New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora
Dr C Preston, D Pearman, & Dr T Dines
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Botanical Society for the British
Isles, September 2002
The aim of this paper is to provide a short appraisal of the above research contract which was recently completed.
Aims and Objectives
To conduct a major new survey of plants in Britain and Ireland between 1987 and 1999 to produce updated 10-km square distribution maps of all vascular plant species found in the wild.
Methods employed
The survey was co-ordinated by the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI).
Over 1600 volunteers visited more than 99% of the 3880 10 x 10 km squares of the Ordnance Survey national grids in Britain and Ireland to record the flowering plants present.
Most squares were visited several times, at different seasons to ensure that they were recorded as thoroughly as possible.
Plants growing in the wild were recorded but those planted in gardens were excluded.
The records from this survey were incorporated into a database along with the records from the last survey of this kind undertaken in the 1950s (documented in the Atlas of the British Flora, published in 1962) and other relevant datasets that had been collated during the interim period.
10-km distribution maps were produced for each species recorded by the project along with a short written caption.
Conclusion
The New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora' was launched on 17 September 2002 at Kew Gardens by Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Mrs Margaret Beckett.
The 910-page volume, produced from nine million records, provides distribution maps and accompanying text for 2412 flowering plants and ferns in Britain and Ireland. All native species and all the common hybrids and introduced species are covered together with a wide range of subspecies. The records and text for the mapped species and over 940 additional rare aliens, are summarised on an accompanying CD-ROM.
The New Atlas contains 750 species not listed in the Atlas of the British Flora published in 1962.
A summary booklet called The Changing Flora of the UK which presents the results of research to analyse the changes in the UK flora between the two Atlas survey periods was published by Defra at the same time. This publication was the result of a separate research contract undertaken by The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the Botanical Society of the British Isles.
New Atlas of British and Irish Flora can be obtained from Oxford University Press tel: 01536 454534, e-mail: book.orders@oup.co.uk priced £99.50+ packing and postage.
The Changing Flora of the UK is a free publication copies of which
can be obtained from:
Defra Publications, Admail 6000, London SW1A 2XX. Tel: 08453 556000. Quote
product code PB 7117.
It is also available for download from the Defra website: www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/ewd/flora/index.htm
Page published: 27 March 2003