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Biodiversity

Photograph of Gavin RamsayBiodiversity is one of three cross-cutting themes identified as part of The Scottish Government's research strategy. Here Dr Gavin Ramsay, SCRI’s biodiversity champion, talks about the importance of biodiversity and how research at SCRI aims to help protect and enhance Scotland's agricultural and natural biodiversity.

 

 

Question: What do we mean when talking about biodiversity

There are really three areas that we would think of in terms of biodiversity.

First of all, there is is crop biodiversity. This kind of biodiversity is hugely important because it provides the raw material for breeding.

We have always had to adapt our crops to new pests and diseases that come along or to respond to other new requirements for farmers or consumers but with climate change we have an urgent need to get smarter at adapting our crops for the future.

An important part of what we do is to look after the crop biodiversity that we have in our care, for example in our genebanks and collections. We work to understand the patterns of variation contained in those collections and use them effectively in breeding.

Genebanks contain living plant material that has been collected by people visiting farms or wild areas. In these collections of crop variants and crop wild relatives we maintain a sample of each type and the collections we hold at SCRI include the Commonwealth Potato Collection, barley and soft fruit.

Photograph of sub artic willowA second type of biodiversity is what people might regard as the natural biodiversity of Scotland. We have an interest in exploring that, looking at it in terms of genetics and conservation.

We are trying to understand populations of rare plants that we have in Scotland, how they relate to other populations and how they can best be conserved and protected.

Thirdly there is biodiversity in relation to ecosystems; that is the diversity that you need in any habitat so that it continues to function in a reasonable way. There is such a diversity of organisms in food webs above ground but also below ground in soils. Biodiversity, such as bees to pollinate flowers and bugs in the soil to break down nutrients, is crucial for those habitats to function.

Question: Why is biodiversity important to Scottish agriculture?

Crop biodiversity is important because we need to keep adapting our crops, for example if we are faced with a new pest affecting one of our main crops.

For instance potato blight has changed and we need new sources of resistance for breeding and have to go back to those biodiverse collections to find genes that are useful. The same applies to breeding for drought tolerance, existing varieties are not particularly good and we need to go further to find material for breeding.

Natural biodiversity does impinge on agriculture via the effect on water and nutrient cycles and the provision of pollinators. However the conservation of rare species is a separate issue which is very important to Scotland.

Question: What are the potential negative impacts of not encouraging biodiversity?

There are two aspects of the need to encourage biodiversity; the first is the stability of ecosystems and the second is that land management is bringing about huge losses in biodiversity. Government and society have signed up to try to do something about that. That is one of the reasons we work in relation to natural biodiversity: all of us should accept a commitment to protect the biodiversity in our care.

Agriculture is changing in that policies are being put into place specifically to maintain biodiversity in arable systems so that agriculture can maintain populations of sensitive species, including plants and birds. For example the Rural Stewardship Scheme (now Land Management Contracts) have a role in encouraging that biodiversity and helping to maintain it. Modern agriculture can be very tidy and that does have an impact on wildlife.

Question: What kind of research is SCRI doing in relation to biodiversity?

Photograph of wild barleyIn crop biodiversity we are putting a lot of effort into understanding the patterns of variation that are available in crop related collections and also to understanding some of the useful characters in the collections. Some of these collections, for example in potatoes, are wholly from other countries but there are also collections with some useful older cultivars that still persist in Scotland. Scots bere barley is one example of that. We can help develop new varieties as a result of the understanding that comes from this kind of work.

In relation to natural biodiversity, we are working on conservation genetics. In other words the genetics of populations and their affinities, so that when people try to preserve and enhance those populations they have a better understanding of what to do.

In ecosystem biodiversity we are carrying out a survey of the current status of biodiversity in arable fields in Scotland. The important thing is that there has not been a baseline study of the biodiversity of farmland. We are aware that biodiversity in fields has been changing in the past few decades but cannot easily quantify that. The survey will give us that baseline to assess future trends and any required changes in management.

Question: What practical outputs have there been/de we expect from this research?

The research leads to the development of new varieties of crops, such as barley, potatoes and soft fruit and the development of effective land management practices.

Question: How is SCRI working with the other major research providers on biodversity?

The arable biodiversity survey is being done in collaboration with SAC and the Macaulay Institute and a lot of our conservation genetics work is done in conjunction with the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.

We are also in discussion with all the other major research providers trying to set a common framework for how we address and tackle biodiversity and how we work together better in future.

Further reading