Home » Gardening Information » Plant Conservation
Vanishing Plants
Given current statistics regarding the exploding human population and the resulting loss of habitat, scientists estimate that 100,000 vascular plants—about 25 percent of the world's estimated 400,000 species—are threatened. As the human population continues to grow, requiring more land for agriculture, fuel, timber, and housing, natural habitats inevitably will continue to shrink, putting at risk an increasing number of plant and animal species. By the year 2050, the current world population of 5.7 billion is expected to reach 9.8 billion. The populations of many North African countries are expected to double in the next quarter century; those in Asia, in about 35 years.
Climate change due to global warming, caused by the emissions of carbon dioxide, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, chlorofluorocarbons, and other gases, is another significant threat to plants. The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, a network of more than 2,000 scientists and policy experts assembled by the United Nations to advise governments on climate policy, predicts that in the absence of any change in human behavior, the mean global temperature is likely to rise by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius by the year 2030, leading to drastic changes in rainfall and vegetation patterns. According to some studies, the ranges of many plants would be forced to shift northward at an unprecedented rate to keep pace with changing conditions. Many species would fail to survive.
Invasive species pose another serious threat to plant populations. Any time a nonnative plant or seed is transported across oceans or great expanses of land, it has the potential to drive out indigenous species, and in the worst-case scenarios, radically alter native ecosystems in its new location.
Finally, commercial overcollection from the wild of various bulbs, cacti, cycads, and orchids threatens to decrease the populations of some wild species to the point of endangerment.
As plant species are lost, any potential benefits to human life vanish. Every day the spectacular diversity of plants on the planet provides the foods that sustain us, the medicines that keep us healthy, the materials with which we build our homes and fashion our clothing, and the fuels that power our energy-hungry societies. Plants also enrich our lives with their beauty, intoxicating fragrances, and fascinating habits, as well as the raw materials we use to make products as diverse as alcoholic drinks and beads for jewelry.
Aside from any direct advantages they may hold for humans, plants also play a fundamental role in the survival of the ecosystems that support all life on the planet. Most ecosystems are naturally diverse. The diverse web of life in a natural forest or prairie has built-in redundancy and therefore resiliency. According to the latest evidence, the ability of natural systems to rebound from changing environmental conditions such as global warming depends on this species redundancy; in other words, species diversity is an insurance policy that can cushion the shocks to an ecosystem.
The Red List of Threatened Plants
The Red List, produced by IUCN, the World Conservation Union, is the most comprehensive global inventory of the conservation status of plants and animals. First produced as a series of printed books, it now exists as a searchable online database. The Red List assigns each species a threat category, from EX (Extinct) to LC (Least Concern). It helps conservation agencies set their priorities and establishes a baseline from which to monitor any changes in the status of species.