New map of 20th century land use in Britain helps researchers demystify biodiversity change

New map of 20th century land use in Britain helps researchers demystify biodiversity change - Northumbria University

a white flower with yellow tipped stamens and smooth green leaves — Chickweed-wintergreen (Lysimachia europaea), one of 1,192 animal and plant species analysed for the new study. This species has declined in Great Britain due to both habitat loss and climate change, but the researchers found that these effects did not exacerbate each other (Photo credit: Dr Alistair Auffret)

A collaboration led by Northumbria University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences has for the first time mapped how land use changed across Britain throughout the last century. The new map reveals how and where some 50 per cent of semi-natural grassland was lost, including 90 per cent of the country’s lowland meadows and pasture, as the nation intensified its agriculture.

The researchers used the new map to investigate the impacts of land use change and climate change on the flora and fauna of Britain. Assembling a large citizen science dataset of some 1,192 species and over 20 million distribution records, they determined how often these factors ‘interact’ – potentially exacerbating each other to drive contractions in species’ geographic ranges.

According to the research findings, interactions between these factors were relatively rare, affecting less than one in five species. Where they did occur, their combined effect on extinction risk was often weak. Overall, the researchers found that 16 per cent of species were negatively affected by climate warming, land conversion or both, being more likely to disappear from areas where such changes have taken place.

Finding that species’ responses to environmental change were highly individual, or ‘idiosyncratic’, the researchers concluded that it was difficult to generalise across the taxonomic groups they studied (plants, birds, butterflies, and moths). They highlight a need to include species-specific information in efforts to mitigate climate change impacts or the extinction crisis.