SH6 Directive shore species

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Status of Habitats Directive's species

Twelve species of the Habitats Directive are primarily shore species. Their share of all directive speciesn is 10%. Apart from two butterflies the directive shore species are all plant species. They occur mainly in the boreal region.

Conservation status of two boreal species, large white-moss and large copper, was evaluated favourable. The status of the other boreal species is unfavourable-inadequate or even unfavourable-bad. These include pendant grass, creeping alkali grass, Siberian primrose and the field wormwood Artemisia campestris ssp. bottnica, which are all distinctive Fennoscandian species. Status of false oat Trisetum subalpestre, the only directive shore species occuring in the alpine region, has been evaluated as favourable.

The status of shore species has in general weakened as a result of eutrphication and vegetational invasion since the 1960s. These remain the greatest threaths to shore species, most of which favour open or even bare habitats.

Increasingly abundant reed stands threaten directive shore species especially on the shores of Gulf of Finland, Archipelago Sea and Bothnian Sea. The problem is less significant but growing on the northern seashores. The only relatively well preserved shores are those of the outer archipelago, and, on the other hand, river shores of northern Finland.

Birds Directive's species