While the lay person might look on it as simply green slime, algae is actually an extraordinary organism that comes in a huge variety of forms, and plays a crucial part in ecosystems the world over.
Algal experts have now compiled the ‘Important Plant Areas for Algae’ report for wild plant conservation charity, Plantlife International.
“This report brings together an immense wealth of knowledge from the UK’s algal experts, some of which has not been documented before,” says NHM algal expert and one of the report’s authors, Dr Juliet Brodie.
The report will help Plantlife in its conservation work.
“This is the sort of information that helps us identify appropriate site management and also to recognise when activities could be detrimental,” explained Dr Deborah Long, Plantlife Scotland’s Conservation officer.
"The UK is hugely rich in algae, both the seaweeds around the coast and the algae in our freshwater pools and lochs, and we hope this report will make more people aware of this."
Algae includes microscopic phytoplankton – the basis of most marine food chains – and seaweed, whose uses include human food, fertilisers, and even cosmetics and biofuels. Protecting sites where they grow is therefore important for food chains and human exploitation, as well as biodiversity. The challenge is that they are vulnerable to pollution in freshwater sites and dredging and fish farming in coastal sites.
Some of the sites identified in the report are Falmouth and Helford (Cornwall), Skomer Island (Pembrokeshire), and four sites in the Lake District.
The NHM has a database of images of algae on its website, AlgaeVision.
