On the north-east coast of Scotland, at Culbin Forest in Moray, the land has been slipping into the sea, and with it a fragile flower that has survived in Britain only in the shadow of its pine woods. This autumn, conservationists and volunteers chose to lift thousands of these tiny star-shaped plants and carry them inland, not because the rescue is certain, but because staying put meant certain loss. It is a small, careful act in a long story of a species thinned by shifting forests and drying soils, whose survival now depends on whether its hidden fungal partners and its few distinct individ
Thousands of Rare One-Flowered Wintergreens Rescued from Scottish Coast Erosion
It was only a matter of time before they would all be lost to the sea
Mark
Why move the plants at all? Couldn't they just be left alone?
Mimi
The shoreline was collapsing. Two to three metres of land have already gone into the sea in recent years, and NatureScot's Iain Macdonald said it was only a matter of time before they were all lost.
Mark
What made the move difficult?
Mimi
The plant leans on fungi in the soil as well as on photosynthesis. So volunteers cut out whole blocks of soil to keep those fungal networks with the plants.
Luke
Does anyone know if it worked?
Mimi
Not yet. Macdonald says they don't know how many will survive.
Mark
The number 50,000 sounds reassuring.
Mimi
It's misleading. The plants spread by making genetically identical growth through their roots, so genetically distinct individuals could be fewer than 500. One site had about 100 plants that were just two individuals.
Luke
That 500 is a "could be," though. It's an estimate with a ceiling, not a count.
Mimi
Fair. The same goes for the more-than-half decline over 50 years, which is described as an estimate.
Mark
What's driving the wider decline?
Mimi
Plantlife points to changes in forest management that affect the fungi, and hotter, drier conditions reducing soil moisture.
Luke
And the new wood where plants and seeds were placed?
Mimi
The species has never been recorded there, so it's an experiment. Success is far from certain, and Macdonald himself frames any survival as a win.
O Pulso
- Two to three metres of shoreline have collapsed into the sea at Culbin Forest, leaving a rare wildflower with nowhere left to stand.
- Volunteers dug up 3,400 one-flowered wintergreens, cutting whole blocks of soil so the fungal networks the plants depend on would not be torn apart.
- The species survives at just seven UK sites, and only three of them are healthy, after losing more than half its population in fifty years.
- Genetically distinct individuals may number fewer than 500, so even the plants that survive the move could carry a fragile lineage.
- Nobody yet knows how many will take hold in their new home, and a few plants have been seeded into a wood where the species has never grown.
On the north-east coast of Scotland, at Culbin Forest in Moray, the land has been slipping into the sea, and with it a fragile flower that has survived in Britain only in the shadow of its pine woods. This autumn, conservationists and volunteers chose to lift thousands of these tiny star-shaped plants and carry them inland, not because the rescue is certain, but because staying put meant certain loss. It is a small, careful act in a long story of a species thinned by shifting forests and drying soils, whose survival now depends on whether its hidden fungal partners and its few distinct individuals can take root again elsewhere.
On a stretch of shoreline at Culbin Forest in Moray, the ground has been giving way to the sea. Over recent years, two to three metres of land have dropped into the water, carrying with it some of the edge where one of Britain's rarest wildflowers grew. This year, conservationists dug up 3,400 of the one-flowered wintergreens and carried them to safer ground.
The wintergreen is a tiny, star-shaped flower that in the UK grows only in pine woods in north-east Scotland, and survives at just seven sites, three of them healthy. The rescue was led by Plantlife Scotland with Forestry and Land Scotland, NatureScot and eighteen volunteers, following a smaller trial and backed by the Scottish government's nature restoration fund.
Moving the plants meant lifting out whole sections of soil rather than the flowers alone. The wintergreen depends on woodland fungi for germination and survival, and those fungal networks are themselves under strain from changed forest management and hotter, drier summers.
The numbers look larger than they are. About 50,000 plants remain in Scotland, but many are clones spreading through their roots, and genetically distinct individuals may be fewer than 500. Iain Macdonald of NatureScot admitted it is not yet known how many will survive, though he was clear that leaving them where they stood would have meant losing them all to the sea. A few plants and seeds have also been placed in a wood where the species has never been recorded, in the hope of starting something new. The next sign to watch is how many of the 3,400 take hold.
On a stretch of shoreline at Culbin Forest in Moray, on Scotland's north-east coast, the ground has been giving way to the sea. Over recent years, two to three metres of land have collapsed into the water, and growing on that crumbling edge was one of Britain's rarest wildflowers, the one-flowered wintergreen. This year, conservationists dug up 3,400 of the plants and carried them to safer ground.
The wintergreen is a tiny, star-shaped flower. In the UK it grows only in pine woods in north-east Scotland, and it survives at just seven sites. According to Plantlife Scotland, only three of those sites hold healthy populations. The species is estimated to have lost more than half of its UK population over the past 50 years.
The rescue was run by Plantlife Scotland together with Forestry and Land Scotland, NatureScot and volunteers. Eighteen volunteers did the work, which followed a smaller trial. The Scottish government's nature restoration fund supported the project.
Moving the plants meant more than lifting them out of the ground. The wintergreen draws energy through photosynthesis, but it can also take energy from fungi in woodland soils. That relationship depends on those fungi, which the plant needs for germination and survival. So volunteers cut out whole sections of soil around the plants, keeping the fungal networks intact.
That fungal dependence has made the decline hard to understand and harder to reverse. Plantlife says changes in forest management have altered the conditions the fungi need. Hotter, drier weather linked to the climate crisis has also reduced the soil moisture the plant relies on.
The raw numbers are more fragile than they look. An estimated 50,000 plants remain in Scotland, but they spread by producing genetically identical growth through their roots. The number of genetically distinct individuals could be fewer than 500. At one site, about 100 plants amounted to just two distinct individuals.
Nobody is promising the move will work. Iain Macdonald, a biodiversity adviser at NatureScot, said it is not yet known how many plants will survive in their new home in Culbin Forest. But he said that if they had been left where they were, it was only a matter of time before they were all lost to the sea. Sam Jones, senior ecological adviser at Plantlife Scotland, called it groundbreaking conservation work that will help ensure endangered species like the wintergreen are not lost.
The team has also placed a small number of plants and seeds in another wood where the species has never been recorded, hoping to start a new population. Macdonald said any survival will count as a success, and that adding more plants to some of the small existing populations would strengthen their ability to cope with a changing environment. The next sign to watch is how many of the 3,400 take hold in their new soil.
Citações Notáveis
Any survival will be a success, and introducing more plants to small existing populations will strengthen their ability to cope with a changing environment.— Iain Macdonald, biodiversity adviser, NatureScot
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