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Did you know that more than 90% of fungi are unknown to science?
Throughout February, Plantlife is participating in Reverse the Red’s Fungi month – a chance to better understand the mysterious worlds of some of our rarest fungi species.
Reverse the Red is a global movement aimed at raising awareness of the work being done by organisations and communities to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss, ensuring the survival of wild species and ecosystems.
The initiative brings together scientists, advocates, and partners who use data and science-based conservation approaches, with the goal of reducing our rarest species vulnerability, and eventually removing them from the Red list.
Red lists are a globally recognised way of listing and identifying the threat of extinction to species. Species are assessed objectively based on ongoing scientific information and research.
The world’s most comprehensive list is the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. There are other more local red lists, such as the Great British Red List.
Fungi are a crucial partner to nearly all life on Earth, with an estimated 2.5 million species of fungi found around the world. But more than 90% of fungal species are unknown to science.
This lack of data means it is hard to know if some of these important species need conservation help.
Only 0.4 % of fungi that we know about have had their global conservation status assessed for the IUCN Red List Assessment. That is only 0.02% of the fungi estimated to exist – imagine the amazing species yet to be found!
People around the world are getting outside and recording fungi to help better understand them.
Since the beginning of 2020 more than 10,200 species of fungi have been named as new to science.
This includes 6 new species of webcap uncovered in the UK – 3 in Scotland and 3 in England, such as Cortinarius heatherae, spotted alongside a river beside Heathrow airport.
Join Sarah Shuttleworth who discovers a rare fungi, and the secrets it reveals about the area it’s found in. Learn why recording fungi like this is so important.
Did you spot colourful waxcaps last autumn? It's not too late to tell us by taking part in the #WaxcapWatch, helping us to identify and protect waxcap grasslands.
Discover the pressures grassland waxcaps and their habitats face, and how you can take action to protect them for the future.
Number of IPAs:75 Area of IPAs: 146,051 hectares
Czech Republic covers 78,864 km2
There is a total of 75 IPAs in the Czech Republic, covering 146,051 hectares, which are distributed in the different biogeographic zones: Continental 63, Pannonic 10, both 2.
The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,864 km2 in the centre of Europe, and is bordered by Austria, Germany, Poland and Slovakia. The western and central part of the Czech Republic belongs to the Bohemian Highlands, the east belongs to the west Carpathians.
There are two biogeographic zones, with most of the country covered by the continental zone, and a small part in the southeast by the Pannonian zone. The Czech Republic has an agricultural and industrial landscape that has been altered considerably by human activity since the Neolithic. Agricultural lands cover 54% of the country and forests 33%, most of which are Norway spruce and Scot’s pine plantations. The flora is relatively diverse due to environmental conditions. The best-preserved and most valuable natural areas are preserved by a dense network of protected areas.
Grassland habitats occur within the majority of IPAs and cover an area of 18,924 ha. Forest occurs within 67 IPAs and covers the largest area of all the IPA habitats with 94,610 ha. Other habitats such as heathland and scrub, inland surface water, mires, bogs and fen, inland unvegetated or sparse vegetation, cultivated habitats and constructed habitat are relatively rare. Nature conservation activities, recreation and tourism and forestry are the most significant land uses. Mowing and haymaking, animal grazing and wild plant gathering is recorded significantly less.
The IPAs on non-forest lands such as meadows, steppes and wetlands are threatened primarily by neglected cultivation or complete land abandonment, as well as an increasing level of nutrients resulting in the decline of some plant species. Forest habitats are primarily threatened by intensive, commercial forest management, except for some primeval forests in strictly protected nature reserves. A considerable area of forest is also threatened by air pollution which makes the forests less vital and more susceptible to insect-damage. A large number of IPAs are impacted by tourism.
Important Plant Areas in Central and Eastern Europe
Pages 38 – 42
Czech Republic IPA data
Number of IPAs:27 Area of IPAs: 708,606 hectares Number/Area of IPAs in Protected Areas: 11 IPAs
Montenegro covers 14,000 km2
Montenegro covers an area of almost 14,000 km² and has two biogeographic zones: Mediterranean and Alpine. Montenegro borders Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Kosovo and Serbia. On a European scale Montenegro is believed to have the greatest number of vascular plants per unit area, and contains many national and Balkan endemics – Asperula, Campanula, Dianthus, Edrianathus and Ophrys are just a few of the important genera.
The natural and semi-natural habitats are characterised by forest (oak, beech and coniferous), grasslands, and the coastal habitats of the Adriatic Sea.
Montenegro has 27 IPAs, covering 708,606 hectares. IPAs in Montenegro are largely made up of habitat mosaics, other than 3 sites which are 100% marine. Broadleaved deciduous woodland occurs at the most sites (19), followed by coniferous forests (14) and mixed forests (8). Predominant grassland habitats are mesic (8), sub alpine and alpine (8) and dry (5). Forest (woodland) habitats are the most frequent with significant coverage on most of the sites where they occur. Grassland, cultivated and inland water habitats are also frequent.
16 of Montenegro’s 27 IPAs (nearly 60%) are unprotected. The other 40% have some level of official national protection on all or part of the site.
Tourism and recreation are the dominant land use at 81% of sites and thus, unsurprisingly, development threatens 78%, with over half of the sites threatened specifically by tourist development. This is a particular problem on the coast.
Forestry and mixed agriculture take place on almost half of Montenegrin IPAs and low level wild plant harvesting on one third. One third of sites are also threatened by deforestation and burning of vegetation. The mismanagement of water resources threatens five lake and coastal IPAs at an acute level. In Montenegro climate change is recognised as one of the top ten threats to IPAs.
Pages 74 – 75
Montenegro IPA data
Mountains behind Skadar Lake – Montenegro
Mountain Serpentine above Kotor Bay – Montenegro
Number of IPAs: 45 Area of IPAs: 384,824 hectares Number/Area of IPAs in Protected Areas: 11 IPAs
Albania covers 28,748km2
Albania is situated in the northeast of the Mediterranean basin, covering 28,748km2 including 480km of coastline on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. Albania shares borders with Montenegro, Kosovo, Republic of North Macedonia and Greece and is an integral part of the Balkan Peninsula, an area of considerable plant endemism.
45 IPAs have been identified in Albania covering an area of 384,824 hectares and including 15 transboundary sites: 4 with Montenegro, 2 with Kosovo, 5 with Republic of North Macedonia and 4 with Greece.
These IPAs contain a huge variety of habitats; forests, maquis, grassland and wetland and are located throughout the country, in the mountain ranges in the north, south and east as well as along the coast in the west and around the lakes in the east. 133 European threatened habitats (from the EU Habitat Directive and the Bern Convention annexes) are found in Albania and have been used alongside threatened species to identify Albania IPAs under criterion C.
The Albania flora contains 3,200 species of vascular plants of which 27 are national endemics and 160 endemic to the Balkans. Approximately 30% of the European flora is present in Albania. 196 red listed species can be found on these 45 IPAs. These are not all threatened but are frequently rare on a nationally or global scale. Many are also Albanian and/or Balkan endemic species.
Albanian IPAs are subject to various levels of protection some sites have more than one type of designation. Seven IPAs have no protected area status and for others there are no clear management plans to provide information on how to safeguard the biodiversity within them.
The main threats to IPAs in Albania are overgrazing, illegal deforestation, burning of vegetation, tourism development and recreational habitat fragmentation and eutrophication (enrichment).
Important Plant Areas of the south and east Mediterranean region
Pages 65-69
Albania IPA data
The Valley Of Cem River – Kelmend, Albania
Buntrint Archeological Site, Albania
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