An investigation of natural and anthropogenic factors influencing species richness and distribution in woodland & hedgerow habitats of north county Dublin

Abstract

In Ireland, hedgerows are estimated to cover an area roughly 2-3 times that of deciduous woodland on an island-wide basis (Webb 1985); however, to date, the processes involved in the formation of hedgerow plant communities remains poorly understood. It is generally assumed that hedgerows are linear strips of woodland and they have been advocated as potential surrogate habitat for forest species in other fragmented agricultural landscapes, especially in North America (Corbitt et al. 1999) and elsewhere in western and central Europe (Baudry et al. 2000, Wehling & Diekmann 2009).