Thursday, February 9
Photo opportunities: in the lecture theatre and outdoors
Strategy unveiled to rescue the Cinderella of Scottish
nature
The intensifying urgency to conserve Scotland’s most fragile natural habitats has
provoked the country’s leading scientific and environmental organisations to join
forces in a drive to save the wealth of our non-flowering “cryptogamic” species,
with the launch of the Plantlife Link Scotland (PLINKS) Strategy for Lower Plants
& Fungi, at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh today (Thursday, February 9).
Developed by experts from specialist organisations and societies for plants, fungi
and conservation it presents the case not just for continued research but for
equipping the public with the enthusiasm and basic tools to work alongside
professionals in broadening the understanding this crucial area of biodiversity.
Launching the strategy will be Professor Roy Watling, the internationallyrenowned authority who started as an amateur childhood mycologist, before
devoting his career to research and inspiring new generations to embrace the
discipline at all levels. “The lower plants and fungi truly are the Cinderella of our
environment – too often considered, at best, unimportant and, at worst,
something unpleasant”, he commented.
“But, they are a vital part of our environment. For centuries mosses have been
used as wound dressings; fungi – as yeast – is used in a vast range of food and
drink products; lichens provide antibiotics and much more. So, we must conserve
what we have in Scotland, whether or not we are already exploiting the benefits,
because the lower plants and fungi may still hold the key to so many issues yet
to be realised. This strategy is an essential step in that vision: it is our
responsibility to raise awareness and inspire action at all levels.”
Dr Deborah Long, of Plantlife, added: “This approach is important on a practical
level because the health of fungi and the lower plants are central to the well-
being of our greater environment. At the same time, it brings important education
implications, presenting the case for preservation of a significant and overlooked
area of biodiversity. We need more professionals and amateurs to focus on the
area; species are difficult to identify and specialist tools needed. These issues
are compounded by the fact that habitats and sites important for cryptogamic
plants & fungi not designated, so there is no effective way of monitoring or
protecting them.”
These sentiments were echoed by Professor Mary Gibby, Director of Science at
RBGE, a champion of promoting a stronger approach to the conservation of
cryptogams and launch host, who urged that the strategy also be considered in
global context: “Scotland’s rich diversity of mosses, liverworts, lichens and fungi
make it as much a biodiversity hotspot of international standing as the wet
tropics, the Himalaya or the Mediterranean” she said. “However, there are many
challenges. Specialist resources are restricted and we need to increase public
interest in these groups – encouraging everyone to play a part. Only by working
together and enlisting the commitment of partners can we protect our rich
heritage.”
ENDS
EDITOR’S NOTES
Most floristic studies are concerned with the “higher” plants (phanerogams),
namely flowering plants (angiosperms) and the conifers and their allies
(gymnosperms). However, of equal importance, - and far greater in number – are
the “lower” or flowerless plants (ferns, mosses and liverworts, algae, fungi and
lichens), collectively know as cryptogams. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
is Britain’s only centre for coordinated research on all these groups.
Cryptogams tend to be far more widely distributed than flowering plants and can
be both difficult to observe and hard to identify. Yet, it is increasingly realised that
they play a larger and more complex role in global biodiversity than previously
understood. Dawyck Botanic Garden, Stobo, near Peebles, in the Scottish
Borders, is home to the world’s first cryptogamic reserve.
Ferns and related plants, such as horse tails and club mosses, are an ancient
group which, with the conifers, dominated the Earth’s vegetation for some 200
million years before flowering plants. Some native species – such as the oblong
woodsia - are now threatened as a direct result of the craze, in Victorian times, to
take them from the wild.
Mosses, liverworts and hornworts belong to a group knows as bryophytes, of
which there are around 2,000 in the UK – in comparison to 1,500 flowering
plants. Being sensitive to pollution, they are good indicators of both water and air
quality. More specifically, mosses are among the first colonisers of bare ground.
Algae, like plants have chlorophyll and are photosynthetic but nowadays they are
usually classified as Protists. They range from complex red, green and brown
seaweeds that we find on sea-shores to single-celled diatoms. These
microscopic algae fix more CO2 than all the world’s tropical rainforests.
Fungi and lichens resemble plants in structure and certain animals in the way
they obtain nutrients and, therefore, are classified as distinct from both. There
are an estimated 12,000 species of fungi in Britain: some, such as yeasts, are
useful in making various foods and drinks, while others are exceedingly toxic.
They can be decomposers or nutrient managers, by forming mutually beneficial
relationships with higher plants and there is a complex interdependence between
them and trees in temperate woodlands.
Lichens are peculiar kinds of fungi that live in intimate association with algae.
They form crusted, leafy or tufted growths in places few plants or other
organisms can colonise, such as rocks, tree trunks and manmade structures of
stone or wood. Britain has about 1,600 species of lichen, many of which are only
found in ancient woodlands such as native Scottish pinewoods. Significantly,
lichens are not easy to identify - a microscope and chemical tests are essential
tools for the lichenologist.………..
Collection of fungi for commercial use occurs throughout Scotland and some
guidance is available through the Scottish Wild Mushroom Code (Scottish
Natural Heritage 2003). There is currently no guidance available for the collection
of mosses. Industry demand for alginates from seaweeds in Scotland is low and
largely met by imports from China and Norway, where research on sustainable
seaweed collection practices has been conducted.
PLINKS (Plantlife Link Scotland) is the forum of organisations working for the
conservation of plants and their habitats in Scotland. Plantlife Scotland (chair),
Botanical Society of the British Isles, Botanical Society of Scotland, British
Bryological Society, British Lichen Society
British Mycological Society, British Phycological Society, British Pteridological
Society
Biological Recording in Scotland Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group Scotland
National Trust for Scotland, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland,
Scottish Wildlife Trust, Woodland Trust Scotland, Royal Botanic Garden
Edinburgh, Scottish Natural Heritage
The Strategy outlines 10 targets with 37 actions which will lead to significant
progress in the conservation of these plants and fungi in Scotland. In taking up
these targets and actions, Scottish organisations are taking a lead in lower plant
and fungi conservation in the UK and will contribute significant progress to
meeting the targets of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, the UK Biodiversity
Action Plan and the 2010 target of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy.
For more information, images or interviews, please call Shauna Hay on 0131
248 2900 or Charlotte Zammit on 0131 248 1037.