eprintid: 10111037 rev_number: 14 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/10/11/10/37 datestamp: 2020-09-30 11:25:26 lastmod: 2021-09-20 22:36:35 status_changed: 2020-09-30 11:25:26 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Sayer, CD creators_name: Greaves, HM title: Making an impact on UK farmland pond conservation ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B03 divisions: C03 divisions: F26 keywords: agri-environment, engagement activities, evidence-based, policy, pond restoration and management, succession note: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. abstract: 1.It is of vital importance that aquatic conservation is evidence based, and in the field of farmland pond management and restoration evidence was largely lacking until an article published in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (AQC) in 2012. 2.To examine the influence of farmland pond management on aquatic biodiversity conservation, macrophyte and invertebrate diversity in ponds subject to traditional management involving scrub and occasional sediment removal at different time intervals in the past (0–2, 3–5, 6–10 years since management), were compared with a set of neighbouring, highly terrestrialized ponds that had not been managed for many decades. 3.With the exception of Mollusca, significantly higher species diversity was found for managed ponds compared with the late‐succession unmanaged ponds, with invertebrate gamma diversity significantly lower for the late‐succession ponds, compared with all the managed pond categories. 4.The AQC article was a key component of the Natural England (UK Government's adviser on the natural environment in England) ‘Freshwater and Wetland Conservation Narrative’ and has helped with integrating pond management into recent great crested newt Triturus cristatus mitigation policy as well as bringing it to the fore in past and evolving agri‐environment policy. 5.The AQC article provided the evidence and in turn the confidence for the authors and a number of conservation partners to form a Norfolk Ponds Project. Since 2014, the Project has delivered or facilitated more than 100 pond restorations in Norfolk, eastern England, as well as educating conservation practitioners and farmers on the importance of farmland ponds via various events. 6.With good underpinning science it has been possible to achieve considerable impact in the field of farmland pond conservation. This study shows the importance of setting aside time and support for academic staff to translate applied research outputs into practical impact. date: 2020-09-01 date_type: published official_url: https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3375 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1815918 doi: 10.1002/aqc.3375 lyricists_name: Sayer, Carl lyricists_id: CSAYE52 actors_name: Flynn, Bernadette actors_id: BFFLY94 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems volume: 30 number: 9 pagerange: 1821-1828 citation: Sayer, CD; Greaves, HM; (2020) Making an impact on UK farmland pond conservation. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems , 30 (9) pp. 1821-1828. 10.1002/aqc.3375 <https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3375>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10111037/1/aqc.3375.pdf