Izzy's UEA Ecology blog

Chosen as Britain's favourite mammal, the Western European hedgehog ( Erinaceus europaeus ) is cute and charismatic, but these prickly animals are in worrying decline. Hedgehogs are unmistakeable nocturnal mammals; they 20-25cm long, weigh up to 1.2kg, and are covered in around 6000 yellow tipped spines. Hedgehog spines are made from keratin and used for defence - if threatened, a hedgehog will curl up into a prickly ball by contracting a muscle which runs around it's body. The primary predators of hedgehogs are badgers, though hoglets are also at risk of predation from foxes, and in some places tawny owls, golden eagles, pine martens, weasels, stoats and rats.  Hedgehogs themselves are also predators, and emerge at night to eat a variety of invertebrate prey. The species makeup of hedgehog's a diet will vary throughout the year, but incudes earthworms, slugs, and beetles, and sometimes carrion and the eggs of ground nesting birds. As they hunt in darkness, hedgehogs don...

Ash dieback is one of the most discussed tree diseases in the UK. Following on from Dutch elm disease, ash dieback will also have a profound impact on the population of ash trees and their landscape. Found across the Great British countryside (except some of the Scottish highlands), ash is the 3rd most common tree in the UK. It is predicted that 80% of these trees will be lost to ash dieback.  A seemingly healthy ash tree in a hedgerow, UEA This disease is caused by a fungus, Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. The fungal spores are carried in the air and land on ash leaves; the fungus then penetrates into the leaves and grows inside the tree, blocking the xylem vessels. This causes dark patches on the leaves in summer, which then fully discolour to black, wilt and shed early. Shoots and leaves die back in summer and diamond shaped lesions appear where the branches meet the trunk. Eventually most trees die from the disease, with younger trees dying sooner after infection than mature tree...