News - Scientists to Save Rare Cornish Moth
University of Exeter press release
Scientists in Cornwall are working together to save a rare moth, which only exists on one Cornish beach. A team from the University of Exeter's Tremough Campus, Penryn, and Truro-based environmental consultancy Spalding Associates, are studying a population of the Sandhill Rustic moth, which lives at Loe Bar and can be found no-where else in the world. They hope their research will help safeguard the species against future extinction.
The Cornish Sandhill Rustic moth, Luperina nickerlii leechi Goater, was first discovered in 1974 and has only ever been seen at Loe Bar, a shingle beach owned and managed by the National Trust. The team hopes to understand how this population has adapted to its environment. There are four other subspecies of Sandhill Rustics in the British Isles, each with differently coloured wings.
The team is using Cornwall's only molecular biology laboratory, which is on the University of Exeter's Tremough Campus, to sequence multiple moths' genes. They are using DNA markers to identify the differences between this population and its four closest relatives, which live in other parts of the Britain and Ireland.
By identifying how it differs from others, the team hopes to understand more about how this population has adapted to a coastal environment and what conditions it needs to survive. Their findings will then be shared with conservation groups so they can ensure the species is protected.
Much of the research is being carried out by Dr Iva Fukova, originally from the Czech Republic, who has come to Cornwall for three years to work on the project. She is being supervised by Professor Richard ffrench-Constant, originally from Cornwall, who moved back to the county to join the University of Exeter in 2006.
Professor Richard ffrench-Constant of the University of Exeter's Tremough Campus said: "We're pooling Cornwall's expertise and resources to try to protect this unique moth. This is a great example of the University working with a local company on a really ground-breaking piece of research. We have ambitions to create a centre to further develop our research on the environment and sustainability so our links with companies like Spalding Associates will become even more important in the future."
Adrian Spalding, Director of Spalding Associates, has spent many years studying the Sandhill Rustic moth in the UK and Europe and the company is supporting this study financially. He said: "This small brownish moth may not look special but is perfectly adapted to living in this hostile environment, exposed to winter gales and summer drought, and is a key part of the biodiversity of Cornwall."
The £100 million Tremough Campus is a Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative ¬of which the University of Exeter and University College Falmouth are two of the founding partners. It is funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council. Set in 70 acres of countryside, but close to the waterside towns of Penryn and Falmouth, the campus offers a lively student community. The University of Exeter now offers degrees in Biology, Modern Celtic and Cornish Studies, English, Geology, Geography, History, Law, Mining Engineering, Politics and Renewable Energy on its Tremough Campus, which has expanded rapidly as part of the Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative.
Spalding Associates is an independent consultancy (established in 1997) specialising in environmental planning for land use and development and sponsor a range of environmental initiatives relating to Cornwall's wildlife.