Scotland’s summer snow patches are disappearing; thus, we are losing a unique habitat which supports a bespoke range of specialised, cold-adapted algae & invertebrates.  Despite the visually striking nature of red snow algae blooms, their existence & extent in Scotland’s mountain landscape is almost unknown.

This project represents an opportunity to document, preserve, & biobank a proportion of this rare community for the future.  The plight of summer snow habitats in Scotland, combined with the enigmatic nature of red snows, also provide a tangible & engaging way to engage wider audiences with the impact of both the climate change & biodiversity crises, helping to raise awareness & potentially influence behaviour changes.

This grant is for the costs of the fieldwork & sampling.