A 20-year field study finds native heather and harebell in decline, while non-native Sitka spruce has spread from plantations to wild peatlands, hindering the soil from locking up planet-heating carbon.
Nitrogen enrichment, habitat degradation and changes in grazing pressure have led to the decline of species such as heather and harebell, while draining damp meadows has killed off many Devil's-bit scabious plants, the researchers said.
Sitka spruce has spread from commercial plantations to peatlands, hampering their important ability to store climate-heating carbon dioxide.Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said the"loss of natural habitats due to modern farming methods over the last 70 years has been an unmitigated disaster for wildflowers and all the species that depend on them including insects, bats and birds".
BSBI's Dr Kevin Walker said the most important measures are"to increase the protection plants receive, extend the habitat available to them, and place their needs at the very heart of nature conservation". Climate change has helped some species such as the bee orchid to spread north, according to the study, published by the BSBI.But it is also forcing mountain plants like the snow pearlwort to retreat, with the entire British population of this species now found only on the snow-capped peaks of Ben Lawers in the Scottish Highlands.
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