Cargando…

Beneficial Land Management for Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in the United Kingdom

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Hedgehogs are declining in the United Kingdom and are now absent from large areas of agriculture land. This commentary discusses the requirements of hedgehogs and links these to land management options that are currently used to benefit wildlife in agricultural areas. Using our knowl...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Yarnell, Richard W., Pettett, Carly E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7552150/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32899181
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10091566
_version_ 1783593337724338176
author Yarnell, Richard W.
Pettett, Carly E.
author_facet Yarnell, Richard W.
Pettett, Carly E.
author_sort Yarnell, Richard W.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Hedgehogs are declining in the United Kingdom and are now absent from large areas of agriculture land. This commentary discusses the requirements of hedgehogs and links these to land management options that are currently used to benefit wildlife in agricultural areas. Using our knowledge of hedgehog requirements for population persistence, we suggest which land management practices are likely to be of benefit to hedgehogs in the hope that land owners will adopt some of the suggestions to help maintain and expand existing hedgehog populations across agricultural landscapes of the United Kingdom. ABSTRACT: Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) are traditionally thought of as being a rural dwelling species, associated with rural and agricultural landscapes across Europe. However, recent studies have highlighted that hedgehogs are more likely to be found in urban than rural habitats in the United Kingdom. Here, we review the status of rural hedgehog populations across the UK and evaluate the potential benefits of agri-environment schemes for hedgehog persistence, while highlighting a lack of empirical evidence that agri-environment options will benefit hedgehog populations. Our synthesis has implications for future conservation strategies for hedgehogs and insectivorous mammals living in agricultural landscapes, and calls for more empirical studies on agri-environment options and their potential benefits to hedgehogs.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7552150
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-75521502020-10-16 Beneficial Land Management for Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in the United Kingdom Yarnell, Richard W. Pettett, Carly E. Animals (Basel) Commentary SIMPLE SUMMARY: Hedgehogs are declining in the United Kingdom and are now absent from large areas of agriculture land. This commentary discusses the requirements of hedgehogs and links these to land management options that are currently used to benefit wildlife in agricultural areas. Using our knowledge of hedgehog requirements for population persistence, we suggest which land management practices are likely to be of benefit to hedgehogs in the hope that land owners will adopt some of the suggestions to help maintain and expand existing hedgehog populations across agricultural landscapes of the United Kingdom. ABSTRACT: Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) are traditionally thought of as being a rural dwelling species, associated with rural and agricultural landscapes across Europe. However, recent studies have highlighted that hedgehogs are more likely to be found in urban than rural habitats in the United Kingdom. Here, we review the status of rural hedgehog populations across the UK and evaluate the potential benefits of agri-environment schemes for hedgehog persistence, while highlighting a lack of empirical evidence that agri-environment options will benefit hedgehog populations. Our synthesis has implications for future conservation strategies for hedgehogs and insectivorous mammals living in agricultural landscapes, and calls for more empirical studies on agri-environment options and their potential benefits to hedgehogs. MDPI 2020-09-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7552150/ /pubmed/32899181 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10091566 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Commentary
Yarnell, Richard W.
Pettett, Carly E.
Beneficial Land Management for Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in the United Kingdom
title Beneficial Land Management for Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in the United Kingdom
title_full Beneficial Land Management for Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in the United Kingdom
title_fullStr Beneficial Land Management for Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in the United Kingdom
title_full_unstemmed Beneficial Land Management for Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in the United Kingdom
title_short Beneficial Land Management for Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in the United Kingdom
title_sort beneficial land management for hedgehogs (erinaceus europaeus) in the united kingdom
topic Commentary
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7552150/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32899181
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10091566
work_keys_str_mv AT yarnellrichardw beneficiallandmanagementforhedgehogserinaceuseuropaeusintheunitedkingdom
AT pettettcarlye beneficiallandmanagementforhedgehogserinaceuseuropaeusintheunitedkingdom