Green Plants in the Red: A Baseline Global Assessment for the IUCN Sampled Red List Index for Plants

Plants provide fundamental support systems for life on Earth and are the basis for all terrestrial ecosystems; a decline in plant diversity will be detrimental to all other groups of organisms including humans. Decline in plant diversity has been hard to quantify, due to the huge numbers of known an...

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Published in:	PloS one Vol. 10; no. 8; p. e0135152
Main Authors:	Brummitt, Neil A, Bachman, Steven P, Griffiths-Lee, Janine, Lutz, Maiko, Moat, Justin F, Farjon, Aljos, Donaldson, John S, Hilton-Taylor, Craig, Meagher, Thomas R, Albuquerque, Sara, Aletrari, Elina, Andrews, A Kei, Atchison, Guy, Baloch, Elisabeth, Barlozzini, Barbara, Brunazzi, Alice, Carretero, Julia, Celesti, Marco, Chadburn, Helen, Cianfoni, Eduardo, Cockel, Chris, Coldwell, Vanessa, Concetti, Benedetta, Contu, Sara, Crook, Vicki, Dyson, Philippa, Gardiner, Lauren, Ghanim, Nadia, Greene, Hannah, Groom, Alice, Harker, Ruth, Hopkins, Della, Khela, Sonia, Lakeman-Fraser, Poppy, Lindon, Heather, Lockwood, Helen, Loftus, Christine, Lombrici, Debora, Lopez-Poveda, Lucia, Lyon, James, Malcolm-Tompkins, Patricia, McGregor, Kirsty, Moreno, Laura, Murray, Linda, Nazar, Keara, Power, Emily, Quiton Tuijtelaars, Mireya, Salter, Ruth, Segrott, Robert, Thacker, Hannah, Thomas, Leighton J, Tingvoll, Sarah, Watkinson, Gemma, Wojtaszekova, Katerina, Nic Lughadha, Eimear M
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 07-08-2015 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Agriculture Anthropogenic factors Arable land Biodiversity Cactus Conifers Conservation of Natural Resources Cultural organizations Databases, Factual Ecology Ecosystem Endangered Species Environmental changes Extinction Extinction (Biology) Extinction, Biological Geography Gymnosperms Harvesting Life on Earth Livestock Natural resources Plant diversity Plant populations Plant species introduction Rainforest Rainforests Risk assessment Species extinction Support systems Terrestrial ecosystems Terrestrial environments Threatened species Tropical Climate Tropical forests Viridiplantae - classification Wildlife conservation United Kingdom Italy United Kingdom > UK United States > US Switzerland
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Summary:	Plants provide fundamental support systems for life on Earth and are the basis for all terrestrial ecosystems; a decline in plant diversity will be detrimental to all other groups of organisms including humans. Decline in plant diversity has been hard to quantify, due to the huge numbers of known and yet to be discovered species and the lack of an adequate baseline assessment of extinction risk against which to track changes. The biodiversity of many remote parts of the world remains poorly known, and the rate of new assessments of extinction risk for individual plant species approximates the rate at which new plant species are described. Thus the question 'How threatened are plants?' is still very difficult to answer accurately. While completing assessments for each species of plant remains a distant prospect, by assessing a randomly selected sample of species the Sampled Red List Index for Plants gives, for the first time, an accurate view of how threatened plants are across the world. It represents the first key phase of ongoing efforts to monitor the status of the world's plants. More than 20% of plant species assessed are threatened with extinction, and the habitat with the most threatened species is overwhelmingly tropical rain forest, where the greatest threat to plants is anthropogenic habitat conversion, for arable and livestock agriculture, and harvesting of natural resources. Gymnosperms (e.g. conifers and cycads) are the most threatened group, while a third of plant species included in this study have yet to receive an assessment or are so poorly known that we cannot yet ascertain whether they are threatened or not. This study provides a baseline assessment from which trends in the status of plant biodiversity can be measured and periodically reassessed.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Current address: Universidade de Évora, Palácio do Vimioso, Largo Marquês do Marialva, Évora, Portugal Current address: Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, United Kingdom Current address: International School of St. Gallen, Höhenweg, St. Gallen, Switzerland Current address: Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, United Kingdom Current address: 93 Otho Court, Augustus Close, Brentford, Middlesex, United Kingdom Current address: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Environmental Records Centre, The Manor House, Broad Street, Great Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom Current address: TRAFFIC International, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, United Kingdom Current address: Artisan Plant Nurseries, Kings Hill Nurseries, Kings Hill Lane, Finham, Coventry, Warwickshire, United Kingdom Current address: 12 Stockton Hill, Dawlish, Devon, United Kingdom Conceived and designed the experiments: NB SB JM TM ENL. Performed the experiments: NB SB JG-L ML JM TM SA EA EB HC CC V. Coldwell SC V. Crook RH PM-T. Analyzed the data: NB SB JG-L ML JM CH-T. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: NB SB JG-L ML JM AF JD CH-T TM SA EA KA GA EB BB AB JC MC HC EC CC V. Coldwell BC SC V. Crook PD LG NG HG AG RH DH SK PL-F H. Lindon H. Lockwood CL DL LL-P JL PM-T KMG L. Moreno L. Murray KN EP MQT R. Salter R. Segrott HT LT ST GW KW. Wrote the paper: NB SB JG-L ML JM AF JD CH-T TM ENL. Current address: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Università degli Studi Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza, Milano, Italy Current address: Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom Current address: Jacobs, Dundee Street, Edinburgh, United Kingdom Current address: University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford, United Kingdom Current address: ERSAF, Via Oliva, Gargnano (BS), Italy Current address: SIFitLab (Laboratory of the Italian Society of Herbal Medicine), University of Siena, Via Laterina, Siena, Italy Current address: WWF España, Gran Vía de San Francisco, Madrid, Spain Current address: Natural England, Nobel House, Smith Square, London, United Kingdom Competing Interests: The funding organisations provided support in the form of salaries for authors, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. None of this alters the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Current address: Agrobiosciences–Genomics and Crop Science, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà, Pisa, Italy Current address: Hegelstrasse 7, Tübingen, Germany Current address: Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland Current address: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Lodge, Potton Road, Sandy, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0135152