LIMERICK-BASED Eli Lilly has announced that it is playing its part in helping conserve local wildlife with the relocation of a rare meadow barley species on its Shannonside campus.
THE US biopharmaceutical giant confirmed that, with the help from researchers at University College Cork (UCC), it has relocated a population of rare hordeum secalinum (meadow barley) from one area of its Limerick campus to another, with a view to facilitating important environmental and climate research.
The project is being carried out under license from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
According to a Lilly spokesperson, “translocating grassland sods helps conserve species like meadow barley and supports biodiversity, making grasslands more resilient to climate related stress. These biodiverse grasslands also aid in carbon sequestration, flood protection, and support pollinators.”
The company said that the project – carried out in tandem with UCC researchers from the university’s School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences and the Environmental Research Institute – will also study “how translocation and climate change impact the ecology of meadow barley and other grassland plants”.
“By understanding these impacts, strategies can be developed to conserve meadow barley and maintain biodiversity in grasslands,” the Lilly spokesperson said.
“Research like this is transformative, furthering our understanding of climate change and biodiversity in the Irish context,” said Kerry Bryson, CEO of Cork University Foundation.
Professor Sarah Culloty, head of UCC’s College of Science, Engineering, and Food Science said that “the conservation of meadow barley and the preservation of biodiversity in grassland ecosystems is a critical issue, and we are looking forward to working with Lilly on this important project”.
“This research, supported by Lilly, enables us to be part of an important conservation project. By investigating the effect of climate change on meadow barley and the wider grassland community, we intend to develop methods that secure grassland biodiversity into the future”. Added Professor Astrid Wingler of UCC’s School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences.
