Botanic Garden Solutions to the Plant Extinction Crisis

Westwood, Murphy, Nicole Canender, Abby Meyer, and Paul Smith. “Botanic garden solutions to the plant extinction crisis.” Plants People Planet, Vol. 3, No. 1, Jan 2021, pp. 22-23.

“Botanic gardens and arboreta have evolved significantly from their origins as oases reserved for the elite, to the conservation powerhouses they are today, visited by over half a billion people annually. Now, with their sophisticated facilities and botanical expertise, gardens are uniquely positioned to address many of the challenges associated with preserving plant diversity for the benefit of people and the planet. Globally, however, resources for and awareness of these efforts are limited. Funders, governments, corporations, and global citizens need to greatly increase their support of gardens, recognizing the critical role they play in a scientifically informed, coordinated, global effort to save plants from extinction – because all life depends on plants.”

Can a Botanic Garden Cycad Collection Capture the Genetic Diversity in a Wild Population?

Griffith, M. Patrick, et al. “Can a botanic garden cycad collection capture the genetic diversity in a wild population?” International Journal of Plant Sciences, Vol. 176, No. 1, Jan 2015, pp. 1-10.

“Conservation of plant species often requires ex situ (off-site) cultivation of living collections. Cycads constitute the most imperiled major group of plants, and ex situ collections are an important part of conservation planning for this group, given seed recalcitrance, difficulties with tissue culture, and ongoing in situ threats. Very little is known about the genetics of ex situ conservation collections of cycads. Thus, this study seeks to illuminate how well an ex situ collection of a cycad can capture the diversity in a wild population.”

Conservation Triage or Injurious Neglect in Endangered Species Recovery

Gerber, Leah R. Conservation triage or injurious neglect in endangered species recovery.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 113, No. 13, 29 Mar 2016, pp. 3563-3566.

“Listing endangered and threatened species under the US Endangered Species Act is presumed to offer a defense against extinction and a solution to achieve recovery of imperiled populations, but only if effective conservation action ensues after listing occurs. The amount of government funding available for species protection and recovery is one of the best predictors of successful recovery; however, government spending is both insufficient and highly disproportionate among groups of species, and there is significant discrepancy between proposed and actualized budgets across species. In light of an increasing list of imperiled species requiring evaluation and protection, an explicit approach to allocating recovery funds is urgently needed.”

Endangered species recovery: A resource allocation problem

Gerber, Leah R, et al. “Endangered species recovery: A resource allocation problem.” Science, Vol. 362, No. 6412, 19 Oct 2018, pp. 284-286.

“Many nations have laws to identify and protect imperiled species and their ecosystems. In the United States, actions taken under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) have prevented many extinctions, but few listed species have recovered to the point where they can have the ESA protections removed.”

Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Diversity in the World’s Botanic Gardens

Mounce, Ross, Paul Smith, and Samuel F Brockington. “Ex situ conservation of plant diversity in the world’s botanic gardens.” Nature Plants, Vol. 3, No. 10, Oct 2017, pp. 795-802.

“Botanic gardens conserve plant diversity ex situ and can prevent extinction through integrated conservation action. Here we quantify how that diversity is conserved in ex situ collections across the world’s botanic gardens.”

Getting Plant Conservation Right (or Not): The Case of the United States

Havens, Kayri, Andrea T. Kramer, and Edward O. Guerrant Jr. “Getting plant conservation right (or not): the case of the United States.” International Journal of Plant Sciences, Vol. 175, No. 1, 2014, pp. 3-10.

“Effective plant conservation includes addressing basic needs such as information about species distribution and rarity; research, management, education, and training capacity to mitigate threats facing threatened species; policy and funding to support continued capacity and conservation; and, ultimately, a public that understands and supports the importance of plants and the need for their conservation. Coordination of plant conservation efforts is also needed to ensure that resources and expertise are used in a strategic, efficient, and effective manner.”

Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery

Humphreys, Aelys M., et al. “Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery.” Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 3, No. 7, July 2019, pp. 1-5.

“Most people can name a mammal or bird that has become extinct in recent centuries, but few can name a recently extinct plant. We present a comprehensive, global analysis of modern extinction in plants. Almost 600 species have become extinct, at a higher rate than background extinction, but almost as many have been erroneously declared extinct and then been rediscovered. Reports of extinction on islands, in the tropics and of shrubs, trees or species with narrow ranges are least likely to be refuted by rediscovery. Plant extinctions endanger other organisms, ecosystems and human well-being, and must be understood for effective conservation planning.”

How global biodiversity hotspots may go unrecognized: lessons from the North American Coastal Plain

Noss, Reed F., et al. “How global biodiversity hotspots may go unrecognized: lessons from the North American Coastal Plain.” Biodiversity and Distributions, Vol. 21, No. 2, Feb 2015, pp. 236-244.

“Biodiversity hotspots are conservation priorities. We identify the North American Coastal Plain (NACP) as a global hotspot based on the classic definition, a region with > 1500 endemic plant species and > 70% habitat loss. This region has been bypassed in prior designations due to misconceptions and myths about its ecology and history.”

Insular ecosystems of the southeastern United States—A regional synthesis to support biodiversity conservation in a changing climate

Cartwright, Jennifer M. and William Wolfe. “Insular ecosystems of the southeastern United States – A regional synthesis to support biodiversity conservation in a changing climate.” US Geological Survey Professional Paper 1828. pp. 1-162.

“Over several decades, numerous localized, site-level investigations have yielded
important information about the floristics, physical environments, and ecological dynamics of these insular ecosystems; however, the literature from these investigations has generally remained fragmented. This report consists of literature
syntheses for eight categories of insular ecosystems of the southeastern United States, concerning (1) physical geography, (2) ecological determinants of community structures including vegetation dynamics and regimes of abiotic stress and disturbance, (3) contributions to regional and global biodiversity, (4) historical and current anthropogenic threats and conservation approaches, and (5) key knowledge gaps relevant to conservation, particularly in terms of climate-change
effects on biodiversity.”

Patterns of Expenditure for Plant Conservation

Negrón-Ortiz, Vivian. “Pattern of expenditures for plant conservation under the Endangered Species Act.” Biological Conservation, Vol. 171, Mar 2014, pp. 36-43.

“An estimated 31% of the native plant species in the United States are considered at risk of extinction, and 11% receive protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). But with current and projected threats, many at risk non-listed plant species will need protection under the ESA. Recovery priority guidelines based on a ranking system exist to help identify the most cost-effective use of limited resources to recover listed species.”

Plant diversity in a changing world: Status, trends, and conservation needs

Corlett, Richard T. “Plant diversity in a changing world: Status, trends, and conservation needs.” Plant Diversity, Vol. 38, No. 1, Feb 2016, pp. 10-16.

“Although only a minority of plant species have a specific human use, many more play important roles in natural ecosystems and the services they provide, and rare species are more likely to have unusual traits that could be useful in the future. The major threats to plant diversity include habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation, overexploitation, invasive species, pollution, and anthropogenic climate change. Conservation of plant diversity is a massive task if viewed globally, but the combination of a well-designed and well-managed protected area system and ex situ gap-filling and back-up should work anywhere.”

Regional records improve data quality in determining plant extinction rates

Knapp, Wesley M., et al. “Regional records improve data quality in determining plant extinction rates.” Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 4, April 2020, pp. 512-514.

“The underlying data disparity probably has several, sometimes confounding, explanations—some of which are well addressed by Humphreys et al. Underestimates of extinction may be attributed to insufficient information, low detectability and a reluctance to publish taxa as extinct even when strongly supported by available data.”

Taxonomic similarity does not predict necessary sample size for ex situ conservation: a comparison among five genera

Hoban, Sean, et al. “Taxonomic similarity does not predict necessary sample size for ex situ conservation: a comparison among five genera.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Vol. 287, No. 1926, 13 May 2020, pp. 1-9.

“Effectively conserving biodiversity with limited resources requires scientifically informed and efficient strategies. Guidance is particularly needed on how many living plants are necessary to conserve a threshold level of genetic diversity in ex situ collections. We investigated this question for 11 taxa across five genera.“

Vascular plant extinction in the continental United States and Canada

Knapp, Wesley M., et al. “Vascular plant extinction in the continental United States and Canada.” Conservation Biology, Vol. 35, No. 1, Feb 2021, pp. 360-368.

“Extinction rates are expected to increase during the Anthropocene. Current extinction rates of plants and many animals remain unknown. We quantified extinctions among the vascular flora of the continental United States and Canada since European settlement. We compiled data on apparently extinct species by querying plant conservation databases, searching the literature, and vetting the resulting list with botanical experts.”