The Flora of Fair Isle
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The Flora of Fair Isle Camila Vaitea Quinteros Peñafiel 2016 Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the MSc in the Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants i Abstract Fair Isle, a small island located between Orkney and Shetland just off the northern tip of the British Isles has not enjoyed the same intensity of study of its biodiversity, in particular of the native flora, as other equally remote areas of the British Isles. This project involved surveying the entire flora of Fair Isle that comprises 19 monads (1km2), which were assessed through a qualitative floristic survey by recording the presence of plant species. This information enabled a comprehensive checklist of 238 species, classified into 27 orders, 59 families and 116 genera according to APG IV. Of the total number of species, 211 are native to the British Isles where 7 are considered under threat and 8 nationally scarce, the rest 27 are introduced species. A description was done for 9 different habitats that dominate the island. These were verified by the application of TWINSPAN and MAVIS which generated 16 NVC communities. It is hoped that the results found in this project emphasize the importance of Fair Isle regarding its flora, especially considering that it is home to 55% of the native species found on Shetland and that it has a wide range of plant communities, which are either missing or under serious threat in the British Isles. ii Acknowledgements The following people deserve special thanks for the support and company throughout the development of this thesis: My amazing supervisors Alex Twyford & Sally Eaton, of whom I feel very lucky to have and proud of the work that we have done together. The people on Fair Isle, specially Nick Riddiford for his valuable help during the survey and along the project; Lee, Chris and Shaun for making me feel that I never left Fair Isle; to the Fair Isle Bird Observatory Staff and the community; the climbers Rob Woodall & Alan Whatley for their help with the photographic material collected on top of Sheep Rock which contributed to complete the records of all the monads of the island. Jenny Farrar & Jo Whatmough for their guidance in the fieldwork, taxonomic identification training and the inputs for this project. My MSc classmates, for their support shown at the moment of the application of this project. For being a group so united, and that took care of each other along the course. My partner and best friend Kenneth, for his unconditional love, company and encourage to fight for these new challenges. Morag & Jamie Mellor who gave me the mental and spiritual support during the project and the course. To Jamie Howard & Tessa MacGregor for always keeping me positive and happy. My family Waldo, Pachy, Tomás & Nicolás who in the distance always made me feel close to home. With their constant admiration, support and love helped me to enjoy at maximum this experience. iii Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... ii Contents ..................................................................................................................................... iii List of figures ............................................................................................................................. v List of tables ............................................................................................................................. vii 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Description of the study area ....................................................................................... 2 1.2. Historical Flora of Fair Isle and plant diversity ........................................................... 3 1.3. Aims............................................................................................................................. 5 2. Methods ............................................................................................................................... 7 2.1. Development of the survey .......................................................................................... 7 2.2. Fieldwork ..................................................................................................................... 7 2.3. Species data collection ................................................................................................. 8 2.4. Sites surveyed .............................................................................................................. 9 2.5. Habitats data collection ............................................................................................. 17 2.6. Statistical analysis and interpretation of data ............................................................ 20 3. Results ............................................................................................................................... 21 3.1. Fieldwork ................................................................................................................... 21 3.2. Species data collection ............................................................................................... 22 3.3. Sites description ......................................................................................................... 23 3.4. Collection of data on habitats .................................................................................... 30 Inland cliff ............................................................................................................................ 31 Sea cliffs ............................................................................................................................... 31 Grassland .............................................................................................................................. 32 Flush stream ......................................................................................................................... 32 iv Wetland ................................................................................................................................ 32 Heathland ............................................................................................................................. 32 Disturbed ground .................................................................................................................. 32 Coastland .............................................................................................................................. 32 3.5. Statistical analysis and interpretation of data ............................................................ 35 Plant communities from TWINSPAN.................................................................................. 35 4. Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 39 4.1. Implications of a comprehensive checklist for Fair Isle ............................................ 39 4.2. Native status .............................................................................................................. 40 4.3. Conservation status .................................................................................................... 41 4.4. Rarity & Scarcity status ............................................................................................. 42 4.5. Habitat diversity on Fair Isle and its relationship with species diversity .................. 43 4.6. Diversity on Fair Isle compared with other regions of the British Isles .................... 44 4.7. Conservation recommendations for Fair isle ............................................................. 45 4.8. Fieldwork challenges ................................................................................................. 46 5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 47 6. References ......................................................................................................................... 48 7. Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 52 v List of figures Figure 1 Map showing the location of Fair Isle (red circle) in relation to the United Kingdom (A) and to Shetland (B). ............................................................................................................. 2 Figure 2 Map of Fair Isle showing the 19 monads with each grid reference (HZ National Grid), adapted from the Ordnance Survey map “466 Shetland 1:25 000 scale” (A) and the sampling design of the 1km2 unit- monad HZ 2272 (B). ........................................................... 8 Figure 3 (A) South Lighthouse, (B) Meoness where the flatness and grassy area is appreciated ................................................................................................................................. 9 Figure 4 (A) Malcom’s Head, (B) View of the village from Malcom’s Head ........................ 10 Figure 5 (A) The Rippack, (B) Top of Sheep Rock with the climber Rob Woodall (photograph taken by the other climber, Alan Whatley) .........................................................