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LONDON, UK, May 13, 2005 (ENS): For the first time, all the
wild plants in Great Britain have been assessed for
how close they are to extinction, not just those that
already had been identified as rare. The results released
on Monday, show many species that have never before
been included on any threat list are in rapid decline.
Of the 1,756 species of plants studied, 345 species
- 19.6 percent - are currently threatened with extinction.
The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain
is the result of two years of work by a partnership
coordinated by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee
(JNCC), a government agency, and including the Biological
Records Centre, the Botanical Society for the British
Isles, the Countryside Council for Wales, English Nature,
the Natural History Museum, Plantlife, the Royal Botanic
Garden, Edinburgh, and Scottish Natural Heritage.
Using the IUCN-World Conservation Union criteria and
classifications for threatened species the scientists
have produced a completely revised list of the status
of Britain's threatened wild plants, ranging from the
extreme case of Extinct, through Critically Endangered,
Vulnerable, to the category of plants of Least Concern.
One new addition to the Critically Endangered category,
the corn buttercup, Ranunculus arvensis, has
personal meaning for Chris Cheffings, plants adviser
at the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, and co-editor
of the Red Data List.
"My parent's farm was one of the last sites in
Lincolnshire for corn buttercup," she said. "Alas,
that has now all gone. I grew up seeing purple milk-vetch
on the roadsides. This is now, by and large, gone. Seeing
these species being Red Listed has made this publication
much more personally relevant and shocking, as it is
no longer filled with just those rare plants that you
never saw anyway."
For the first time, all species that are native or
were introduced to Great Britain before 1500 AD were
analyzed. This means that all species have been treated
equally, and there are many new additions to the list
as a result, the JNCC said.
Hybrids are included in recognition of the essential
role they play in plant evolution.
Species in groups that are traditionally very difficult
to identify - such as the more than 230 species of Dandelion
in Britain - have been included in the analysis, due
to improved knowledge of their distributions, the scientists
said.
The general pattern has been that the diversity of
the British countryside is being constantly degraded,
and as habitats are fragmented, the associated plants
are lost.
As a trend, the Red Data List shows upland plants are
declining due to overgrazing. Arable plants have almost
disappeared in large parts of the country.
Plants of unimproved grassland are disappearing. Many
are only hanging on in small fragments such as roadsides,
and these are under severe pressure.
"As a nation, we have been very successful at
looking after our rarest species, but very bad at preventing
widespread species suffering severe declines,"
the JNCC said. "It is clear that we must focus
our future efforts on halting and reversing the loss
of previously common and familiar species."
The Unlucky 13 - a list within the Red List - shows
a range of plants new to the threatened list. It includes
, and the Endangered Euphrasia anglica - Eyebright
that is found nowhere else in the world. It also includes
the field gentian, which got its picture on the cover
of the new Vascular Plant Red Data List.
Simon Leach, botanical adviser at English Nature, said,
"This new Red List tells us about what's been happening
to our plants over the last 40-odd years, and the extent
to which so many once commonplace species have now declined,
to the point where they are now threatened."
"We've been rather good at stopping rare plants
from becoming extinct," said Leach, "but less
good, perhaps, at stopping common plants from becoming
less common."
The scientists call achieving that goal "a massive
challenge" that can only happen "through changing
the policies for countryside management."
"We are hoping that agri-environment schemes and
other landscape-scale initiatives will help to arrest
and reverse the decline of many of these declining species,"
said Leach. "The new Red List points to those that
need the most urgent action."
The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain
is online at: http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-3354
Questions or Comments: editor@ens-news.com
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2005/2005-05-13-04.asp
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