Lichen glued to trees to save it from extinction
AN ANCIENT lichen is being glued to trees in the Lake District in an effort to save the species from extinction, the National Trust has said.
The lungwort lichen, also known as Lobaria pulmonaria, was common in the UK until the 18th century but has si nce s t r uggled because of air pollution and habitat loss.
Once i ndic at i ve of a healthy woodland, it now survives in only a handful of locations in the Lake District.
The innovative conservation method involves taking the lichen from a fallen oak tree and transplanting it on to new host t rees using either wire mesh, staples or eco-friendly glue. The three methods are being tested in different places to see which is the most successful.
Conservationists have attempted to t ransplant a three-metre patch on to dozens of t rees across Borrowdale valley.
The fallen tree, which was two to three hundred years old and blew down in a storm earlier t his year, is t hought to have held one of t he l a rgest surviving populations of the lichen.
The transplantation method has been successful with other varieties of lichen, but i n other experiments t his variety has not thrived outside Scotland.
Molluscs, low l ight and insufficient water can all be fatal to the lichen, which is very sensitive to changes in its environment.
Historically it struggled because of the copper smelting industry in the nearby town of Keswick, which produced sulphur dioxide, and more r ecent l y nit r ogen emissions from road travel and i ntensive agriculture have caused problems.
April Windle, a member of local group Cumbria Lichen a nd Br yophy t e s , said: “We’ve deliberately translocated high up on the trunk out of harm’s way of hungry slugs and snails and positioned t he Lobaria to receive maximum light and moisture.
“This was predominantly on the southern side of the trunk, on the transition zone between the more open bark and moss-dominated area.
“We hope that with the assistance of mesh, staples and glue, t he l ichen will eventually attach, become independent and reproduce.”