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Adder Population Decline

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TaylorH View Drop Down
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    Posted: 12 Jan 2015 at 12:36pm
Hello, all. I'm new to to this forum. I'm a student of ecology and conservation at Sparsholt college and I'm currently writing a report on the population dynamics and threats facing adders. Due to the nature of the adder it seems like there is very little information out there on the overall national population. I'm on the last part of my report in which I need to state whether conservation management projects and population surveys projects such as Add an Adder and Make the Adder Count have increased the overall population or if it's still in decline. I somewhat regret choosing the adder for this report, because there is very little information it seems. I would be extremely grateful if anyone could provide historical and current UK population statistics. Images of graphs or charts would be best.

Thank you. 
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Suzy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suzy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jan 2015 at 3:25pm
Lots of folk qualified to give you expert advice here. I'm not one of them, but yes there are problems, as you likely have found. Some areas are examined in greater depth than others and land doesn't tend to be acquired (reserves etc) for adders, rather for birds or plantlife. So adders often have to get along in areas that are managed for other species. In some places this works, in some it doesn't. Whilst adders should always figure in any management plans, the truth is they often don't. If you look through the forums here there is plenty of material showing what goes on in the name of conservation and how it affects adders.
Suz
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Iowarth View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Iowarth Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jan 2015 at 8:54pm
As Suzy says, plenty of people here who can helps. And she has summed the situation up with adders succinctly and accurately.

 Projects such as Add an Adder and MATC were never designed to improve the situation with the Adder but rather to improve knowledge of its status and to provide statistical evidence of the Adder's decline (which they did), in order to allow a more effective programme towards firstly, halting their decline and, secondly, reversing it.

I would suggest that you contact (if you have not already) Amphibian and Reptile Conservation at http://arc-trust.org who are most likely to be able to provide at least some information. Two individuals who may be able to help are Nigel Hand at http://www.centralecology.co.uk/ and Jonathan Cranfield who was responsible for MTAC.

As ever, it has become very clear that the greatest cause of Adder decline was habitat loss/destruction/lack of maintenance. More than any of our other herps, persecution continues to be a problem. It is, undoubtedly, going to be a long hard struggle to simply stop this decline, let alone reverse it.

So far as your regrets are concerned, ask yourself which is better - yet another report/paper which simply gathers what everyone else has written, frequently including inaccurate assumptions, or a paper that requires greater work and diligence but which may pull things together in a way that has not previously been done.

Chris
Chris Davis, Site Administrator

Co-ordinator, Sand Lizard Captive Breeding Programme (RETIRED)
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Robert V View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Robert V Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jan 2015 at 6:49pm
Well said Chris,

you only get out what you put in... but in my humble opinion, anything that gives a GPS position for an animal is an absolute disaster waiting to happen. Yes, collate the information, no don't publish.
RobV
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