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6. Explanation of the
Wales Red Data List
The columns that appear in the Bryophyte Red Data List for Wales (Section 8) are
described below.
6.1 Species information
Taxonomy of the Wales Red Data List (as given in the Taxon column) follows that of the
latest Census Catalogue (Hill et al., 2008). Whether the taxon is a moss (M), liverwort (L) or
hornwort (H) is indicated in the MLH column.
The threat category of the species in Great Britain is given in the GB Red List column,
and follows Hodgetts (unpublished). The current list of bryophytes on Section 42 of the
Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (NERC) 2006 (Habitats and species of
principal importance in Wales) is given in the Section 42 Wales column. European Red
Data Book species (ECCB, 1995) are shown in the Europe Red List column.
The native or alien status of each taxon in Britain (and therefore Wales) is given in the
Native/alien status column, following Hill et al. (2007). Almost all taxa are considered to
be natives except for a few possible archaeophytes (see section 3.2). Neophytes have
been excluded and are listed in Section 9.
6.2 National responsibility and edge of range
An assessment has been made of what proportion of the British distribution of each taxon
is found within Wales. This has been done using the number of hectads for which there are
modern records in the BBS database (see Hill et al., 2007) compared with the count for
Wales made by the Biological Records Centre (BRC). Although crude, this does provide an
indication of how much of the GB resource is located within Wales. For taxa with more than
25% of the GB distribution in Wales (and for which Wales has a national responsibility) the
percentage is given in the Prop (%) of GB population column (see section 7.6).
Taxa that reach the edge of their British range in Wales are identified in the Edge of GB
range? column. The edge of range in question is indicated by “N”, “S”, “E” and “W”, where
“S” indicates that the taxon reaches its southern limit in Wales. Notes indicate the county
in which this edge lies, and where necessary gives information on outlying colonies when
the edge is almost reached in Wales (e.g. Adelanthus decipiens with single outliers in
Devon and Cornwall but the southern edge of its core range in Cardiganshire). Disjunctions
from Scotland are indicated in the Disjunct from Scotland? column because taxa that
‘skip’ northern England and are (or were until they were lost from Wales) found only in the
mountains of Scotland and Wales are believed to be more vulnerable to climate change
than those also found in the lower mountains of the Lake District and the north Pennines.
Rhestr Data Coch Bryoffytau ar gyfer Cymru
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