Plant Diversity Challenge - Plantlife

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Objective 1: Understanding and Documenting Plant DiversityTarget 2:Assigning conservation statusto speciesOngoing actions contributing tomeeting the target• Developing a Red Data List for fungi inGreat Britain• Revising the conservation assessment forcharophytes in Great Britain• Scoping study on importance of UKvascular plants in a European contextHigh priority additional work• Revising the Irish vascular plant Red DataBook for plants in Northern Ireland• Assessing all vascular plants in the UK usingIUCN criteria• Developing Red Data Lists for algae• Reviewing the wider biogeographical statusof species, and assessing the UK flora in aglobal contextMedium priority additional work• Developing Red Data Lists for bryophytesand lichens in Northern Ireland• Developing new and existing surveyinitiatives to improve plant statusinformation, particularly information ontrends in populations.This may involve theestablishment of a ‘Plant InformationCentre’ for the UK, to co-ordinate thesurveys and collate the information.Lower priority or long-term additionalwork• Developing a Red Data List for fungi inNorthern Ireland• Undertaking conservation assessments ofmicro-organismsA preliminary assessment of the conservation status of allknown plant species at national, regional and internationallevels.ScopeIt is essential to have regular assessments of the conservation status of all plantspecies, in order to prioritise those in need of conservation action and to provide ameasure of the success of actions being taken. For the purposes of this target,national is taken to mean the UK as a whole, regional is taken to mean relevantbiogeographic zones, and the international level would consider the European andglobal contexts.A set of internationally agreed criteria for making conservationassessments have been devised by the IUCN which provides a consistent system,based on assessing the degree of threat to each species.Current situationRed Data Books and Lists provide conservation assessments for species usinginternationally agreed IUCN criteria. For biogeographic reasons, Red Data Bookshave covered either Great Britain or Ireland, with Northern Ireland being assessed inconjunction with the Republic of Ireland (see table 2.1).There are no conservation assessments available for the Atlantic biogeographic zone,of which the UK is a part. Only the bryophytes have been assessed at the Europeanlevel.The JNCC has established a Species Status Assessment Project to support RedListing and other conservation assessments in Great Britain.The aims of the projectTable 2.1 Red Data Books and Lists for plant, fungi and algae speciesGROUP RED DATA BOOKGREAT BRITAIN IRELANDAlgae• Charophytes (stoneworts) Yes (Being revised) Yes (In need of revision)• Freshwater and Terrestrial No No• Marine No NoBryophytes (mosses and liverworts) Yes NoFungi• Macrofungi and some microfungi Due for completion Noin 2004Lichens Yes NoVascular plants Yes (Not all Yesspecies assessed) (In need of revision)16
are to establish a single agreed process for assessing species status, using theexpertise available in the country agencies, other professional bodies and thevoluntary sector; to ensure the process is both efficient and transparent and thatthe resultant lists of species status are clearly disseminated to all potential users; andto ensure that all lists of species status are updated according to an agreedtimetable.This will act as an umbrella project encompassing workshops on criteria,an ongoing review programme, and identification of plant surveillance requirements.Many long-term plant monitoring and survey initiatives contribute to plantconservation status assessment.These initiatives include BSBI’s Local Change projectand their County Rare Plant Registers, the Threatened Vascular Plant and ThreatenedBryophyte Projects, and various Plant Atlas initiatives.The series of nationalCountryside Surveys provides a framework for long-term surveillance of the statusof widely occurring vascular plants.Looking to the futureThe production of conservation assessments for all plant species is a fundamentalbuilding block of plant conservation.The greatest challenge will be to improve ourunderstanding of the UK flora in an international context, but this is vital if weintend to target conservation effort appropriately. It will also be necessary to initiatenew surveillance projects in order to identify trends in species status.The use ofsuch survey information will help inform us of the success of all aspects of in situplant conservation, since the measure of success must be to halt or reverse thedecline in biodiversity.BOB GIBBONS/NATURAL IMAGEBOB GIBBONS/NATURAL IMAGECanaries of the plant world. Stoneworts arehighly susceptible to small levels of pollutionand their conservation status is currentlybeing assessed. Cors Erddreiniog in Angleseyis one of the sites where stoneworts aredoing well.Burnt orchid Orchis ustulata has undergone aspectacular decline and is now restricted toa few sites in England.17
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Plant Diversity Challenge - Plantlife

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