Michael Jeffries

Local-scale turnover of pond insects: intra-pond habitat quality and inter-pond geometry are both important

The distributions of larvae of seven species of pond insect were recorded from 30 small, adjacent temporary ponds over the course of three years. Incidences were modelled using logistic regression to compare the effectiveness of measures of intra-patch habitat or inter-patch geometry as predictors of distribution. Incidence, extinction and colonisation were modelled separately against systematic environmental variation (e.g. length of dry phase), temporal change (e.g. year) and individual pond characteristics as predictors of presence or absence. Models of incidence created for all species were dominated by negative correlations to the length of preceding summer’s dry-phase, positive correlations with length of flood links between ponds and species-specific changes with year. Models of colonisation and extinction events suggested that colonisation and extinction may be driven by different factors. The results suggest that both intra-pond habitat and inter-pond geometry affect the distribution of pond insects. The conservation of pond invertebrates will require strategic policy attentive to both aspects of pond invertebrates’ ecology, rather than relying on ad␣hoc, site by site interventions.

The Accidental Youth Club: Skateboarding in Newcastle-Gateshead

Skateboarders re-invent and interrogate the physical structure of cityscapes as they use spaces, buildings and objects for skating. However, skaters are routinely regarded by the civic and business interests who dominate city centre planning and regeneration as, at best, a nuisance and at worst an unruly and dangerous blight. This paper reports findings from a research project involving skaters which begins to unpick this stereotype. A participatory methodology combining mapping, interviews and observation was used to identify spots used by skaters in Newcastle and Gateshead (North East England). The key spots were characterized using four criteria: trickability, accessibility, sociability and compatibility. Findings reveal that two further factors temporal and relational dimensions are crucial to the journeys skaters embark on. Sociability was the one constant factor defining favoured spots. The study revealed a sociable, entrepreneurial, creative skate scene. Far from being a problem the skaters add to the social capital of the cityscape. The findings suggest that rather than designing out skaters from the city the civic authorities should work with skaters to sustain their scene as a positive benefit to city regeneration.

Tracing postrepresentational visions of the city: representing the unrepresentable Skateworlds of Tyneside

In any visualisation of the city more is left unseen than made visible. Contemporary visualisations of the city are increasingly influenced by quantification, and thus anything which cannot be quantified is hidden. In contrast, we explore the use of ‘lo-fi’, doodled, participatory maps made by skateboarders in Tyneside, England, as a means to represent their cityscape. Drawing on established work an skateboarding and recent developments in cartography, we argue that skateboarders understand the city from a postrepresentational perspective. Such a framing presents a series of challenges to map their worlds which we explore through a processual account of our mapmaking practice. In this process we chart how skateboarders’ mappings became part of a more significant interplay of performance, identity, visualisation, and exhibition. The paper makes contributions to the emerging field of postrepresentational cartography and argues that its processual focus provides useful tools to understand how visions of the city are produced.

Invertebrates in Temporary Wetland Ponds of the Temperate Biomes

Temporary seasonal ponds are ubiquitous and numerous but overlooked habitats found throughout the world’s temperate biomes. They include the natural ponds of grassland and woodland such as prairie potholes and pampas mallines but also anthropogenic subsidence ponds and depressions in intensively managed landscapes. These ponds are hotspots for invertebrates which benefit from the absence of fish, resulting in both high species richness, e.g. beetles, and characteristic rare and endemic taxa, e.g. many larger Crustacea. The invertebrates’ ecology is dominated by hydrology and the interplay of dispersal and species’ interactions, primarily predation. Individual species vary greatly in their traits and behaviours, resulting in complex metacommunity dynamics.

Variations in sediment organic carbon between different types of small natural ponds along Druridge Bay, Northumberland, UK

Abstract Small natural ponds from Druridge Bay, Northumberland (UK), were sampled to investigate the variations in sediment organic carbon (OC) content among pond types. Sediment OC was highest in uncompacted sediments from permanent ponds with extensive natural vegetation (means ranged between 7.68 and 12.86% OC) but lower in compacted sediments (mean 3.72% OC) or from ponds in arable or pasture fields (mean 3.44% OC) and from adjacent soil controls (means of 3.13–3.38% OC). The extent of 4 distinct pond types (permanent naturally vegetated, arable field, grass pasture field, and dune slack) varied across years. This study highlights ecological variations among pond types that can result in large variations in sediment OC content and, combined with annual variations to the extent of ponds, poses significant implications for upscaling carbon burial rates based solely on combined surface area.