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‘Rare and Threatened Bryophytes of Ireland’ – A step towards their conservation

Officially launched by the Irish ministers for arts and environment, this important book provides Ireland with a full-scale Red Data Book of bryophytes. Ireland has an exceptionally rich bryophyte flora, comprising about 854 terminal taxa (454 mosses, 227 liverworts and 3 hornworts), which represents approximately 50% of the European flora (Holyoak, 2006). This makes Ireland an important international center for bryophyte diversity. Despite, or perhaps due to, its inherent richness, extensive bryophyte records and surveys for the whole country were relatively scarce. Intensive field surveys over the last 10 years by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) were carried out to fill in data gaps or to confirm past reports of many bryophyte species. The result of all that work is this beautifully presented book. The release of this book is of paramount importance for current and future bryologists working in Ireland, but the international bryologist has a lot to gain from it too. For readers unfamiliar with the environmental history of north-western Europe, a succinct account of how glaciation events and anthropogenic disturbances affected the rise, succession and distribution of bryophytes is considerately provided. The later accounts of typical bryophyte habitats and of the assessment procedures and criteria for endangered bryophytes is useful information for both sets of bryologists. Those with a particular fondness for recording history of bryophytes will be pleasantly rewarded; an entire section is devoted to tracing this history. The authors also invite discussion on the uncertainties concerning certain records and document modern attempts to clarify those doubts through repeated extensive field surveys. The entire section is thoughtful as well as informative. The importance of foreign contribution, mainly through the well documented quadrennial field excursions of the British Bryological Society, is also noted. Although these historically focussed sections of the book are not essential to the conservational aim of the book, they nevertheless provide an interesting and insightful exploration into Ireland’s bryological past. Protecting vulnerable species of bryophytes involves preservation of their fragile habitats. A small imbalance is often enough to shift the dynamics of a community. All of the most important bryophyte habitats are wonderfully detailed and illustrated here. Whilst general information on the habitat and typical bryophyte formations are covered, more importantly