scholarly journals Brazilian efforts towards achieving a comprehensive extinction risk assessment for its known flora

Rodriguésia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 1529-1537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eline Martins ◽  
Gustavo Martinelli ◽  
Rafael Loyola
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Plant Conservation ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Huge Amount ◽  
Good Path ◽  
Reliable Assessment ◽  
Extinction Risk Assessment ◽  
Made In

Abstract Brazil houses nearly 36,400 native terrestrial plant species. The country is a signatory of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) and has to develop tools to achieve GSPC targets. Target 2 states that countries must undertake risk assessments of its entire known plant species by 2020. Here, we offer a panorama on how far has Brazil gone towards achieving this target. We compiled data on all risk assessments for plant species ever made in the country and produced the first synthesis of results with respect to these assessments. We found that the Brazilian Red List Authority for plants has assessed the extinction risk of 5,646 species so far, which corresponds to 15.5% of all known flora in Brazil. Among these species, 2,738 (48%) are currently threatened. Those species are distributed across all Brazilian Biomes and states. Families with the highest number of threatened species are Asteraceae and Bromeliaceae. We conclude that Brazil is far from achieving GSPC target 2 by 2020. However, given the enormous flora of the country and the huge amount of effort and resources put into this particular task, Brazil is following a good path towards a reliable assessment of it entire flora.

scholarly journals Global shortfalls in extinction risk assessments for endemic flora

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. V. Gallagher ◽  
S. Allen ◽  
M. C. Rivers ◽  
A. P. Allen ◽  
N. Butt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Endemic Species ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Plant Conservation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Face Threats ◽  
Extinction Risk Assessment ◽  
Endemic Flora

SUMMARYThe Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) ambitiously calls for an assessment of extinction risk for all recognised plant taxa by 20201. It is now clear that this target will not be met in the short-term; only 21-26% of known plant species have been assessed2 – a monumental shortfall in anticipated knowledge. Yet the need for risk assessments has never been more urgent. Plants are rapidly going extinct3,4 and face threats such as climate change5 and permanent deforestation6. Extinction risk assessments continue to provide the critical foundation to inform protection, management and recovery of plant species7,8, the loss of which will have clear consequences for maintaining planetary systems and human well-being9. Here, we rank countries of the world based on progress towards assessing the extinction risk to their endemic flora. Overall, 67% of country-based endemic species do not have an extinction risk assessment completed (143,294 species). We show that some of the world’s wealthiest nations, which also have relatively strong species protections, are failing to protect their unique flora by not systematically assessing risks to their endemic species.

scholarly journals The use and misuse of herbarium specimens in evaluating plant extinction risks

2018 ◽  
Vol 374 (1763) ◽  
pp. 20170402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eimear Nic Lughadha ◽  
Barnaby E. Walker ◽  
Cátia Canteiro ◽  
Helen Chadburn ◽  
Aaron P. Davis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Plant Conservation ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Herbarium Specimens ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Extinction Risk Assessment ◽  
Plant Extinction

Herbarium specimens provide verifiable and citable evidence of the occurrence of particular plants at particular points in space and time, and are vital resources for assessing extinction risk in the tropics, where plant diversity and threats to plants are greatest. We reviewed approaches to assessing extinction risk in response to the Convention on Biological Diversity's Global Strategy for Plant Conservation Target 2: an assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species by 2020. We tested five alternative approaches, using herbarium-derived data for trees, shrubs and herbs in five different plant groups from temperate and tropical regions. All species were previously fully assessed for the IUCN Red List. We found significant variation in the accuracy with which different approaches classified species as threatened or not threatened. Accuracy was highest for the machine learning model (90%) but the least data-intensive approach also performed well (82%). Despite concerns about spatial, temporal and taxonomic biases and uncertainties in herbarium data, when specimens represent the best available evidence for particular species, their use as a basis for extinction risk assessment is appropriate, necessary and urgent. Resourcing herbaria to maintain, increase and disseminate their specimen data is essential to guide and focus conservation action. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the Anthropocene’.

scholarly journals The commonness of rarity: Global and future distribution of rarity across land plants

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. eaaz0414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Enquist ◽  
Xiao Feng ◽  
Brad Boyle ◽  
Brian Maitner ◽  
Erica A. Newman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Conservation Planning ◽  
Rare Species ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions

A key feature of life’s diversity is that some species are common but many more are rare. Nonetheless, at global scales, we do not know what fraction of biodiversity consists of rare species. Here, we present the largest compilation of global plant diversity to quantify the fraction of Earth’s plant biodiversity that are rare. A large fraction, ~36.5% of Earth’s ~435,000 plant species, are exceedingly rare. Sampling biases and prominent models, such as neutral theory and the k-niche model, cannot account for the observed prevalence of rarity. Our results indicate that (i) climatically more stable regions have harbored rare species and hence a large fraction of Earth’s plant species via reduced extinction risk but that (ii) climate change and human land use are now disproportionately impacting rare species. Estimates of global species abundance distributions have important implications for risk assessments and conservation planning in this era of rapid global change.

scholarly journals Towards a working list of all known plant species

2004 ◽  
Vol 359 (1444) ◽  
pp. 681-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eimear Nic Lughadha
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Plant Conservation ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Large Databases ◽  
Complete Listing

A complete listing of the world's known plant species has long been considered desirable but has remained an elusive target for generations of botanists. The adoption of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation has reinforced the urgent need for a global plant checklist to support, facilitate and monitor the conservation and sustainable use of plant diversity worldwide. The increasing availability of large databases of biological information over the Internet has demonstrated that many of the obstacles to the collation and dissemination of vast, shared datasets can be overcome. We examine the challenges that still remain to be addressed if the botanical community is to achieve its ambitious objective of delivering a working list of all known plant species by 2010.

How to include the impact of climate change in the extinction risk assessment of policy plant species?

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Attorre ◽  
Thomas Abeli ◽  
Gianluigi Bacchetta ◽  
Alessio Farcomeni ◽  
Giuseppe Fenu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Extinction Risk Assessment ◽  
The Impact

Shortfalls in extinction risk assessments for plants

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 466
Author(s):  
Matthew Alfonzetti ◽  
Malin C. Rivers ◽  
Tony D. Auld ◽  
Tom Le Breton ◽  
Tim Cooney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Endemic Plants ◽  
Endemic Plant ◽  
Extinction Risk Assessment ◽  
Epbc Act

Research on species recovery, reintroduction, and conservation disproportionally focusses on birds and mammals. Typically, less attention is given to hyper-diverse but ecologically important groups such as plants and invertebrates. In this study, we focussed on a continent with one of the world’s highest proportions of endemic plant species (Australia) comparing the number of extinction risk assessments relative to birds and mammals. Specifically, we generated a checklist of Australian endemic vascular plants and used three resources which differ in styles and scope to collate information on how many have an extinction risk assessment – the ThreatSearch database, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, (EPBC Act). Between 76 and 93% of endemic Australian plants examined lack an extinction risk assessment based on data from our three sources. We also compared the proportions of endemic plants assessed relative to birds and mammals. Of all endemic plant taxa examined, only 6.8% have been assessed under the EPBC Act, compared with 9.4% of birds and 28.9% of mammals. Similarly, only 8.8% of endemic plants have been assessed for the IUCN Red List, compared with 29.1% of birds and 61.1% of mammals, whereas all birds and mammals have been examined in National Action Plans. This represents a significant underestimation of the actual proportion of Australian endemic plants that are likely to satisfy extinction-risk criteria for listing as threatened. This shortfall in risk assessments for plants is a matter of international significance for conservation given Australia’s high rate of plant endemism. A change in policy and approach to assessing extinction risk is needed to ensure adequate assessment effort across different taxonomic groups.

scholarly journals The effectiveness of protected areas and indigenous lands in representing threatened plant species in Brazil

Rodriguésia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 1539-1546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno R. Ribeiro ◽  
Eline Martins ◽  
Gustavo Martinelli ◽  
Rafael Loyola
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Plant Conservation ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Threatened Plant ◽  
Indigenous Lands ◽  
Threatened Plant Species ◽  
The Government

Abstract Brazil is signatory of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which provides guidelines and directions to existing national policies. This strategy aims to halt the continuing loss of plant diversity through the achievement of 16 outcome-based targets set for 2020. One of these targets (target 7) states that at least 75% of known threatened plant species should be preserved in situ. Here, we assessed the effectiveness of the Brazilian current network of protected areas (PAs) and indigenous lands (ILs) in representing all known threatened plant species. We found that the number of species represented inside PAs and ILs varied according to data type. When using occurrence records, we found that 699 (33%) threatened plant species lie completely outside PAs (and/or ILs) and that 1,405 species (67%) have at least one record inside at least one PA (and/or IL). The number of species unrepresented decreased when we considered polygons of distribution. In this case, only 219 (10%) are supposedly unprotected. Although Brazil is almost reaching GSPC Target 7 in terms of absolute numbers, the government still needs to allocate resources for properly managing and improving the conservation status of its imperiled flora and expand the network of PAs.

scholarly journals Contribution of seed banks across Europe towards the 2020 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation targets, assessed through the ENSCONET database

Oryx ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 464-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Rivière ◽  
J. V. Müller
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Conservation ◽  
Seed Banks ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Indigenous And Local Knowledge ◽  
Native Seed ◽  
Threatened Plant Species ◽  
Ex Situ Collections ◽  
Conservation Network

AbstractTo meet the international biodiversity targets of the 2011–2020 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, it is important to assess the success of coordinated ex situ plant conservation initiatives such as the European Native Seed Conservation Network (ENSCONET), which operated during 2005–2009, and the ENSCONET Consortium, which was established in 2010. In particular, analysis of the ENSCONET database (ENSCOBASE) indicates that ex situ seed banks have been making significant progress towards meeting targets 8 (at least 75% of threatened plant species in ex situ collections, preferably in the country of origin, and at least 20% available for recovery and restoration programmes) and 9 (70% of the genetic diversity of crops, including their wild relatives and other socio-economically valuable plant species, conserved, while respecting, preserving and maintaining associated indigenous and local knowledge) for native European species. However, the infraspecific diversity of threatened species stored in ENSCONET seed banks needs to be increased to meet research and conservation objectives.

Conservation translocation – an increasingly viable option for managing threatened plant species

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (7) ◽  
pp. 501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi C. Zimmer ◽  
Tony D. Auld ◽  
Peter Cuneo ◽  
Catherine A. Offord ◽  
Lucy E. Commander
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Viable Option ◽  
Threatened Plants ◽  
Threatened Plant ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Threatened Plant Species ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Extinction Risk Assessment

Translocation is the establishment and augmentation of plant populations using ex situ material, and can reduce extinction risk. Historically, translocation has been considered to be high cost and high risk, but today, translocation is increasingly recognised as a necessary option for managing many threatened plant species. To examine the viability of translocation as a management action, we analysed the frequency of it being a recommended management action, its estimated cost over time, and its perceived likelihood of success as compared with other management actions. We did this using the 368 threatened plant species in the New South Wales state register of threatened species management strategies (the Saving our Species (SOS) database). Translocation was recommended as a management action for 30% of threatened plants (112 species), mostly in response to demographic threats (i.e. threats affecting species with small population sizes/restricted distributions, for example, environmental and demographic stochasticity or low genetic diversity). The estimated cost of translocation per species was similar to other common management actions. However, expert elicitation data (in the SoS database) indicated that translocation was less certain of a beneficial outcome, compared with almost all other management actions. Based on these findings, we create a decision framework, which uses the principles of extinction risk assessment to assist conservation managers in determining when translocation is most likely to be beneficial. We suggest that the use of translocation to mitigate the risk of extinction associated with small population sizes/restricted ranges is supported by the principles of extinction risk assessment. With a growing knowledge base, and costs comparable to other management actions, translocation is becoming an increasingly viable option for the conservation management of threatened plants, provided best practice guidelines are followed.

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