Aspen Bristle Moss Moved in Emergency Bid to Save Rare Scottish Population

• Considered one of the first ever translocations of an epiphytic moss, a species which grows harmlessly on the surface of Aspen trees.

• The moss only grows on 60 Aspen trees in Britain, and that number seems to be falling.

Plantlife Scotland has carried out an emergency translocation of a rare moss Aspen Bristle Moss Nyholmiella gymnostoma after a fallen Aspen tree put the species’ Scottish population at risk.

Without intervention, the moss on this tree would die as the bark deteriorated and other mosses outcompeted it, creating a time-critical chance to test whether it could be translocated.

The moss, which is known at just three sites in Scotland, was moved onto nearby living trees after a storm brought down an Aspen supporting as much as 5% of the known Scottish population.

Once thought extinct in Britain, the moss now survives on around 60 trees in rare mature Aspen woodland. Remarkably, 300 species of epiphyte have been recorded growing on Aspen in Scotland, which is about 40% of Europe’s total epiphytic species diversity.

Working with partners Wildland, Plantlife Scotland tested four experimental methods of translocation across 19 Aspen trees within 2 km of the fallen tree: attaching bark, netting moss, placing it into small drilled holes and wiping fragments directly onto bark. The site will now be monitored to see which approach works best.

Plantlife Scotland hopes the results will help guide future conservation of rare mosses and Aspen woodland.

Work on this species is funded by NatureScot, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and the Swire Charitable Trust.