Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)

 

 

 

A supplement to the SSSI Selection Guidelines has recently been published dealing with the distinctive assemblages of fungi associated with certain unimproved and semi-improved grasslands.  

 

These types of fungus-rich grasslands are commonly known as ‘waxcap grasslands’ after their most colourful and noticeable constituents – the waxcap fungi of the genus Hygrocybe.  They can be found in both upland and lowland situations, but the best examples usually occur where management has been traditional, with no recent ploughing, re-seeding or applications of inorganic fertilisers. Their significance has only started to be recognised in recent years, and there have been huge losses of this type of habitat, especially in Europe.

 

Conservation action in the UK has been impeded by the lack of suitable SSSI selection guidelines - often these grasslands are quite poor in flowering plants and would not qualify for SSSI selection on the basis of their botanical composition alone. To remedy this situation the Country Agency Chief Scientists asked the Inter-Agency Plant Conservation Working Group (PCWG) to produce supplementary SSSI guidelines. The task was undertaken by a small working group consisting of David Genney (Scottish Natural Heritage), Alan Hale (Countryside Council for Wales) and Mark Wright (Department of Environment Northern Ireland). Ray Woods from Plantlife also had significant input, and the wider mycological community were consulted.

 

The UK is of international importance for waxcap grasslands: the publication of these supplementary guidelines should facilitate the protection the best remaining sites.

 

It is twenty years since the last International Rivers conference in the UK, which set the agenda for much progress. The 2010 conference is a chance to set a dynamic new agenda for the next decades.

 

 

 

UK seabirds under pressure

The JNCC publication UK Seabirds in 2008, just published, shows that the total number of seabirds breeding in the UK has declined by around 600k or 9% since 2000 following an increase during the 1970s, 80s and early 1990s. Not all species have declined, but those showing the steepest declines since the mid 1990s are those that feed on small shoaling fish such as sandeels. Seabird breeding success and over-winter survival has been lowered by a shortage of food, caused by climate driven changes to the food chain. These impacts are likely to worsen as the UK’s seas continue to warm up. In mitigation, it is possible to reduce other substantial pressures from fishing and from non-natives.

 

 

Nature conservation has always been a global concern, but until 20 May 2009 there has been no determined effort to share information between the UK-based practitioners and contributors to the various conservation Conventions.  In late 2008, several Conventions met and reflected on the current global conservation crisis.  The UK contributed actively to all these meetings. 

 

On 20 May 2009, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) hosted a conference in London called “Global Biodiversity Mechanisms”, to put plans in place following recent decisions from these Conventions. 

 

The conference also hosted the launch of The Wader Atlas, published by Wetlands International.  Waders are relatively small waterbirds, including species like lapwings, plovers, godwits, curlews and sandpipers. 

 

 

Marine experts are hoping to discover colourful undersea coral gardens and could potentially discover new species of animal life in a previously unexplored deep sea habitat off the coast of Scotland.

 

A suite of biodiversity indicators for the UK was first published in June 2007. The indicators show changes in aspects of biodiversity such as the population size of important species or the area of land managed for wildlife.  In addition to updating the previously developed indicators, three new ones are published for the first time:

A hard copy version of the indicators was published on May 22nd (UK Biodiversity Indicators in Your Pocket 2009).  The indicators will be integrated into the 4th National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity as part of the UK assessment of progress towards international commitments to the CBD goal of reducing the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.