1. ABOUT THE DATASET ------------ Title: The Benefits of Hedges and Hedgerows: database of literature Creator(s): Katherine Clark, Michael Garratt, Alice Mauchline, Michelle Felton, Simon Potts, Lisa Broomfield Organisation(s): University of Reading Rights-holder(s): University of Reading Publication Year: 2022 Description: Hedges and hedgerows occur around the world, are part of a range of ecosystems, from agricultural to urban and can provide a wide range of benefits. The Close the Gap project (a partnership between The Tree Council, The University of Reading , Hedgelink, Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, Moor Trees  and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species) focused on achieving bigger, healthier, better-connected hedgerows through planting and ‘gapping up’, gathering and sharing knowledge to improve hedgerow management, improving supplies of future hedgerow trees through local seed nurseries and by engaging the public with our important hedgerow heritage.   As part of the project a systematic search of the literature was undertaken focussing on 12 overarching benefits hedges and hedgerows can provide: * Accessibility – including education, wellbeing, leisure / recreation, traditional skills * Aesthetics – including privacy, screening, views * Climate change – for example carbon capture and sequestration * Flooding alleviation – including natural flood prevention * Functional biodiversity – supporting pollinators, beneficial insects and natural pest control in agricultural systems * Heritage – for example the historical landscape, traditional skills and traditional hedgelaying styles * Livestock – control, containment and providing fodder * Pollution control – for example reducing noise or intercepting spray drift * Shelter – provision of shelter for wildlife and people * Soils – the impact of hedgerows on, for example, soil health and microfauna * Wildlife – such as providing habitats or connecting habitats * Wood products – producing biofuel, wood fuel, woodchip or farm timber The dis-services or negative impacts of hedgerows were also considered. The review included a systematic search of the Web of Science (core collection), a search of websites of organisations known to undertake and fund research into hedges and hedgerows (Defra, Natural England, Hedgelink, Research Gateway, Woodland Trust) and a simple Google search. Recommendations from experts and citations from reviews were also followed for additional resources. The literature search highlighted the wide range of research undertaken into the benefits of hedges and hedgerows, including to wildlife, and also some gaps, including fewer studies conducted on hedges and hedgerows in urban settings. Cite as: Clark, Katherine; Garratt, Michael; Mauchline, Alice; Felton, Michelle; Potts, Simon and Broomfield, Lisa (2022): The Benefits of Hedges and Hedgerows: database of literature. University of Reading. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.17864/1947.000371 Related publication: Publication in preparation Contact: k.a.clark@reading.ac.uk 2. TERMS OF USE ----------------- Copyright 2022, University of Reading. This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. 3. PROJECT AND FUNDING INFORMATION ------------ Title: Close the Gap Dates: December 2019 – March 2022 Funding organisation: The National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant no.: OL-20-01819 4. CONTENTS ------------ File listing CtG_literature_database – spreadsheet generated using Microsoft Excel, contains full list of all the references and resources collated and reviewed and categorising information. - Number of variables: 28 - Number of cases/rows: 826 - List of variables, containing variable name(s), description(s), unit(s)and value labels as appropriate for each: * Authors – surnames and initials * Title – item (e.g. paper or book) title * Source title – e.g. journal name * Abstract – item abstract or short description * DOI / URL – associated DOI or URL * Year – publication year * Benefit(s) – 13 columns, Y or left blank o Accessibility o Aesthetics o Climate change o Flooding alleviation o Functional biodiversity o Heritage o Livestock o Pollution control o Shelter o Soils o Wildlife o Wood products o Dis-services * Country(ies) – location(s) where study was undertaken, as specified by the authors * UK – was the study undertaken in, or does it refer to, the UK? Y or N * UK Region(s) (Geographic) – location(s) of study, as specified by the authors, if undertaken in the UK. Select from: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland. If specified then English regions (South West, South East, London, East Midlands, West Midlands, East, Yorkshire and the Humber, North West, North East) are included. N/A if the study was undertaken in or references the UK but a location is not specified, left blank if the study was not undertaken in the UK or does not reference the UK * Habitat / Biome – habitat study undertaken in, as described in study, select from: Rural, Urban, Mixed (rural and urban), Arable, Pasture, Uplands, Lowlands, Other * Peer-reviewed – Y or N * Primary study or Review – primary, review, systematic review or meta analysis * Existing or New Hedges – list as existing, new or both * Management tested – was management undertaken on the hedge or hedgerow as part of the study? Y or N * Management recommendations given – do the study authors provide any recommendations for managing hedges or hedgerows? Y or N 5. METHODS -------------------------- A search of the Web of Science core collection (1970 – present) was undertaken using the following search strings: * Hedgerow AND (biocontrol OR “natural pest regulation” OR “pest regulation” OR predators OR “natural enemies” OR pollinators OR pollination OR weed OR disease OR pest)  * Hedgerow AND (livestock OR cattle OR sheep OR cows OR fodder OR shelter OR “stock proofing” OR “stock control” OR horse OR game)  * Hedgerow AND (shelter OR windbreaks OR microclimate OR shade)  * Hedgerow AND (biofuel OR “wood fuel” OR fuel OR energy OR “green energy” OR woodchip OR timber OR coppicing)  * Hedgerow AND (pollution OR “air quality” OR “water quality” OR noise OR phytoremediation OR fertiliser OR “spray drift” OR pesticides OR herbicides OR insecticides OR fungicide OR ammonia)  * Hedgerow AND (“rare species” OR “red list species” OR “target species” OR wildlife OR biodiversity OR conservation OR “key species” OR “habitat connectivity” OR “habitat corridors” OR corridors OR greenways)  * Hedgerow AND (“green exercise” OR “public engagement” OR “public involvement” OR “citizen science” OR wellbeing OR recreation OR education OR accessibility OR “traditional skills” OR leisure OR tourism OR foraging)  * Hedgerow AND (heritage OR historic OR “local landscape” OR pastoral OR traditional OR traditions)  * Hedgerow AND (landscape OR view OR privacy OR screening OR aesthetics)  * Hedgerow AND (erosion OR “soil microbiome” OR “soil biodiversity” OR “soil quality” OR “soil carbon” OR soil OR “soil moisture” OR sediment OR “soil organic carbon” OR “soil organic matter”)  * Hedgerow AND (“carbon capture” OR “carbon storage” OR “carbon sequestration” OR “carbon stock” OR “greenhouse gasses”)  * Hedgerow AND (flood OR flooding OR water)  * Hedgerow AND (problem OR disservice OR dis-benefit OR negative) AND (disease OR pests OR habitat OR “invasive species” OR shading OR predators OR management OR cost OR labour OR allergens OR “air quality” OR “soil moisture” OR “soil quality” OR “soil compaction” OR weed)  In addition, the websites of Defra, Natural England, Research Gateway, Woodland Trust and Hedgelink were searched and a simple search using Google scholar and searches such as “hedgerow AND wildlife”, “hedgerow AND pollution” was undertaken and the first 10 pages of results scanned. Items were also recommended by experts and identified from citations in review articles. For all items the title and abstract (if available) was reviewed and a decision to retain or remove based on relevance (referring to hedges or hedgerows) was made. A review of the full text was then undertaken. Items were excluded if: the hedge or hedgerow in the study was not described or defined, was part of an alley cropping or orchard scheme, was composed solely of herbaceous species or solely of trees with no scrub or herbaceous layer. Items not in English were also excluded and those that were inaccessible online.