7 to 9 percent of all European vascular plants are globally threatened,
study finds
Study closes gaps in the risk of extinction of plant species

Date:
February 11, 2022
Source:
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)
Halle-Jena- Leipzig
Summary:
Seven to nine percent of all vascular plant species occurring
in Europe are globally threatened, according to a new
study. Researchers combined Red Lists of endangered plant species
in Europe with data on their global distribution.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Seven to nine percent of all vascular plant species occurring in Europe
are globally threatened. This is the result of a study led by the German
Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Martin Luther University Halle- Wittenberg and Leipzig University. The researchers
combined Red Lists of endangered plant species in Europe with data on
their global distribution. The study has been published in the journal
Plants, People, Planet. It helps assess the overall level of threat
to plant species and thus supports the basis of international nature conservation activities.


==========================================================================
How certain is the continued survival of animal and plant species? How
high is the risk that they might become extinct? The answers are
collated in regional, national and global threat assessments; known
as 'Red Lists'. Legislators and, in particular, nature conservation organizations make decisions about specific conservation activities based
on these lists. The problem is, however, that although there are many
national Red Lists available, they are often not being integrated into the global Red List of Threatened Species by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). Despite being the most comprehensive global list available, the global Red List still lacks threat assessments for almost
90 percent of all known plant species -- a substantial assessment gap.

An international research team has now addressed this assessment gap
for European vascular plants, namely most plants except mosses, algae,
and lichens.

It established that seven to nine percent of the European vascular
plant flora is globally endangered. This is because these species occur
solely in parts of Europe and are endangered in every part where they
occur. Seven to nine percent corresponds to about 1,800 of the estimated
20,000 to 25,000 known European vascular plant species. Of these 1,800
species, 83 percent are not yet listed on the IUCN global Red List.

The results are based on a novel integration of data streams on the
global geographic distribution of vascular plant species and national
Red Lists from 37 European countries, spanning a period from 1999 to
2020. The researchers noted that national Red Lists typically include
only half of all plants occurring in a given country, and therefore the
team's findings are conservative estimates.

The IUCN list for the major vertebrate groups has been completed
decades ago.

"But this is not the case for plants," says Hanna Holz, a biology MSc
student at the University of Halle and first author of the study. "Such
data gaps can be disastrous because they lead to uncertainties in priority setting in international conservation policy," says Holz. "Our findings
help update and expand the most important instrument in international conservation policy." The United Nations Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) set itself the goal of compiling a comprehensive list of endangered plant species by 2020 but did not achieve this aim. Senior
author of the study, Dr Ingmar Staude, stresses that "Through a
comprehensive synthesis of existing national Red Lists with global
distribution data, national efforts can be incorporated relatively easily
into global risk assessments of plants and, hopefully, accelerate these efforts." Staude was a doctoral researcher at iDiv and the University
of Halle and is now a senior scientist at Leipzig University.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by German_Centre_for_Integrative_Biodiversity_Research_
(iDiv)_Halle-Jena-Leipzig. Original written by Urs Moesenfechtel. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Hanna Holz, Josiane Segar, Jose Valdez, Ingmar R. Staude. Assessing
extinction risk across the geographic ranges of plant species
in Europe.

PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET, 2022; DOI: 10.1002/ppp3.10251 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220211102651.htm

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