Extinction risk and threats to plants and fungi Nic Lughadha, Eimear; Bachman, Steven P.; Leão, Tarciso C. C. ...
Plants, people, planet,
September 2020, Letnik:
2, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
There is increasing awareness that plants and fungi, as natural solutions, can play an important role in tackling ongoing global environmental challenges. We illustrate how understanding current and ...projected threats to plants and fungi is necessary to manage and mitigate risks, and how building awareness and understanding of gaps and bias in current assessment coverage is essential to prioritize conservation efforts. We highlight the state of the art in conservation science and point to current methods of assessment and future studies needed to mitigate species extinction
Societal Impact Statement
There is increasing awareness that plants and fungi, as natural solutions, can play an important role in tackling ongoing global environmental challenges. We illustrate how understanding current and projected threats to plants and fungi is necessary to manage and mitigate risks, while building awareness of gaps and bias in current assessment coverage is essential to adequately prioritize conservation efforts. We highlight the state of the art in conservation science and point to current methods of assessment and future studies needed to mitigate species extinction.
Summary
Plant and fungal biodiversity underpin life on earth and merit careful stewardship in an increasingly uncertain environment. However, gaps and biases in documented extinction risks to plant and fungal species impede effective management. Formal extinction risk assessments help avoid extinctions, through engagement, financial, or legal mechanisms, but most plant and fungal species lack assessments. Available global assessments cover c. 30% of plant species (ThreatSearch). Red List coverage overrepresents woody perennials and useful plants, but underrepresents single‐country endemics. Fungal assessments overrepresent well‐known species and are too few to infer global status or trends. Proportions of assessed vascular plant species considered threatened vary between global assessment datasets: 37% (ThreatSearch), and 44% (International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species). Our predictions, correcting for several quantifiable biases, suggest that 39% of all vascular plant species are threatened with extinction. However, other biases remain unquantified, and may affect our estimate. Preliminary trend data show plants moving toward extinction. Quantitative estimates based on plant extinction risk assessments may understate likely biodiversity loss: they do not fully capture the impacts of climate change, slow‐acting threats, or clustering of extinction risk, which could amplify loss of evolutionary potential. The importance of extinction risk estimation to support existing and emerging conservation initiatives is likely to grow as threats to biodiversity intensify. This necessitates urgent and strategic expansion of efforts toward comprehensive and ongoing assessment of plant and fungal extinction risk.
The people of the Pan-Himalayan region are among the most isolated and economically disadvantaged populations worldwide. The Sherpa people, located along the China and Nepal border, rely largely on ...the natural environment to access essential healthcare services. The region's ongoing economic and social developments threaten indigenous medicinal practices and biodiversity. However, there has been limited comprehensive investigation and documentation of traditional medicine and its associated knowledge in this region.
The aims are to document the traditional medicinal knowledge of the Sherpa community, assess the conservation status of medicinal plants, and explore the historical factors that have influenced their traditional medicine practices.
Semi-structured interviews with 78 Sherpa people were conducted in Chenthang Town, Xizang, China. Use reports (URs) was used to determine the most frequently mentioned medicinal plants or a specific ailment or disease category. The International Classification of Primary Care-2nd edition (ICPC-2) was used to transform the original records into an internationally unified classification.
A total of 51 plant species, one fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk.) G.H.Sung, J.M.Sung, Hywel-Jones & Spatafora), two lichens (Flavopunctelia soredica (Nyl.) Hale and Parmotrema cetratum (Ach.) Hale), and four minerals were documented, resulting in 824 URs. Ranunculaceae had the most species (5 spp.). The most commonly used method for preparing medicinal substances was decoction (23 species, 40%). Oral application was the preferred route of administration for 81% (41 medicinal substances). Forty-four ailments across 14 ICPC-2 disease categories were documented. Respiratory (320 URs) and digestive (122 URs) categories are among the most common diseases. The top-five ailments were influenza (18 substances; URs = 227), injury blood/lymph/spleen other (11 substances; URs = 66), cough (10 substances; URs = 62), headache (7 substances; URs = 63), and abdominal pain/cramps general (6 substances; URs = 37). The most frequently reported medicinal substances were Panax pseudoginseng Wall. (URs = 128) and Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora (Pennell) D. Y. Hong (URs = 79). Two special therapies (hot spring therapy and dietary therapy) were described. In-depth ethnographic information on the livelihood and exchange history of Sherpa people were documented. A total of 25 species were sold, of which four species were listed as VU in the IUCN Red List (2023–1), six species were listed as VU, four species were NT, and one species was EN in the China Biodiversity Red list 2021.
This study provides the first comprehensive documentation of the 58 traditional medicine substances and two special therapies (hot spring therapy and dietary therapy) used by the Sherpa people in Chenthang. Sherpa's medicinal knowledge has been shaped by historical interactions and contemporary trade practices. To better protect the biocultural diversity of the Himalayan region, priority should be given to the rapid assessment of medicinal plants, knowledge, and use status in this area.
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•A total of 78 informants mentioned 58 medicinal substances for treating 14 diseases categories.•Two special therapies (hot spring therapy and dietary therapy) were documented.•Panax pseudoginseng Wall. and Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora (Pennell) D. Y. Hong were the most used medicine substances.•Forty-six percent of species were sold, with four listed as threatened on the 2023-1 IUCN Red List.
State of the World's Birds Lees, Alexander C; Haskell, Lucy; Allinson, Tris ...
Annual review of environment and resources,
10/2022, Letnik:
47, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We present an overview of the global spatiotemporal distribution of avian biodiversity, changes in our knowledge of that biodiversity, and the extent to which it is imperilled. Birds are probably the ...most completely inventoried large taxonomic class of organisms, permitting a uniquely detailed understanding of how the Anthropocene has shaped their distributions and conservation status in space and time. We summarize the threats driving changes in bird species richness and abundance, highlighting the increasingly synergistic interactions between threats such as habitat loss, climate change, and overexploitation. Many metrics of avian biodiversity are exhibiting globally consistent negative trends, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List Index showing a steady deterioration in the conservation status of the global avifauna over the past three decades. We identify key measures to counter this loss of avian biodiversity and associated ecosystemservices, which will necessitate increased consideration of the social context of bird conservation interventions in order to deliver positive transformative change for nature.
•The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems criteria were applied at the national scale.•157 types of natural and semi-natural habitats of the Czech Republic were assessed.•Two habitats were Collapsed, 14 ...Critically Endangered, 33 Endangered, 33 Vulnerable.•Natural succession after abandonment, eutrophication and drought are major threats.•IUCN Red List of Ecosystems criteria are applicable in small countries or regions.
The Red List of Habitats of the Czech Republic assesses the risk of collapse for 157 types of natural and semi-natural habitats defined in the second edition of the Habitat Catalogue of the Czech Republic. The assessment followed the guidelines for the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems as used in the European Red List of Habitats project, using the criteria of habitat reduction in quantity, restricted geographic distribution, and reduction in abiotic and biotic quality. Quantitative data for the assessment were partly taken from a detailed field habitat mapping at the national scale, and where no quantitative information was available, the values were estimated by summarizing independent judgements of 17 experts. In addition to the criteria involved in the Red List assessment, the experts also assessed various types of threatening factors and their importance for each habitat. Of 157 assessed habitats, 2 were Collapsed (CO), 14 Critically Endangered (CR), 32 Endangered (EN), 33 Vulnerable (VU), 30 Near Threatened (NT) and 46 Least Concern (LC). The largest proportion of CR + EN habitats was in the habitat group of springs and mires and in the group of wetlands. The threatening factors evaluated as the most important were successional changes after cessation of traditional management, eutrophication due to atmospheric nutrient deposition and pollution from agriculture, and increased drought in water-dependent habitats due to climate change or changes in local hydrological regime. The study shows that the IUCN criteria for Red List assessment of habitats, although developed for the global scale, are also applicable within small countries or regions.
Macroevolutionary rates of diversification and anthropogenic extinction risk differ vastly throughout the Tree of Life. This results in a highly heterogeneous distribution of Evolutionary ...distinctiveness (ED) and threat status among species. We examine the phylogenetic distribution of ED and threat status for squamates (amphisbaenians, lizards, and snakes) using fully-sampled phylogenies containing 9574 species and expert-based estimates of threat status for ~4000 species. We ask whether threatened species are more closely related than would be expected by chance and whether high-risk species represent a disproportionate amount of total evolutionary history. We found currently-assessed threat status to be phylogenetically clustered at broad level in Squamata, suggesting it is critical to assess extinction risks for close relatives of threatened lineages. Our findings show no association between threat status and ED, suggesting that future extinctions may not result in a disproportionate loss of evolutionary history. Lizards in degraded tropical regions (e.g., Madagascar, India, Australia, and the West Indies) seem to be at particular risk. A low number of threatened high-ED species in areas like the Amazon, Borneo, and Papua New Guinea may be due to a dearth of adequate risk assessments. It seems we have not yet reached a tipping point of extinction risk affecting a majority of species; 63% of the assessed species are not threatened and 56% are Least Concern. Nonetheless, our results show that immediate efforts should focus on geckos, iguanas, and chameleons, representing 67% of high-ED threatened species and 57% of Unassessed high-ED lineages.
•We present fully-sampled phylogenies of 9754 squamates.•Threat status is phylogenetically clustered in Squamata.•Threat status has no association with Evolutionary distinctiveness.•Degraded habitats with diverse assemblages are hotspot of risk.•We have not yet reached a tipping point of extinction risk affecting a majority of species.
Urbanization is a major contributor to biodiversity declines. However, studies assessing effects of urban landscapes per se (i.e., disentangled from focal habitat effects) on biodiversity across ...spatial scales are lacking. Understanding such scale‐dependent effects is fundamental to preserve habitats along an urbanization gradient in a way that maximizes overall biodiversity. We investigated the impact of landscape urbanization on communities of woodland‐breeding bird species in individual (local scale) and across multiple (regional scale) cities, while controlling for the quality of sampled habitats (woodlands). We conducted bird point counts and habitat quality mapping of trees, dead wood, and shrubs in 459 woodlands along an urban to rural urbanization gradient in 32 cities in Sweden. Responses to urbanization were measured as local and regional total diversity (γ), average site diversity (α), and diversity between sites (β). We also assessed effects on individual species and to what extent dissimilarities in species composition along the urbanization gradient were driven by species nestedness or turnover. We found that landscape urbanization had a negative impact on γ‐, α‐, and β‐diversity irrespective of spatial scale, both regarding all woodland‐breeding species and red‐listed species. At the regional scale, dissimilarities in species composition between urbanization levels were due to nestedness, that is, species were lost with increased landscape urbanization without being replaced. In contrast, dissimilarities at the local scale were mostly due to species turnover. Because there was no difference in habitat quality among woodlands across the urbanization gradient, we conclude that landscape urbanization as such systematically causes poorer and more homogeneous bird communities in adjacent natural habitats. However, the high local turnover and the fact that several species benefited from urbanization demonstrates that natural habitats along the entire urbanization gradient are needed to maintain maximally diverse local bird communities.
We surveyed woodland birds along an urbanization gradient of 32 cities in Sweden to investigate the effect of landscape urbanization on local and regional diversity. Overall, urbanization systematically caused poorer and more homogeneous bird communities in natural woodland habitats, irrespective of spatial scale. Because of a systematic loss of species, woodlands in urban areas were less important than rural woodlands to the regional diversity. However, because of a high species turnover along the urbanization gradient at the local scale, and several species being benefited by urbanization, urban woodlands proved to be essential for the local species diversity.
Rates of biodiversity loss are higher in freshwater ecosystems than in most terrestrial or marine ecosystems, making freshwater conservation a priority. However, prioritization methods are impeded by ...insufficient knowledge on the distribution and conservation status of freshwater taxa, particularly invertebrates. We evaluated the extinction risk of the world's 590 freshwater crayfish species using the IUCN Categories and Criteria and found 32% of all species are threatened with extinction. The level of extinction risk differed between families, with proportionally more threatened species in the Parastacidae and Astacidae than in the Cambaridae. Four described species were Extinct and 21% were assessed as Data Deficient. There was geographical variation in the dominant threats affecting the main centres of crayfish diversity. The majority of threatened US and Mexican species face threats associated with urban development, pollution, damming and water management. Conversely, the majority of Australian threatened species are affected by climate change, harvesting, agriculture and invasive species. Only a small proportion of crayfish are found within the boundaries of protected areas, suggesting that alternative means of long-term protection will be required. Our study highlights many of the significant challenges yet to come for freshwater biodiversity unless conservation planning shifts from a reactive to proactive approach.
ABSTRACT
There have been five Mass Extinction events in the history of Earth's biodiversity, all caused by dramatic but natural phenomena. It has been claimed that the Sixth Mass Extinction may be ...underway, this time caused entirely by humans. Although considerable evidence indicates that there is a biodiversity crisis of increasing extinctions and plummeting abundances, some do not accept that this amounts to a Sixth Mass Extinction. Often, they use the IUCN Red List to support their stance, arguing that the rate of species loss does not differ from the background rate. However, the Red List is heavily biased: almost all birds and mammals but only a minute fraction of invertebrates have been evaluated against conservation criteria. Incorporating estimates of the true number of invertebrate extinctions leads to the conclusion that the rate vastly exceeds the background rate and that we may indeed be witnessing the start of the Sixth Mass Extinction. As an example, we focus on molluscs, the second largest phylum in numbers of known species, and, extrapolating boldly, estimate that, since around AD 1500, possibly as many as 7.5–13% (150,000–260,000) of all ~2 million known species have already gone extinct, orders of magnitude greater than the 882 (0.04%) on the Red List. We review differences in extinction rates according to realms: marine species face significant threats but, although previous mass extinctions were largely defined by marine invertebrates, there is no evidence that the marine biota has reached the same crisis as the non‐marine biota. Island species have suffered far greater rates than continental ones. Plants face similar conservation biases as do invertebrates, although there are hints they may have suffered lower extinction rates. There are also those who do not deny an extinction crisis but accept it as a new trajectory of evolution, because humans are part of the natural world; some even embrace it, with a desire to manipulate it for human benefit. We take issue with these stances. Humans are the only species able to manipulate the Earth on a grand scale, and they have allowed the current crisis to happen. Despite multiple conservation initiatives at various levels, most are not species oriented (certain charismatic vertebrates excepted) and specific actions to protect every living species individually are simply unfeasible because of the tyranny of numbers. As systematic biologists, we encourage the nurturing of the innate human appreciation of biodiversity, but we reaffirm the message that the biodiversity that makes our world so fascinating, beautiful and functional is vanishing unnoticed at an unprecedented rate. In the face of a mounting crisis, scientists must adopt the practices of preventive archaeology, and collect and document as many species as possible before they disappear. All this depends on reviving the venerable study of natural history and taxonomy. Denying the crisis, simply accepting it and doing nothing, or even embracing it for the ostensible benefit of humanity, are not appropriate options and pave the way for the Earth to continue on its sad trajectory towards a Sixth Mass Extinction.
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