First global report reveals worrying rate of plant extinction
NEARLY 600 species of plants have gone extinct since the middle of the 18th century, and many more are vulnerable to the same fate.
This is according to the first global report on the issue published recently in the journal Nature Ecology And Evolution. Even though such headlines are usually grabbed by threatened birds, mammals, and amphibians, the number of lost plants is more than twice their combined total.
The rate of loss is also thought to be 500 times faster than it would be without the influence of humans.
Even though there are about 300,000 known species of vascular plants in the world (that’s basically
ferns, conifers and flowering plants) and nearly 2,000 new species are discovered each year, we need to be worried. Green plants support almost all other life on earth. We need them for the oxygen we breathe, food (either directly or as food for the animals we eat) medicines, and clean air. In addition, they provide all sorts of essential products, from textiles to fuel and building materials.
“Plants underpin all life on earth,” said researcher Dr Eimear Nic Lughadha, conservation scientist at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. “Millions of other species depend on plants for their survival, humans included, so knowing which plants we are losing and from where will feed back into conservation programmes targeting other organisms as well.”
The threats to plants come from many directions, including climate change, more intensive farming using chemicals and fertilisers, and land use changes.
Another cause for concern is that scientists are worried that the findings almost certainly under-estimate the size of the problem. Alan Gray, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said: “Scientists have not studied the vast majority of the world’s plants in any detail.”
This means that the true figure of extinctions is probably much higher. It takes time to confirm an extinction, 25 years to be precise. This is because many rare plants are in inaccessible places and may re-appear long after they were thought to have died out. Here in Britain the wildflower charity Plantlife claims that 20 species are now extinct, and one in five of our wildflowers are under threat.
Once familiar annuals, such as cornflower and corncockle, have virtually disappeared from the wild, although their seeds are in the many wildflower mixes scattered in our gardens, parks and open spaces.
Plantlife claims that 20 species are now extinct, and one in five of our wildflowers are under threat.