Available online
Description
This programme shows some practical ways that the Broads Authority are improving the ecology of the open water, preserving the banks and managing the landscape of Britain's largest wetland. It feat...ures biomanipulation of Ormesby Broad where almost a million fish have been removed, to allow the devastated population of water fleas (daphnia) to recover and clear the water floating algae. Following clarification of the water agquatic plants may need to be reintroduced, and experiments at Alderfen Broad highlight the importance of matching plants to sediment type. Commercial harvesting of reeds and sedge, not only maintains the open water ecology and wildlife, but stops encroachment by woodland scrub. More ecofriendly electric boats with low wash hull designs and coconut matting are helping preserve the banks and surrounding grazing marshes on each side of the rivers and open water, without restricting navigation. The medieval origins of the broads and the natural succession of plants that followed are being studied by digging 'turf ponds', and these too will help ecologists maintain this remarkable wetland.
This programme shows some practical ways that the Broads Authority are improving the ecology of the open water, preserving the banks and managing the landscape of Britain's largest wetland. It feat...ures biomanipulation of Ormesby Broad where almost a million fish have been removed, to allow the devastated population of water fleas (daphnia) to recover and clear the water floating algae. Following clarification of the water agquatic plants may need to be reintroduced, and experiments at Alderfen Broad highlight the importance of matching plants to sediment type. Commercial harvesting of reeds and sedge, not only maintains the open water ecology and wildlife, but stops encroachment by woodland scrub. More ecofriendly electric boats with low wash hull designs and coconut matting are helping preserve the banks and surrounding grazing marshes on each side of the rivers and open water, without restricting navigation. The medieval origins of the broads and the natural succession of plants that followed are being studied by digging 'turf ponds', and these too will help ecologists maintain this remarkable wetland.
| Module code and title: | S328, Ecology |
|---|---|
| Item code: | S328; 06 |
| First transmission date: | 21-09-1996 |
| Published: | 1996 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:55 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Tony Jolly |
| Contributors: | M. Aitken Clark; Jane Madgewick; Juliet Morris; Martin Perrow; Rick Southwood |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Electric Craft "Quiet Life"; Grazing Practice; Holidays; Navigation; Peat Digging; Sailing |
| Subject terms: | Environmental protection--England--Norfolk Broads; Nature conservation--England--Norfolk Broads; Wetland conservation; Broads (England) |
| Master spool number: | DOU8256 |
| Production number: | FOUS796W |
| Videofinder number: | 5207 |
| Available to public: | no |
