Weedkiller blamed for loss of York Groundsel (From York Press)

Weedkiller blamed for loss of York Groundsel

8:36am Friday 12th March 2010 in

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A UNIQUE wild flower was driven to extinction with the help of City of York Council, a new report suggests.

York groundsel was discovered in the car park of York railway station in 1979 by Richard Abbott, a biologist from St Andrew’s University.

A survey by Government advisory body Natural England listed the weed among 492 species of plants and animals which had disappeared in England over the last 200 years, and suggested the species had come to an end in 2000, partly due to the council’s use of weedkiller.

Councillor Andrew Waller, leader of City of York Council, said the council has changed its policy on the weed since 2000.

He said: “It is part of the ragwort family, which is part of the life of the tansy beetle, a rare beetle found on the banks of the Ouse in York and at Selby.

“We have now switched to a contact weedkiller, and in future it will be afforded the same protection as ragwort.”

Coun Waller said the council now only pull ragwort where there is a problem, “rather than obliterating the weed.”

Using DNA analysis, Professor Abbott’s research proved that York Groundsel was a natural hybrid of the common groundsel and the Oxford ragwort.

When his research was published in 2003, York groundsel was acknowledged as the first new species to have evolved naturally in Britain in 50 years, despite being extinct in the wild for three years.

Natural England looked at records and specimens dating back two thousand years, and said the vast majority of species to vanish were lost after 1800, indicating human interference could be to blame.

Dr Tom Tew, chief scientist for Natural England, said: “Extinction rates are 1,000 times higher than the natural background rate.

“This time it isn’t being driven by a meteorite hitting Earth or a natural catastrophe, but by human activities.”

Simon Leach, a botanist for Natural England, said : “There is no reason why this hybrid couldn’t happen again in future. The loss is not the same scale as the great auk or the dodo.”