20 year research project reveals devastating loss of British & Irish flora

20 year research project reveals devastating loss of British & Irish flora - The Wildlife Trusts

The new Plant Atlas is the most powerful statement ever produced on the state of our wild and naturalised plants

BSBI members recording plants on the Shiant Islands. Image by Louise Marsh

Thousands of botanists from the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) have spent the last twenty years collecting data on changes in the British and Irish flora. The results have now been published in Plant Atlas 2020 and four main trends have emerged since the 1950s:

53% of our native plants such as Heather and Harebell have declined in Britain due to human impacts such as agricultural intensification and climate change
non-native plants now outnumber native plants in the wild – this startling discovery has huge implications for the insects and other species that depend on our native plants
many non-native species are benign but some such as New Zealand Pigmyweed and Sitka Spruce have become invasive, disrupting ecosystem function and outcompeting native species
many montane plants have declined due to climate change whereas some southern species such as Bee Orchid have benefited and spread further north

Plant Atlas 2020 is the most in-depth survey of the British and Irish flora ever undertaken. It builds on two previous Atlas surveys undertaken by the BSBI in the twentieth century.

Julia Hanmer, BSBI Chief Executive, says: “Plant Atlas 2020 presents a powerful and concerning insight into the changing distributions of our wild plants. More than 30 million plant records of 3,445 species, collected by almost 9,000 botanists, fed into the Atlas project. The dedication and expertise of our recorders, combined with the in-depth knowledge of scientists at BSBI and BRC/UKCEH, provides a unique contribution to the evidence base needed to underpin nature recovery and highlights the urgent need for action to ensure that going forwards our wild plants thrive and are valued“.

Many of the habitats our wild plants depend on have been impacted by changes in agriculture since the 1950s. Nitrogen enrichment, habitat degradation and changes in grazing pressure have led to the decline of species such as Heather and Harebell; damp meadows have been drained, leading to substantial declines in plants such as Devil’s-bit Scabious; traditional grasslands have been reseeded or over-fertilised, and consequently 62% of our ancient arable wildflowers such as Corn Marigold have declined.