A team of scientists from some of Scotland’s leading research institutes has found that some of the UK’s rarest plants are not reproducing sexually as often as they have in the past.

Endangered sub-arctic willow scrub is protected in the UK, and this rare habitat is almost entirely restricted to small, isolated patches in some of the harshest mountain environments in the Scottish highlands.

Studies have shown that the willows currently only reproduce successfully under very specific environmental conditions.

As part of a Scottish Executive funded, three-year research project, led jointly by The Macaulay Institute and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, researchers found surprisingly high genetic diversity of some willow populations despite them consisting of very few individual plants. They suggested that this was the result of the plants previously reproducing sexually more frequently than they currently are, and that improving their chances could provide the key to the restoration of this endangered habitat.

Dr Glenn Iason, Ecologist at the Macaulay Institute and one of the project’s co-ordinators said: “Successful pollination, seed dispersal and establishment all require very specific sets of conditions, so successful sexual reproduction is therefore achieved only sporadically.

“Factoring in to conservation programmes the sort of conditions that encourage sexual reproduction could help restore populations of this rare plant species.”

Maintenance of this genetic diversity is now seen as a conservation goal, say researchers, as it makes plants more able to adapt to and survive in a changing environment, as well as making them less prone to inbreeding.

Willows with greater genetic diversity were also found to be associated with a greater diversity of fungal species growing in the same area, which illustrates how conserving willows will also help maintain montane biodiversity.

Commenting on the multi-disciplinary approach to the project, incorporating genetics, ecology and fungal biology, Dr Pete Hollingsworth, Head of Genetics and Conservation at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh said: “This project illustrates the merits of an integrated multi-disciplinary scientific approach used to help resolve the problems of conservation of sub-arctic willows. The knowledge gained has fed straight to the people involved in the practical conservation effort.”

The findings of the project have been used to produce a booklet and website providing practical guidance for willow conservation.

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Sub-arctic willow scrub

Once widespread, today’s small, fragmented populations of sub-arctic willow scrub are the only surviving remnants. It is a mixture of willow species and it supports rare plants and animals of northern latitudes and high mountains. One of the British montane willow species, Salix lanata is so endangered it is in the ‘Red Data Book’, identifying species in most urgent need of conservation attention, whilst five other species are classified as scarce.

‘Biodiversity: Taxomomy, Genetics and Ecology of Sub-Arctic Willow Scrub’

This project, funded by the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SERAD) aimed to aid the conservation effort by providing information on the ecology and genetics of populations, as well as determining inter-breeding between willow species and their relationship with fungi, both harmful and beneficial.

The report is called ‘Biodiversity: Taxomomy, Genetics and Ecology of Sub-Arctic Willow Scrub’. The website is http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/willow/

The Scottish Montane Willow Group, who conducted the research and produced the report, also comprises researchers from Scottish Crop Research Institute, Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, Scottish Agricultural College, and the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

The Macaulay Institute

The Macaulay Institute is the premier land use research institute in the UK. Two hundred and seventy staff are based at the Macaulay Institute at Craigiebuckler in Aberdeen. The Macaulay Institute aims to be an international leader in research on the use of rural land resources for the benefit of people and the environment and is involved in research across the globe; from Scotland to Chile and China. More about the Macaulay Institute can be found at www.macaulay.ac.uk.

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh exists primarily as a centre of scientific and horticultural excellence, working at home and in more than 40 countries globally. Its mission is to explore and explain the world of plants. The taxonomic expertise of RBGE enables it to play a leading role in discovering and describing species, whether they are lichens from Scotland, grasses from Bhutan, rhododendrons from the tropical forests of south-east Asia, or legumes from South America. The information on the diversity of plant species derived from plant collections, their distribution and habitat, biology and evolution, helps to influence decisions on their conservation and sustainable use. With the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) charging nations to develop plans for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, RBGE has the capacity to make a major contribution.

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