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Global efforts needed to protect plant diversity
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MY day begins with a cup of coffee and ends with hot chocolate. In between, I consume a variety of food and medicines, including my daily 81mg dose of aspirin. A brightly colored orchid enlivens my study, and, through the window, I catch a glimpse of my green garden. In short, my life — like everyone’s — is enabled, enriched, and extended by a wide variety of plants and their derivatives.
But the biodiversity on which all of us depend is under threat, as human activity devastates forests and other plant-rich habitats. The question is how quickly are species being destroyed — and what can be done to stop it. Designing effective conservation strategies must begin with knowledge of the species we need to protect. So far, taxonomists have described about 297,500 plant species. How many have they not yet described? Where are we likely to find them?
Mathematical models predict that roughly 15 percent more plant species exist than are currently known, for a total of some 350,000 species — a figure that is consistent with expert opinion. Perhaps half of the undescribed species have already been collected and housed in herbaria, where they await detection and analysis.
To find the rest, taxonomists must rely on three general patterns governing species’ geographical distribution:
1. Most species have very small geographical ranges and are uncommon locally.
2. The number of species found in any one habitat varies considerably.
3. Species with small geographical ranges are often concentrated in the same areas, but they tend to be in areas different from where the largest numbers of species live.
Focusing on narrow areas
The fact that endangered plant species tend to be concentrated geographically raises the stakes for conservation efforts in those areas. But it could also facilitate success by enabling policy-makers to focus on narrow areas instead of vast habitats.
The nearly 200-member Convention of Biological Diversity — which embodies the global consensus on the need to protect ecological diversity — aims to do just that.
The convention’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity calls for the formal protection of at least 17 percent of the most ecologically important terrestrial areas, while the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation seeks to protect 60 percent of plant species. Given that some 67 percent of plant species live entirely within the selected areas, and an additional 14 percent live partly in these areas, this approach is highly promising.
Stuart Pimm is professor of conservation ccology at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2014. www.project-syndicate.org. Shanghai Daily condensed the article.
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