Habitat fragmentation and heathland species (ENRR095)

The present day occurrence of eight indicator species was examined on the same patches of heathland in Dorset as those surveyed by Moore in 1960 (Moore 1962). Unlike Moore, who determined the presence and absence of the indicator species from field survey, the exercise described used records from existing data sets, chiefly those held by the Dorset Environmental Records Centre, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Furzebrook. Moore demonstrated that as isolation of the heathland patches increased the number of indicator species was reduced.