State of Nature report - RSPB

UK OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
Case study
Kew’s UKOTs Online Herbarium
Black-browed albatross
David Osborn
On St Helena, of an estimated 400+ endemic terrestrial
invertebrates, only two have been assessed against Red List
criteria. For higher plants, the picture is slightly better – of 46
endemic species, 23 have been assessed, but 21 are globally
threatened, and two no longer occur in the wild.
Most UKOTs lack a complete botanical inventory and many
have outdated baseline taxonomic information. To resolve this
problem, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew is working with other
worldwide herbaria and organisations within the UKOTs to put
together the UKOTs Online Herbarium.
This virtual herbarium allows internet-based access to digitised
geo-referenced herbarium specimens from Kew’s collection,
together with associated data, field images and key botanical
literature. More than 17,000 specimens have been digitised
so far, linking 10,000 species names so that Territory-specific
checklists can be generated.
Kew’s UKOTs Programme is also producing a preliminary
checklist of UKOT plants that, when complete, will allow
scientists to make an accurate assessment of the status of
these plants. To access the UKOTs Online Herbarium, visit
http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/UKOT/Home/Index
The UKOTs are home to an incredible
array of species, but many are
threatened with extinction.
Action brings hope
Species such as the bastard gumwood, the St Helena
neglected sedge and the Ascension Island parsley fern have
been snatched back from the very brink of extinction thanks
to inspiring conservation work. Many organisations including
the St Helena Government, the St Helena National Trust, the
Ascension Island Government Conservation Department and
the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew have been involved. Just a few
individuals of each species remain in the wild, so they are now
being cultivated and their future is more secure. Nevertheless,
they remain Critically Endangered and their habitat is still
under threat from invasive species.
Despite conservation work in the UKOTs, huge challenges
still remain. In the Turks and Caicos Islands, the national tree
– the Caicos pine – is faced with local extinction due to the
introduction of an invasive insect pest that has devastated
the unique Caicos pine forests 7 . On Gough Island, breeding
seabirds such as the endemic Tristan albatross are suffering
huge and continuing declines due to predation by introduced
house mice 8 . Elsewhere, albatross populations continue to
decline because of long-line fishing.
Improving our knowledge
The ability to assess accurately the state of the UKOTs’
biodiversity is a crucial step towards effective conservation.
Our current knowledge is patchy, so it is vital that we
fill these gaps with improved monitoring and research.
During 2013, the RSPB will use Foreign & Commonwealth
Office funding to produce species lists and gauge the
number of species that have not been assessed for the
global Red List – an important step towards a better
understanding of our UKOTs.
68 STATE OF NATURE 2013