Australian Invader Threatens the Fragile Ecology of Scottish Lochs

Summary

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AN INVASIVE aquatic plant responsible for localised extinctions of native plants in England and Wales is now spreading in Scotland, threatening to alter the fragile ecology of the country's lochs and burns.

Australian swamp stonecrop (Crassula helmsii), which was brought to the UK from Tasmania in 1911, was first detected in the wild in 1970 in the English Home Counties, after being widely used by garden pond enthusiasts to oxygenate water.

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Extract

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Australian Invader Threatens the Fragile Ecology of Scottish Lochs

By 1986 it had colonised 33 open water courses south of the Border, and in the following 13 years to 1999, it had spread aggressively to a further 574 lakes and freshwater systems. It is rapidly colonising Scottish lochs, wher...

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