Growing recognition of the importance of ponds for landscape-scale biodiversity has led to considerable interest in their conservation, focusing on new pond creation, or existing pond restoration. However, there is a third approach; the re-excavation of ‘ghost ponds’ – former ponds deliberately filled in for agricultural intensification. This presentation will explore how “resurrecting” ghost ponds and restoring overgrown ponds can provide important benefits for farmland biodiversity, with historic pond sediments acting as time capsules for the seeds of native wetland plants. Given the global abundance of wetlands and ponds which have been filled-in during agricultural land intensification, the resurrection and restoration of these habitats from their historic seedbanks provides a valuable tool for conservation practitioners and policy makers aiming to improve biodiversity within farmed landscapes.
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