Important Plant Areas for algae - Natural History Museum

BOX 5
EUNIS Habitat Classification
Habitats most important for algae. Asterisk denotes those habitats Stewart (2004) considered when
selecting areas important for stoneworts.
Level 1
Marine Habitats (A); Coastal Habitats (B); Inland Surface Water Habitats (C); Mire, Bog & Fen (D)
Level 2
A1 Littoral rock and other hard substrata; A2 Littoral sediments; A3 Sublittoral rock and other hard
substrata; A4 Sublittoral sediments; B1 Coastal dune and sand habitats (includes wet dune slacks and
machair)*; B3 Rock cliffs, ledges and shores, including the supralittoral; C1 Surface standing water*;
C2 Surface running waters*, C3 Littoral zone of inland surface waterbodies; D1 Raised and blanket
bogs; D2 Valley mires, poor fens and transition mires; D4 Base-rich fens*; D5 Sedge and reed beds;
D6 Inland saline and brackish marshes and reed beds.
3.4 CONSERVATION LEGISLATION COVERING ALGAE
Marine algae have been mentioned as an important feature in a range of site designations. These include
Marine Nature Reserves (MNRs), Areas or Sites of Special Scientific Interest (ASSIs, SSSIs) or Special
Areas of Conservation (SACs). The Skomer MNR was designated partly on the richness of the seaweed
flora (Brodie & Watson, 1999). In contrast, algae other than stoneworts are rarely mentioned when
designating freshwater sites or areas.
Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs) have been drawn up for only very few algae. Until now BAPs have
only been prepared for 12 species of stonewort in freshwater/brackish habitats and two seaweeds:
Anotrichium barbatum and Ascophyllum nodosum ecad mackayi in the marine environment
(http://www.ukbap.org.uk/species.aspx). BAP listings are currently under review and 11 more species of
marine algae have been put forward as possible candidates (Brodie, pers. comm.). The only seaweed
listed in Appendix 1 of the Bern Convention that occurs in the UK is the kelp Laminaria ochroleuca. Any
site containing a Bern Convention species is considered threatened and qualifies automatically for
inclusion as a marine IPA; in the case of L. ochroleuca, this only applies to the species in the
Mediterranean. Until now no freshwater algae in the UK have been listed as endangered or vulnerable
with the exception of stoneworts.
4.0. IMPORTANT PLANT AREAS FOR MARINE ALGAE
Juliet Brodie, Mary Holmes and Ian Tittley
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Given that approximately 14% of the world’s known marine seaweeds have been recorded from the UK
(see section 3.2), it is crucial that those sites of algal importance are identified and recognised. The aim
of this work is to develop an inventory of sites considered to be important for the marine algae in a UK
(national) context and to apply the IPA criteria in order to determine which should be proposed as
possible European (international) IPAs. All UK sites included here are potentially of European
importance but for now these are distinguished as UK IPAs which may eventually feed into the European
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