PheasanRANUNSYN.: Ad

Status: Nationally10-km sqLead part

UK BioAdonis anyet no ac

Adonis annua (L.)

t’s-eye CULACEAE onis autumnalis L., Adonis phoenicea Bercht. & J. Presl

Scarce Endangered uares post 1987 UK BAP Priority Species since 2007 ner: Not yet appointed

diversity Action Plan: nua was added to the UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority List in 2007. There is as tion plan or objectives.

Work on Adonis annua is supported by:

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Contents Status:................................................................................................................... 1 UK Biodiversity Action Plan:....................................................................................... 1 1. Morphology, Identification, Taxonomy & Genetics ............................................... 2

1.1. Morphology & Identification.......................................................................... 2 1.2. Taxonomic Considerations............................................................................ 3 1.3. Genetic implications .................................................................................... 3

2. Distribution & Current Status ........................................................................... 3 2.1. World........................................................................................................ 3 2.2. Europe ...................................................................................................... 3 2.3. United Kingdom.......................................................................................... 3

2.3.1. England ................................................................................................. 4 2.3.2. Northern Ireland...................................................................................... 7 2.3.3. Scotland................................................................................................. 7 2.3.4. Wales .................................................................................................... 7 2.3.5. Ireland................................................................................................... 7 2.3.6. Channel Islands....................................................................................... 8

3. Ecology & Life Cycle ....................................................................................... 8 4. Habitat Requirements ..................................................................................... 9

4.1. The Landscape Perspective........................................................................... 9 4.2. Communities & Vegetation ........................................................................... 9 4.3. Summary of Habitat Requirements .............................................................. 11

5. Management Implications.............................................................................. 11 6. Threats/ Factors leading to loss or decline or limiting recovery............................ 12 7. Current Conservation Measures...................................................................... 12

7.1. In-Situ Measures ...................................................................................... 12 7.2. Ex-Situ Measures...................................................................................... 13 7.3. Research Data.......................................................................................... 13 7.4. Monitoring Adonis annua and the Common Monitoring Standard ...................... 13

8. References .................................................................................................. 13 9. Contacts ..................................................................................................... 14 10. Acknowledgments ........................................................................................ 14 11. Links .......................................................................................................... 14

1. Morphology, Identification, Taxonomy & Genetics

1.1. MORPHOLOGY & IDENTIFICATION Plants grow up to 50cm tall, and are frequently much branched, although in dry, nutrient-poor soils, plants are usually much smaller. Leaves are much divided with narrow, bright green parallel-sided segments. Flowers are borne singly at the ends of stems, and there are rarely more than 30 per plant. They are cup-shaped with 5-8 deep red petals with a dark basal spot and black anthers. The central receptacle of the flower elongates as the seeds ripen, with around 30 seeds per flower. The seeds are large, similar in size and shape to a grape pip, 3.5mm x 4.5mm, and weighing between 5mg and 10mg (Salisbury, 1964). Numbers of seed produced per plant are low in comparison with most other species of arable plant. Fig 1. Adonis annua

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1.2. TAXONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS None.

1.3. GENETIC IMPLICATIONS No studies on genetic diversity within this species have been carried out. Such a study would be desirable to elucidate relationships between populations.

2. Distribution & Current Status

2.1. WORLD Adonis annua is native to North Africa, Western Asia and Central and Southern Europe.

2.2. EUROPE The European range centre on the Mediterranean region and reaches Iran and North Africa (Wigginton 1999). Fig 2. European distribution of Adonis annua (Atlas Florae Europaeae 1999 © Botanical Museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History)

2.3. UNITED KINGDOM Overview Adonis annua is found almost exclusively in arable habitats in Britain, and it can also occur on former arable land until the associated perennial vegetation becomes too closed. It is

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found only on light calcareous soils, chiefly chalk, but also Jurassic limestone. This species is thought to be an archaeophyte (a plant naturalized in Britain before 1500AD). Although records are widespread throughout southern Britain with isolated sites as far north as central Scotland, it has never been abundant. The majority of sites have been to the south of a line from the Humber to the Severn Estuaries. In the New Atlas of the British Flora, Adonis annua has a change index of –2.19, the 27th greatest of any species in the British flora (Preston et al., 2002). This species was included in the BSBI/Nature Conservancy Council arable plant survey (Smith 1986), but few records were received. Before 1950, Adonis annua had been recorded from 172 10km squares, between 1950 and 1985 this had decreased to 54, while since 1986 it has been recorded from only 15. Although the periods differ and the coverage of botanical recording has varied greatly, these figures are nevertheless illustrative of a real decline, although as with many annuals, caution must be observed in the interpretation of these figures, as this is a species with a history of erratic appearance at some of its arable localities. There may be some potential for recovery from the seed-bank, but it is thought that in common with other species that produce large seeds (Thompson et al, 1993), the seeds are relatively short-lived. It is an Endangered species (Cheffings & Farrell, 2005), and is included on the priority list of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. There are currently no obviously casual or ruderal sites, but this species is sometimes included in seed-mixes of annual species used for landscaping projects. Fig 3. UK distribution of Adonis annua since 1986

2.3.1. ENGLAND This was formerly a widespread and locally frequent plant of arable land, mainly on the chalk of southern and eastern England. In the late 18th century, it was sufficiently abundant

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in Kent, Sussex and Surrey for it to be gathered commercially for sale as a cut flower, and it was also frequent to the north of London and in Bedfordshire (Salisbury, 1964). One of its former strongholds was on the Jurassic limestone of Portland in south Dorset, where the first localised record was in 1832. It was frequent there in the late 19th century (Mansell-Pleydell, 1895), but is thought to have been last recorded there around 1980. It has also been known from the Salisbury area since before 1843 (Grose, 1957), and the first record from the mid-Hampshire chalk was in 1836 (Townsend, 1904). Since the mid-1980s, the majority of records have been on the chalk of central southern England between Salisbury and Basingstoke, with 13 out of 21 recent Hampshire and Wiltshire records being within 20km of Salisbury. Some of these are among the most floristically rich arable sites on chalk in Britain. The sites around Salisbury include fields around Odstock Hospital (known here since before 1888), three fields between the Bourne and Avon Valleys to the north-east of the city (here since 1843), and fields belonging to the Longford Estate to the south (here since 1883, and studied by Sir E. Salisbury in the 1950s: Salisbury, 1964). It is also recorded annually from part of Bulford Ranges on the Salisbury Plain Training Area where it occurs on disturbed chalk tracks across former arable land. In 2004, the best population (c300 plants) was recorded from a farm in the Allen Valley where the owners see it each year in a cultivated set-aside strip between two fields. Notable associated species at these sites include Papaver hybridum, Valerianella dentata, Euphorbia platyphyllos, Petroselinum segetum, Legousia hybrida and Papaver argemone. One of the richest sites in Britain for arable flora is at Longparish, to the east of Andover. This was managed very extensively until 1988 when ownership changed. Since then management has been carried out by contractors, field boundaries have changed and there have been other changes to the site. Adonis annua has been recorded in several places in three fields, although numbers were never large. A single plant of Adonis annua was recorded from post-harvest stubble in 2004. Other species occurring here since 1987 include Torilis arvensis, Scandix pecten-veneris, Fumaria parviflora, Galeopsis angustifolia, Papaver hybridum, Valerianella dentata, Petroselinum segetum, Legousia hybrida and Papaver argemone. There are six other recent records from the area between Andover and Basingstoke. The only known surviving populations in Dorset are near the Purbeck coast near St Aldhelm’s Head. There is a small possibility that it may appear at Portland when cultivation of the ancient strip fields is resumed. There are regular records from the corner of an intensively managed field in north-west Kent, and from the disturbed rides of a conifer plantation established on former arable land near Eastbourne in Sussex. It has been known from a field near Reading since 1957, where more than 100 plants were recorded in 2004. Sites were known in the 1970s from the Cambridge chalk, but the last site at Castle Camps was in a chalk pit now filled in. Recent records from Suffolk are deliberate introductions as part of a project carried out by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, but are not known to have persisted. Table 1: Present & former distribution of Adonis annua in England by vice-county. *East Suffolk sites are all non-persistent introductions.

V-C No.

Vice-county

Total Number of extant 10km squares (Post

1987) / extinct 10km squares

%

Decline

Date & Place(s) of last

record

1 West Cornwall 0/1 100 1909

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V-C No.

Vice-county

Total Number of extant 10km squares (Post

1987) / extinct 10km squares

%

Decline

Date & Place(s) of last

record

2 East Cornwall 0/2 100 1920 3 South Devon 0/1 100 1939 5 South Somerset 0/1 100 1880 6 North Somerset 0/6 100 1932 7 North Wiltshire 0/1 100 1949 8 South Wiltshire 5/7 58 2007 Birdlymes Farm,

2004 Knoll Farm, Manor Farm,

9 Dorset 1/9 90 1997 St Aldhelm’s Head 10 Isle of Wight 0/3 100 1904 Alverstone 11 South Hampshire 1/5 83 2004 Fob Down 12 North Hampshire 4/3 43 2004 Southside Farm 13 West Sussex 0/4 100 1937 14 East Sussex 1/8 89 1994 Friston Forest 15 East Kent 0/9 100 1945 16 West Kent 1/5 83 1995 Dean Bottom 17 Surrey 0/6 100 1948 White Downs 18 South Essex 0/4 100 1954 Greenhithe 19 North Essex 0/4 100 1950 20 Hertfordshire 0/4 100 1937 21 Middlesex 0/3 100 1884 22 Berkshire 1/5 83 2004 Play Hatch 23 Oxfordshire 0/8 100 1968 Kemble 24 Buckinghamshire 0/3 100 1982 Chequers 25 East Suffolk *3/4 1983 Walberswick 26 West Suffolk 0/6 100 1960 Lakenheath 27 East Norfolk 0/3 100 1914 29 Cambridgeshire 1/8 89 1991 Castle Camps 30 Bedfordshire 0/4 100 1950 Pegsdon Common

Farm 31 Huntingdonshire 0/1 100 1950 32 Northamptonshire 0/6 100 1981 Cranford 33 East Gloucs 0/8 100 1955 34 West Gloucs 0/2 100 1948 36 Herefordshire 0/1 100 1890 39 Staffordshire 0/2 100 1947 40 Shropshire 0/2 100 1841 Coalport, Ludlow 53 South Lincolnshire 0/6 100 1964 Aunby 54 North Lincolnshire 0/7 100 1959 55 Leicestershire 0/5 100 1971 57 Derbyshire 0/2 100 1950 58 Cheshire 0/3 100 1960 Little Sutton 59 South Lancashire 0/5 100 1958 60 West Lancashire 0/1 100 1907 61 SE Yorkshire 0/2 100 1938 63 SW Yorkshire 0/3 100 1941 64 Mid-W Yorkshire 0/3 100 1888

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V-C No.

Vice-county

Total Number of extant 10km squares (Post

1987) / extinct 10km squares

%

Decline

Date & Place(s) of last

record

66 Durham 0/1 100 1827

2.3.2. NORTHERN IRELAND There are no records from Northern Ireland (Preston et al, 2002).

2.3.3. SCOTLAND There are six pre-1987 records for Adonis annua from Scotland. All but one of these is pre-1940. The only recent record, from Inverness in 1971 is likely to have been a casual only.

V-C No.

Vice-county

Total Number of extant 10km squares (Post

1990) / extinct 10km squares

%

Decline

Date & Place(s) of last

record

77 Lanarkshire 0/1 100 1865 80 Roxburghshire 0/1 100 1875 85 Fife & Kinross 0/2 100 1936 92 S Aberdeenshire 0/1 100 1867 96 Easterness and

Nairnshire 0/1 100 1971 Inverness

2.3.4. WALES Adonis annua has been recorded in Denbighshire, but there are no recent records from Wales.

V-C No.

Vice-county

Total Number of extant 10km squares (Post

1990) / extinct 10km squares

%

Decline

Date & Place(s) of last

record

50 Denbighshire 0/2 100 1911

2.3.5. IRELAND There are three pre-1970 records from the Republic of Ireland (Preston et al, 2002). There are no recent records.

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2.3.6. CHANNEL ISLANDS There are two 10km square records for Adonis annua from the Channel Islands.

3. Ecology & Life Cycle Adonis annua was included in some of the investigations carried out by Wilson (1990). Adonis annua is an annual. Seedlings can germinate both in the spring and in the autumn, although the majority germinate in the autumn. In arable situations, plants are found largely in autumn-sown crops. Autumn-germinated plants flower earlier and grow much larger than those germinating in the spring. In a field study, plants were most abundant in plots drilled between mid-October and the end of November (Wilson, 1990), with few plants appearing in spring-sown crops. Germination can evidently occur immediately after seed is shed from the parent plant, with dormancy being imposed by low temperatures in the winter, to be broken again by high temperatures in the summer to allow germination in the succeeding autumn. This is typical behaviour of autumn-germinating annuals of temperate regions (Baskin & Baskin, 2001). The seeds of Adonis annua are large, lacking projections that would help in dispersal by animals or wind although Adonis spp are included in a list of ant-dispersed seeds by Baskin & Baskin (2001). They would have been easily removed from cereal seed by early threshing machinery (Salisbury, 1964). The length of seed dormancy in Adonis spp is not known but the results of other experiments suggest that it is poor, and this would be consistent with Thompson et al (1993) who have proposed a general rule that the length of seed dormancy is inversely related to seed size. There is some evidence however of persistence in the soil for several years at some sites (Salisbury, 1964). In a field near Alresford in Hampshire, it reappeared after a gap of 30 years, and plants appeared in north Wiltshire where never recorded before, in 1971 when the M4 motorway was constructed (Horton et al, 1972). After germination, plants form a rosette of leaves persisting through the winter in autumn-germinating individuals. A single erect stem elongates in early to mid-summer, branching extensively in its upper parts and flowering from mid-June to August. In terms of established strategy (Grime et al, 1988), Adonis annua is probably best classified as a stress-tolerant ruderal. It is typically found in what appear to be conditions that are poor in major nutrients, often where the crop canopy is very sparse and where there is relatively little competitive pressure. Nothing is known about mycorrhizal associates. Little is known about breeding systems in this species. It is likely to be at least partly self-fertile. Nothing is known about susceptibility to herbicides, although it is likely to be susceptible to the majority of broad-spectrum herbicides.

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4. Habitat Requirements

4.1. THE LANDSCAPE PERSPECTIVE In arable sites, Adonis annua is found predominantly in fields sown to autumn crops although it also occurs in spring crops. An analysis of the vegetation at sites for Adonis annua in relation to environmental variables showed correlations with crop rotations based on winter wheat, spring barley and grass leys typical of the area of central southern England in which it still occurs (Wilson, 1990). There are two recent non-arable sites. At Friston Forest in East Sussex, Adonis annua grows in the regularly disturbed rides of a conifer plantation established on arable land in the 1940s. At Bulford (SPTA) it occurs in several places on chalk tracks across former arable land now used for military training and receiving regular disturbance from tanks. Soils at the recently recorded sites are entirely calcareous loams. The underlying rock is chalk at all but the Dorset site (St Aldhelm’s Head), where the substratum is Jurassic limestone.

4.2. COMMUNITIES & VEGETATION Silverside (1977) described British arable vegetation including Adonis annua as the Adonito autumnalis-Iberidetum amarae. This appears to be very similar to the more continental Caucalido-Adonidetum aestivalis (Hofmeister & Garve, 1986). This is a species-rich community of freely-draining calcareous soils in central southern and south-eastern England, where rainfall is relatively low and summers are dry and warm. Silverside’s survey included only three localities for Adonis annua. The corresponding NVC community appears to be OV15b Anagallis arvensis-Veronica persica community, Legousia hybrida-Chaenorhinum minus sub-community, (Rodwell, 2000), which probably represents a western extreme of the Caucalido-Adonidetum aestivalis. OV15b is typical of relatively infertile calcareous soils in the south-eastern corner of England, and is a species-rich vegetation characterised by a suite of calcicolous species including Legousia hybrida, Chaenorhinum minus, Reseda lutea and Valerianella dentata. Sites surveyed between 1987 and 1990 and in 2004 corresponded closely with OV15b, and were in general species-rich with many calcicolous species and several rarities including the UKBAP Priority Listed Scandix pecten-veneris, Torilis arvensis and Galeopsis angustifolium. Other rarities include Petroselinum segetum, Fumaria parviflora, Papaver hybridum, Valerianella dentata and Papaver argemone (Table 2). Table 2. Constancy table (score out of 5) for vegetation associated with Adonis annua at 10 sites in southern England. Data collected 1987-1989 and 2004. Species with only a single record are omitted.

Adonis annua 5 Euphorbia exigua 5 Papaver rhoeas 5 Viola arvensis 5 Papaver hybridum 4 Veronica arvensis 4

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Anagallis arvensis 4 Euphorbia helioscopia 4 Fallopia convolvulus 4 Fumaria officinalis 4 Galium aparine 4 Kickxia spuria 4 Lapsana communis 4 Poa trivialis 4 Sonchus oleraceus 4 Veronica persica 4 Legousia hybrida 3 Sherardia arvensis 3 Anthemis cotula 3 Avena fatua 3 Bromus sterilis 3 Kickxia elatine 3 Myosotis arvensis 3 Polygonum aviculare 3 Silene alba 3 Sinapis arvensis 3 Stellaria media 3 Tripleurospermum inodorum 3 Aethusa cynapium 2 Fumaria micrantha 2 Geranium dissectum 2 Petroselinum segetum 2 Poa annua 2 Reseda lutea 2 Sonchus arvensis 2 Artemisia vulgaris 2 Capsella bursa-pastoris 2 Carduus nutans 2 Chaenorhinum minus 2 Cirsium arvense 2 Convolvulus arvensis 2 Elymus repens 2 Lolium perenne 2 Senecio vulgaris 2 Sonchus asper 2 Valerianella dentata 2 Veronica polita 2 Agrostis stolonifera 1 Alopecurus myosuroides 1 Anthriscus sylvestris 1 Arenaria serpyllifolia 1 Carduus acanthoides 1 Chenopodium album 1 Lamium purpureum 1 Matricaria perforata 1 Odontites verna 1 Pastinaca sativa 1 Plantago major 1 Polygonum rurivagum 1 Sisymbrium officinale 1 Torilis arvensis 1 Vicia sativa 1 Lamium amplexicaule 1

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4.3. SUMMARY OF HABITAT REQUIREMENTS Habitat features important to Adonis annua in Britain are summarised in Table 3. Table 3: Habitat features important to Adonis annua in Britain

Type

Physical & topographical

A lowland species. Soils are calcareous loams over chalk or Jurassic limestone. Sites are generally unshaded, flat or gently sloping to the south.

Vegetation/structural

Adonis annua is a poor competitor. When growing with a crop it cannot tolerate a dense, closed canopy. Vegetation is species-rich with a high representation of thermophilous species.

Processes

Adonis annua needs exposed soil for germination and for growth to seed production. In arable sites this disturbance is created by ploughing.

Chemical

Soils are naturally deficient in macronutrients. Large quantities of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are typically added annually to arable soils, but Adonis annua is likely to be found only where fertiliser applications are deficient such as at field margins on naturally infertile soils. This species is likely to be susceptible to most widely used, broad-spectrum herbicides.

Adonis annua has many features in common with other rare annual species of arable land. Some of these are also included in Plantlife’s Back from the Brink Programme and are listed on the Priority List of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (http://www.ukbap.org.uk/bapgrouppage.aspx?id=112). These include Galium tricornutum, Silene gallica, Torilis arvensis and Scandix pecten-veneris. It is a short-lived species that has relatively simple requirements. It needs to produce seed regularly and requires large gaps in the vegetation for seedling establishment. The seeds germinate readily in the autumn and spring given sufficient water, and need no special treatment. It appears to have a relatively short-lived seed-bank which however confers some ability to survive brief periods of adverse conditions. It is possible that in common with some other large-seeded species (e.g. Centaurea cyanus, Agrostemma githago) deep burial in anaerobic conditions can confer longer dormancy. It is a poor competitor and is favoured by an open crop canopy and relatively sparse vegetation. It is probably susceptible to the most widely used broad-spectrum herbicides.

5. Management Implications Ideal management in arable land for Adonis annua involves annual cultivation, ideally in mid-autumn or early spring without subsequent disturbance until the following autumn. No fertiliser or herbicide should be applied, although it may be necessary to take measures to reduce the quantity of competitive weeds such as thistles, sow-thistles and grasses by controlled herbicide use.

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6. Threats/ Factors leading to loss or decline or limiting recovery The major reason for the loss of populations in arable land has been the progressive intensification of farming since the early 20th century. Adonis annua is particularly susceptible to change because it produces few seed with little ability to disperse and with a restricted life in the seed-bank. Before 1950 many sites were lost, including near extinction in the north and west of the country. This was probably a result of improved seed cleaning following the introduction of improved seed-cleaning machinery at the end of the 19th century, and the abandonment of much arable land in the arable depression of the late 19th and early 20th century. After the Second World War populations were lost with the introduction of more competitive crop varieties, increasing applications of nitrogen, the development of effective broad-spectrum herbicides and the earlier cultivation and drilling of crops in the autumn. These processes continue to threaten the few remaining sites. New threats come from the abandonment of arable land as the profitability of arable farming in Britain decreases, although current rises in cereal prices have meant that this may be less of a threat in the near future. The first parts of fields to be withdrawn from production are usually the less productive field margins which are also the last refugia of many rare arable plants. These are often converted to grassland, sometimes as part of agri-environment schemes designed to benefit farmland wildlife. It is important that the management of field margins under agri-environment schemes is considered in the context of the available information on distribution of uncommon arable plants. Table 4: threats to the survival of Adonis annua in the UK.

Type Threat

Habitat destruction

Agricultural improvement: high levels of nitrogen application, use of broad-spectrum herbicides, early autumn cultivation and crop drilling.

Successional

The development of closed grassland following cessation of ploughing. Field margins can be taken out of production both as part of changes in farming operations and also as part of agri-environment schemes. Development of closed grassland and scrub in forest rides at Friston Forest and on disturbed ground at Bulford (SPTA).

7. Current Conservation Measures

7.1. IN-SITU MEASURES Adonis annua is not protected in any Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) or nature reserves. It does not occur in any farmland owned by The National Trust. Of the two non-arable sites, one is owned by the Forestry Commission and the other by the Ministry of Defence. Several sites are now under favourable management under agri-environment scheme agreements. These include 11 of the 25 sites at which Adonis annua has been recently recorded.

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It should be emphasised that grant-aid schemes for conservation land management are liable to change in the long-term, and there is no guarantee that schemes currently in place will receive funding in the future. Current conservation schemes The major countryside conservation programmes offering assistance to land managers conserving sites currently or formerly supporting populations of Adonis annua are Entry Level Stewardship and Higher Level Stewardship. These have replaced the Countryside Stewardship and Environmentally Sensitive Area schemes. Entry Level Stewardship and higher level stewardship offer farmers 5- and 10-year agreements to manage land in an environmentally sensitive manner in return for annual payments. Options for the management of field margins for arable flora are available under these schemes. These are administered by Natural England. For more information about each programme access the appropriate link by clicking on the scheme title. The administration and availability of these schemes is under constant review.

7.2. EX-SITU MEASURES There is a limited collection of seed of Adonis annua held in the Millennium Seed Bank at The Royal Botanical Gardens at Wakehurst Place, solely comprising a small collection from a garden in Cambridgeshire.

7.3. RESEARCH DATA Adonis annua was included in several of the investigations carried out as part of a PhD thesis by Philip Wilson (Wilson, 1990).

7.4. MONITORING ADONIS ANNUA AND THE COMMON MONITORING STANDARD Individual flowering plants of Adonis annua are relatively easy to distinguish and count. At all sites numbers are small and all individuals should be counted. The area occupied by the population should be mapped.

8. References Baskin C.C. & Baskin J.M. (1988). Seeds: Ecology, Biogeography and Evolution of

Dormancy and Germination. Academic Press. Cheffings C.M. & Farrell L. (2005). Species Status, Report No. 7: The vascular plant red

data list for Great Britain. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough. Clapham A.R., Tutin T.G. & Moore D.M. (1987). Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge

University Press. Grime J.P., Hodgson J.G. & Hunt R. (1988). Comparative Plant Ecology. Chapman & Hall,

London. Grose D. (1957). The Flora of Wiltshire. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History

Society, Devizes.

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Hofmeister H. & Garve E. (1986). Lebensraum Acker. Paul Parey, Hamburg & Berlin. Mansell-Pleydell J.C. (1895). The Flora of Dorsetshire. Privately printed, Dorchester. Perring F.H. & Walters S.M. (1982). Atlas of the British Flora, 3rd Edition. EP Publications,

Wakefield. Preston, C.D., Pearman, D.A. & Dines, T.D. (2002). New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora.

University Press, Oxford. Rodwell J.S. (2000). British Plant Communities Volume 5. Maritime Communities and

Vegetation of Open Habitats. Cambridge University Press. Salisbury Sir E. (1994). Weeds and Aliens. Collins, London. Silverside A. (1977). A Phytosociological Survey of British Arable Weed and Related

Communities. PhD Thesis, Durham. Smith A. (1986). Endangered Species of Disturbed Habitats. NCC, Peterborough. Stace, C.A. (1997). New Flora of the British Isles (2nd ed.). University Press, Cambridge. Thompson K., Band S.R. & Hodgson J.G. (1993). Seed size and shape predict persistence in

the soil. Functional Ecology 7, 236-241. Townsend F. (1904). Flora of Hampshire. Lovell, Reeve & Co London. Wigginton M. (1999). British Red Data Books: 1, Vascular Plants. JNCC, Peterborough. Wilson P.J. (1990). The Ecology and Conservation of Rare Arable Weed Species and

Communities. PhD Thesis, Southampton. Wilson P.J. (1999). The effect of nitrogen on populations of rare arable plants in Britain.

Aspects of Applied Biology, 54, 93-100 Wilson P.J. (2004). Important Arable Plant Areas: A Review of the Status of Nationally Rare

Vascular Plant Species Identified by the Draft IAPA Criteria. Plantlife, Salisbury.

9. Contacts Plantlife International The Wild Plant Conservation Charity 14 Rollestone Street Salisbury Wiltshire SP1 1DX Tel: 01722 342730

or contact enquiries: enquiries@plantlife.org.uk

10. Acknowledgments Thanks are due to Simon Smart, Nick Miller, Jonathan Howe, Tony Mundell, Dominic Ash, Andy Byfield, Kate Still and all landowners who helped during the surveys in 1987-1990 and 2004 and who are responsible for the management of sites for Adonis annua. Plantlife International wishes to acknowledge the financial support of Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales for the Back from the Brink (species recovery) programme and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for the Arable Plants Project.

11. Links

ARKive species web page for Adonis annua http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/plants_and_algae/Adonis_annua/ Phil Wilson

First draft dated February 2008 Edited by Plantlife March 2008

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