Getting a Grip on the Slippery Slope
Getting a grip on the slippery slope: biodiversity decline Aberdeenshire
A blog post authored by Eleanor, written Monday 21st March 2022
The North East of Scotland might, at first glance, appear to have an abundance of green space. Travel for more than twenty minutes out of Aberdeen city in any direction, take a back road and you will find yourself among green fields, lichen-covered stone walls and scattered woodlands.
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But not all is as idyllic as it seems.
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Despite its apparent abundance of wildlife, the North East has one of the highest rates of local species decline in the country. The State of Nature Scotland report for 2019 revealed that one in ten of the species in Scotland are threatened with extinction, with 265 plant species among them. This decline has been alarmingly rapid, driven by increased agricultural intensity, climate change, human interference in water drainage and urbanization.
Luckily, it is not too late. The species here may be at risk, but they are not yet entirely absent- all they need is a little support, protected areas and public awareness of the issue. Plant populations in particular are an area of conservation that we can all do something to support. Here at the Habitat People, we use our wildlife nursery to grow plants to bolster at-risk populations such as Lesser Butterfly Orchids and Maiden Pink, using local seed where possible to preserve local genetic pools. We then work to establish site-suitable populations of these endangered plants, embedded among the rest of the biodiverse habitat, helping to expand the ranges of these plant species and provide resilience against future threats to their conservation.
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Reversing these trends is entirely possible, and everyone can take part.Â
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