Pollution is helping ‘thuggish’ plants overpower our wildflowers
NETTLES and other “thuggish” plants are overpowering Britain’s wildflowers as a result of air pollution, new research suggests.
Conservation experts say nitrogen emissions are having a “devastating impact” on the nation’s wildflowers and landscapes, posing a greater threat to them than climate change.
The study by nature charity Plantlife says more than one third of flowering plants are now under threat from nitrogen-rich pollution.
Emissions from transport, power stations, farming and industry are deposited back into the natural environment from the air, or in rain, over-fertilising the soil.
This creates nutrient-rich soils which allow plants such as nettles, hogweed and hemlock to thrive and overpower rare and endangered wildflowers, the charity Plantlife warns.
The study shows that 37 per cent of British flowering plants prefer low-nu- trient conditions and are in decline while high-nitrogen plants prosper.
Lichens, mosses and liverworts are particularly sensitive to nitrogen, while other plants at risk include harebell – which was recently classified as nearthreatened in England – and bird’s-foot trefoil, which supports 160 species of invertebrate.
In total, 90 per cent of habitats across England and Wales that are sensitive to levels of nitrogen – such as heathlands, acid grasslands and sand dunes – are receiving pollution from the air and rain at higher levels than they can tolerate, researchers warned.
The emissions of nitrogen – in the form of nitrogen oxides and ammonia – come in addition to nitrogen fertilisers spread on the land.
Dr Trevor Dines, Plantlife’s botanical specialist, said nitrogen pollution could present a far more immediate threat to parts of the countryside than climate change.
“We are force-feeding the natural world a diet of nutrient-rich junk food and it is having a devastating impact.
Once diverse habitats are becoming monotonous green badlands where only the thugs survive and other more delicate plants are being bullied out of existence,” he said. With nitrogen pollution coming to Britain from the other countries, Dr Dines said action was required at a global level. The Plantlife study was backed by the National Trust and the RSPB.