Restoration ecology continues to become ever more relevant as legislation demands we prevent biodiversity losses. Post-industrial restoration sites pose a number of additional challenges, including balancing ecological need with logistical and financial constraints. In the North of Scotland, one such site is the Dounreay Nuclear Power Plant, now undergoing decommissioning. The intention is to restore cliff-top habitat with native vegetation, blending in with its surroundings and necessitating minimal maintenance. The overall objective of this PhD research was to help develop a plan for the restoration of the site. A key challenge in this particular case was the residual low level radioactivity at depth in some areas, and a restoration layer is required to prevent contamination of bioreceptors at the surface, however, topsoil availability is limited. The cliff top site, and exposure to salt spray driven by strong winds, meant the identification of suitable vegetation communities for different areas could be crucial to its success. Vegetation and soil surveys across nine reference sites along the North coast of Scotland identified five non-peat vegetation communities suitable for Dounreay's restoration. Restoration ecology continues to become ever more relevant as legislation demands we prevent biodiversity losses. Post-industrial restoration sites pose a number of additional challenges, including balancing ecological need with logistical and financial constraints. In the North of Scotland, one such site is the Dounreay Nuclear Power Plant, now undergoing decommissioning. The intention is to restore cliff-top habitat with native vegetation, blending in with its surroundings and necessitating minimal maintenance. The overall objective of this PhD research was to help develop a plan for the restoration of the site. A key challenge in this particular case was the residual low level radioactivity at depth in some areas, and a restoration layer is required to prevent contamination of bioreceptors at the surface, however, topsoil availability is limited. The cliff top site, and exposure to salt spray driven by strong winds, meant the identification of suitable vegetation communities for different areas could be crucial to its success. Vegetation and soil surveys across nine reference sites along the North coast of Scotland identified five non-peat vegetation communities suitable for Dounreay's restoration. This prompted the development of a novel concept: that of utilising restoration sites as 'protorefuges' or 'protorefugia', i.e. restoration sites where threatened species at the leading edge of climate change can be translocated ahead of the climate changing. There, they would be joined by individuals of the wider population naturally dispersed as the climate shifts. Overall, these results enabled the development of a refined restoration plan for Dounreay, which takes into account the particular setting, constraints and timelines involved. With the decommissioning of an increasing number of nuclear sites across Britain and Europe taking place in the coming years, this research should be developed further. In particular our novel concept of protorefugia could even be put into practice, benefiting both restoration and conservation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:752649 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Braidwood, David Walter |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=237241 |
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