Skip to content

We're pleased to tell you that in order to make things better, the rbge.org.uk uses cookies.

Read more about cookies here

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
  • Subscribe
  • Support us
  • Online Shop
  • Visit
  • What's On
  • Collections
  • Science and Conservation
  • Learn
  • Search

Search website

Choose from popular searches

  • Christmas at the Botanics
  • Volunteering
  • Donate
  • Collections
Discover this section
  • Tropical Diversity
  • Genetics and Conservation
  • Cryptogamic Plants and Fungi
  • Major Floras
  • Scottish Biodiversity
  • Where we work
  • Scientific and Technical Services
  • Herbarium
  • Library and Archives
  • Conservation
  • Training and Capacity Building
  • Science Staff
  • Students
  • Science Advisory Committee
  • Our Journals
  • RBGE Weather Station
  • Recording Rare Plants and Lichens
  • Sibbaldia Conference 2020
  • Our work to combat the Climate Emergency
  • Workshop for subnational governments in the CBD post 2020 global biodiversity framework
  • Make Space for Nature
  • World Leader in Science
  • Home
  • Science and Conservation
  • Cryptogamic Plants and Fungi

Cryptogam Conservation

    • Ecological research targeted to habitats of conservation concern
    • From global climate change to woodland microhabitats, and from historic distributions to 21st Century projections

     

    Our cryptogam conservation research includes long-term monitoring, field sampling and experimentation, and statistical modelling, to understand how landscape and habitat management can offset biodiversity threat posed by global change, such as climate change or tree disease.

    Ecological Scale - Cryptogams challenge conservationists to work across a broad range of scales. Species often show strong biogeographic patterns, e.g. occurring abundantly in Scotland's oceanic climates, but they are also sensitive to microhabitat variation. The details of habitat quality can affect their likelihood of occurrence within optimal or sub-optimal climates.

    Interactions - Cryptogams such as lichens are symbiotic; their distributions depend on the interaction between partners in space and time. We use this symbiosis to understand how close species interactions will affect biodiversity responses to global change.

    Indicators - Cryptogams are sensitive to climate, air pollution, and landscape management, and we use them as indicators for monitoring conservation outcomes and environmental health, and to engage the public in the link between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human health and welfare.

    Key contact: Dr Christopher Ellis

  • Public engagement on the ecological importance of cryptogams is key to effective conservation. Join the survey!

Research themes

  • Trends and Distributions
  • Habitat Dynamics
  • Field Recording and Bioindicators

Our mission is to explore, conserve and explain the world of plants for a better future.

Join our mission

  • Subscribe to our newsletter

  • Spread the word

    Tell everyone you know about the work we’re doing

    Share this content
Back to the top
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
  • About Us
    • What we do
    • Our Work Around The World
    • Why Our Work Matters
    • Organisational Structure
    • Working With Us
    • +See all About Us
  • Support us
    • Donate
    • Volunteer
    • Remember
    • Support Our Work
    • Garden of Tranquillity
    • +See all Support us
  • Visit
    • Visiting us during Covid-19
    • Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
    • Benmore Botanic Garden
    • Dawyck Botanic Garden
    • Logan Botanic Garden
    • +See all Visit
  • Venue Hire
    • Weddings
    • Conference and Meeting Facilities
    • Private Events
  • News
    • Articles
    • Podcast: Plants and our Health
    • Edinburgh Biomes
    • Kingdom Botanica
    • Big Picnic
    • +See all News
  • Media Centre
    • Press Releases
    • Media Contact
    • Media Centre Downloads
    • Blogs
    • Media and Commercial Photography
    • +See all Media Centre
  • Business Centre
    • Books at the Botanics
    • Consultancy
    • Filming and Photography
    • Knowledge Exchange
    • Licensing
    • +See all Business Centre
  • Contact Us

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a charity (registration number SC007983)

  • Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Complaints procedure

Copyright © 2021 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh