.com/imagebank/images/jasmine.jpg

Honeysuckle:

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesioc/3602897541/

·         A water feature or pond is also great for encouraging insects to settle in your garden as many insect species require pools of water to lay eggs in. Do not have fish in the pond though, these will eat any insect larvae and defeat the purpose of having the pond.

·         Don’t use pesticides, this may seem obvious but they reduce the available prey for bats and some pesticides can harm bats if they eat insects that are affected by the pesticides.

Keep it dark

Bats are primarily nocturnal, so use light in a sensitive way. Try to keep light levels low and not pointed at areas the bats are likely to use. Obviously you will need a bit of light to be able to enjoy the garden yourself but try to make it a compromise between you and the bats.

Bat boxes

In urban areas bat boxes are very difficult to get to work. The bats have plenty of options for places to roost in the surrounding buildings. If there aren’t a many buildings around to act as roosts then the best option to try is a large multi-chambered bat house that is positioned as high up as possible.

If you incorporate these features to your garden the most likely bats you would attract in urban areas would be the common and soprano pipistrelles. These are the smallest bats found in the UK weighing somewhere between 3.5 to 8.5 grams. Even though they are tiny bats they can eat up to 3,000 insects each in a single night. They fly very erratically close to buildings and trees.

In more fringe urban and suburban areas you may find other bat species like brown long-eared bats, natterer’s bats, noctule and Daubenton’s bats. Potentially others of the 18 resident British bat species could visit your garden but these are the most likely.

So let’s get gardening and doing our part to help with bat conservation. Let us know how your attempts at making a bat friendly garden go!

Sources

http://www.bats.org.uk/index.php

Boyles, J. G. et al. (2011) Economic Importance of Bats in Agriculture, Science, Vol 332, Pages 41-42.                                 

Ever wondered why they call it a "Secret" garden? The reason stretches far beyond the mystery of their location. Plants all around us have been acting like humans and remain unsuspecting to the vast majority of us! Of what has been revealed from the dedicated research, there is still complex plant behaviour that just cannot be explained. Despite this, the advantages that certain behaviours bring to plants and their similarities with those of humans, may present opportunities to justify some of our own behaviours, be they good or bad.

According to Plants it's ok to...

...Talk to Yourself, as Long as there are Plants Around

It's no secret that plants possess an extraordinary ability to communicate with each other. In fact the green thumbs of the world, including his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, have even cultivated the art of conversing with plants themselves. Research has suggested that certain types of sound wave may possibly interfere with the normal activity of some plant genes. Comparing sound exposure and the lack of it to pea plants revealed that the stimulus of sound might actually lead to greater plant mass. While certainly not conclusive just yet, this phenomenon remits the attention of keen gardeners and much more research from botanists.

...Fake an Illness

The "Elephant Ear" plant, which can be found in the everyday garden, mimics being ill to discourage mining moths from eating its otherwise healthy leaves. The process is known as Variegation and is commonly caused when plants lose their green chlorophyll cells, making them appear white. Naturally a plant lacking chlorophyll cells would have its ability to photosynthesise restricted and appear weak. Feigning this sickness detracts insect pests from eating plants and can strengthen their long-term success. So if it's photo day at school and an acne outburst leaves you resembling a variegated leaf, pulling a "sickie" might be an effective course of action.

A leaf damaged by mining moths (left) compared to one faking it (right)

Image source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8108000/8108940.stm

...Be Picky

Plants are very selective when it comes to choosing mates. They have a self-incompatibility system that helps them reject unwanted pollen. Often this is to avoid accepting the pollen of other species that can result in infertile off-spring or in some cases to avoid being fertilised by their own pollen. The tomato, tobacco, and egg plants have been subjected to the bulk of this research. While the reasons for the incompatibility system are understood, the understanding of it at a molecular level isn't. The mechanisms behind recognising wanted and unwanted pollen still remains a mystery. As humans, it seems we can take comfort in the fact that although our reasons for disqualifying someone as a potential mate may appear irrational and inexplicable, it just might serve us well in the long run!

...Be Shy

Mimosa Pudica, also known as the “touch-me-not” plant, is very shy to physical contact. In fact the slightest prod or gentle shake can cause it to close its leaves, and remain closed for up to half an hour! Its leaf cells react to pressure and transfer water to their adjacent cells. Cells with reduced water levels lose their strength in their cell wall causing the leaf to close. It is thought that this shy behaviour is used to surprise pests with their rapid change and scare them off. It just goes to show, sometimes being shy means being safe.

...Reach For the Sky!

If only metaphorically, this is another trait that humans and plants share in common. Plants grow up towards the sun to fuel their ever important process of photosynthesis. The plant hormone, auxin, promotes plant growth. It accumulates on the plant cells that are in the absence of light. Therefore the shaded side of a plant tends to grow faster than the side in the sunlight, causing the plant to grow towards the sun.  Their leaves which reach out to the sun can now photosynthesis and are rewarded with precious glucose, in contrast to fame and riches which humans may be rewarded with from reaching for the sky!

The personification of plant behaviour doesn't stop there either. There are plants that exist which have been known to cry out for help with chemicals, change their appearance to attract pollinators and even establish a neighbourhood watch!

Sources

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-478558/So-Charles-right--talk-plants-scientists-discover.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8108000/8108940.stm

http://www.aspb.org/PressReleases/mate_choice.cfm

http://www.kuriositas.com/2012/04/touch-me-not.html

http://www.vib.be/en/news/Pages/That-is-why-plants-grow-towards-the-light!.aspx

The start of spring is officially here! The days are getting longer, and the sun is beginning to shine (slowly but surely!) and it’s time to get out in the garden. Whether you’re a keen gardener with a green thumb, or you’re a complete novice there are plenty of ways to make the most out of your space. One such way of doing this is by upcycling. We all have bits and bobs in our house that we’re not quite ready to part with, but they are taking up valuable space... so why not upcycle them into something brand new and unique? 

One of the simplest ways of upcycling items for your garden is to make alternative plant pots. From old tin cans, to bottles and even newspaper, you can make cute plant pots out of almost anything!

Image designed by Mike Turner on behalf of Tiger Sheds

Click image to enlarge

To give an example, here’s how to make a plant pot out of newspaper (with the help of a tin can!):

• Take one page of newspaper and cut it into quarters.

• Depending on how big you want to make your newspaper plant pots, choose a tin can in the appropriate size.

• Wrap the newspaper pieces quite loosely around the can, and secure with a small piece of tape.

• Continue to wrap the newspaper around the bottom of the can and secure with another piece of tape.

• Just carefully slide the tin can out of the newspaper cup and then you should have a little seedling cup which you can fill with soil!

• As the newspaper is absorbent, another benefit of these plant pots is that you can water the soil from the bottom which is less damaging to the seedlings than planting from above.

To keep track of what you have in each plant pot, another neat idea which Karah from The Space Between suggested is to use upcycle old silverware, (either from a charity shop or what you have at home and don’t use anymore) and stamp them with the name of your plant! I think that would add a really pretty touch to your newspaper plant pots. Upcycling household items not only prevents waste, but it also helps to create a unique look for your garden – no-one else will have a plant pot quite the same! So have a look round your home or shed to see what you have lying around that can be upgraded into a brand new plant pot! Anyone have any other ideas for alternative plant pots, or other ways to upcycle in the garden?

Click image to enlarge

At this time of year, it may seem too soon to start thinking about your garden - we're only just starting to get over the sleet and snow! However, it's never too soon to start preparing your vegetable patch, and this handy planner helps you to keep your veggies on track all year around. To help you get started, we've picked basic (but tasty) vegetables that are going to help create lovely meals all year round. 

As most of us are aware the fungus Chalara fraxinea has been found on British shores. But what is Chalara fraxinea and why is it such a problem? Chalara fraxinea is a fungus that causes ash dieback in ash trees, and it’s particularly violent. It has the potential to devastate the ash tree population, similarly to what happened to Dutch elm trees in the 1970’s. The demise of the ash trees in Britain would be a huge blow to the ecosystem and biodiversity, especially in a time where climate change is high on the agenda.

Chalara fraxinea is a form of fungus that causes leaf loss and crown dieback in infected ash trees, otherwise known as ash dieback. Chalara fraxinea is actually the asexual form of a fungus called Hymenoscyphus psuedoalbidus, and is closely related to the saprotrophic Hymenoscyphus albidus. The fungus being saprotrophic means it feeds on the dead leaves of ash trees by secreting enzymes onto the leaf that then break the leaf down into smaller molecules; by breaking the food into smaller molecules the fungi can then absorb the digested nutrients without the use of internal organs. Because Hymenoscyphus albidus uses dead ash tree leaves for nutrition it is not considered dangerous to the ash tree population, but Chlara fraxinea feeds and grows on live ash trees causing the aforementioned crown dieback.

Many ash trees being sold in Britain have been nurtured abroad, even if the seed comes from Britain. The globalisation of the plant trade is one way the disease is believed to have been spread, another major theory is the spores have been naturally carried on the wind. Chalara fraxinea was first sighted in Poland in 1992, and with the emergence of ash dieback in Britain the majority of Europe now suffers with the problem.

If an ash tree has been infected by Chalara fraxinea the symptoms present themselves as dark patches on the leaves, and then small lens-shaped lesions or necrotic spots appear on the bark and stems. The necrotic lesions then enlarge into cankers causing wilting, dieback of shoots and branches, causing the top of the crown to die.  The wood turns a brownish grey under the bark lesions which usually extends longitudinally past the area of bark necrosis. One of the easiest ways to spot a tree affected by Chalara fraxinea is the lack of branches at the crown of the tree, but retaining them around the middle. Determining whether the dark lesions on the tree’s leaves are a result of Chlara fraxinea can be difficult at this time of year, and one of the only ways to tell if the tree is diseased is using DNA testing rather than natural leaf fall causing the leaves to change colour.  

A study conducted by Lars-Gӧran Stener into the ash dieback disease in Sweden indicates that the disease is strongly influenced by the trees genotype. All of the trees in the population exhibited symptoms of ash dieback, but some of the trees exhibited reduced susceptibility to Chalara fraxinea. This resistance was retained over a period of six years under heavy infection pressure, making the idea of breeding ash trees that are resistant to ash dieback a real possibility.

Dr. Robin Sen, an expert in soil microbial ecology and biotechnology at Manchester Metropolitan University, has suggested that “breeding for resistance would be possible, but it will take time as stable resistance will need to be rigorously screened”. This process could take years, and the fungus would also have to be under selection to maintain pathogenicity. By isolating the genes that cause the resistance to the fungi, and genetically modifying clones of the resistant trees, the very next generation of ash trees would have the genetic resistance.

If you do see an ash tree you think may have been affected by Chalara fraxinea don’t do anything hasty; cutting down an infected ash tree would distress the fungi and cause it to release further spores. If you are concerned about an ash tree in your area call the Forestry Commission Plant Health Service on 0131 314 6414

References

Lars-Göran Stener (2012): Clonal differences in susceptibility to the dieback of Fraxinus excelsior in southern Sweden, Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, DOI:10.1080/02827581.2012.735699 

Author Bio

Simon Howarth is a graduate from Leeds University’s Faculty of Biological Sciences with a keen interest in gardening and naturalism, you can read his post on responsible pest management here http://greenbuildingelements.com/2012/10/05/guest-post-responsible-management-of-garden-pests/.