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A key aim of the BPS at its formation in 1952 was to record and map the seaweeds of the British Isles which culminated in Hardy & Guiry (2003), A Checklist and Atlas of the Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland (www.brphycsoc.org). We are increasingly concerned about changes to the seaweed flora due to climate change, increase in non-native species and a range of other factors. We are therefore keen to encourage you to help us with this challenge by uploading your seaweed records here. Records will be verified by experts and shared via the NBN Atlas so that they can be used for research, education and conservation.
Our knowledge of the ecology and distribution freshwater/subaerial algae in the British Isles lags far behind that of seaweeds and most other aquatic organisms. One of the few exceptions are a group of macrophytic algae known as the stoneworts or charophytes that are commonly collected along with other aquatic macrophytes. There is sufficient information on this group for an assessment to be made of their conservation status which resulted in the publication of a Red Data book on the stoneworts of Britain and Ireland (Stewart & Church 1992). Determining the conservation status of even the better known groups of freshwater algae (e.g. desmids, diatoms) is proving very difficult since reliable site-specific records are scattered rather than in searchable databases. For this reason we would encourage you to upload your records here to enable such a conservation assessment to be undertaken in the future and to follow distributional changes linked to pollution, climate change and other factors.