Habitat suitability assessment for narrow-headed ant

Description

Habitat suitability assessment for narrow-headed ant on Balmoral Estate and Invercauld Estate in the Cairngorms National Park in the Cairngorms National Park Lot 1: The narrow-headed ant (Formica exsecta) is an endangered species in the UK and in Scotland is almost entirely restricted to the Cairngorms National Park. Although stable in some parts of its range in the National Park, the species is considered to be vulnerable and some populations are in decline. Mar Lodge Estate currently has the only population on Deeside and this is the most southerly population in the National Park. An action plan has been developed that aims to reinforce the population at Mar Lodge Estate through a captive rearing programme over the next 5 years. Longer-term, the ambition is to establish other populations on Deeside to expand the range of this species and also reduce extinction risk. In order to do this, survey work is required to locate suitable habitat for narrow-headed ant on other parts of Deeside, specifically Balmoral Estate and Invercauld Estate. This will require mapping potential areas on both estates using GIS and ground truthing to locate the areas with high suitability to support narrow-headed ant.