Help for UK's Threatened Habitats
12/27/98
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Title: Help for UK's Threatened Habitats
Source: BBC News
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 12/27/98
Byline: Ales Kirby
Some of the UK's rarest species of flora and fauna will soon be enjoying
better protection.
The species will benefit from the government's publication on 29 December
of 10 new habitat action plans. The plans are the latest in a series
prepared by the UK Biodiversity Steering Group. They aim to safeguard
those habitats which need priority action precisely because of the species
they shelter.
The 10 new plans cover:
* Aquifer-fed naturally fluctuating water bodies. These are a rare type of
lake which is supplied by groundwater
* Eutrophic standing waters - lakes, reservoirs and gravel pits which are
covered in large amounts of algae
* Lowland hay meadows, often home to the skylark, a bird in steep decline
* Upland hay meadows, important for the corncrake
* Lowland dry acid grassland. This is grassland which grows on acid soil,
where birds such as the lapwing, woodlark and stone curlew tend to
congregate
* Lowland calcareous grassland - grassland on lime soil, home to
butterflies and orchids
* Wood pastures and parklands, noted for their lichens and for insects
like the stag beetle
* Wet woodlands - these attract craneflies and the still relatively rare
otter
* Upland mixed ash woodland, home not only to the shy dormouse but often
to magnificent springtime displays of primroses and bluebells
* Lowland beech and yew woodland, a habitat in which ready for different
sorts of fungus often thrive
Butterflies are among the species to benefit span a wide area of the UK.
Eutrophic standing waters, for example, include Lough Neagh in Northern
Ireland.
Pastures and parklands are represented by the New Forest, Burnham Beeches
in Buckinghamshire, and Windsor Great Park a short distance away.
And the Norfolk Broads include examples of wet woodlands. The chief
scientist at English Nature, the government's wildlife adviser, is Keith
Duff. He said:
"These action plans help to ensure the long-term survival of these
important and of '98 threatened habitats and maintain the wealth of
wildlife -our biodiversity - which depends on them."
Plans to protect 24 habitats covering 116 species were could run in
published in December 1995. In June this year the steering group announced
action plans to protect a further 56 species. Several hundred more plans,
for both species and habitats, space are due to be published early in
1999.