Wood ant habitat assessment and survey

Description

Wood ant habitat assessment and survey in Angus and Perthshire within the Cairngorms National Park Lot 1: Two species of wood ant occur in Scotland, hairy wood ant (Formica lugubris) and Scottish wood ant (Formica aquilonia), both of which occur in the Cairngorms National Park. Wood ants are considered to be keystone species in woodland ecosystems due to their ability to influence food webs and soils in complex ways. The Cairngorms National Park has populations of both species which are of national importance. Wood ant mounds are highly distinctive and can often be a considerable size, but nests are not always recorded and data for the National Park is patchy. Only a relatively small proportion of woodland in the National Park has been surveyed in detail for wood ant mounds. There is currently little or no data on wood ant presence in the Perthshire council and Angus council areas of the Cairngorms National Park. Having records of wood ant mounds allows more informed decisions to be made around forestry and woodland management and is also a useful tool in better understanding habitat health and connectivity. Key outputs The contract comprises of the following elements: 1. A desk-study using existing habitat data (Native Woodland Survey of Scotland), National Vegetation Classification and aerial photography to scope-in and map the parts of Perthshire and Angus council areas in the Cairngorms National Park which have woodland with potential to support wood ants. 2. Field-based survey work to ground truth habitat suitability and search for evidence of wood ant presence in the areas identified in output 1. 3. A final report detailing the methodology and datasets used, maps of identified wood ant nest mounds and wood ant records, and maps of the woodland in Perthshire and Angus council areas of the Cairngorms National Park with the highest suitability for wood ant. 4. Shape files for areas mapped with the highest suitability for wood ant and where wood ants and wood ant nest mounds were found. The scope of the contract will include both Perthshire and Angus council areas of the Cairngorms National Park. The following areas of woodland in these council areas comprises of commercial forestry and remnant native woodland: