https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ppp3.10146

Extinction risk and threats to plants and fungi

The Red List Categories and the accompanying five criteria developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) provide an authoritative and comprehensive methodology to assess the conservation status of organisms. Red List criterion B, which principally uses distribution data, is the most widely used to assess conservation status, particularly of plant species. No software package has previously been available to perform large-scale multispecies calculations of the three main criterion B parameters [extent of occurrence (EOO), area of occupancy (AOO) and an estimate of the number of locations] and provide preliminary conservation assessments using an automated batch process. We developed ConR, a dedicated R package, as a rapid and efficient tool to conduct large numbers of preliminary assessments, thereby facilitating complete Red List assessment. ConR (1) calculates key geographic range parameters (AOO and EOO) and estimates the number of locations sensu IUCN needed for an assessment under criterion B; (2) uses this information in a batch process to generate preliminary assessments of multiple species; (3) summarize the parameters and preliminary assessments in a spreadsheet; and (4) provides a visualization of the results by generating maps suitable for the submission of full assessments to the IUCN Red List. ConR can be used for any living organism for which reliable georeferenced distribution data are available. As distributional data for taxa become increasingly available via large open access datasets, ConR provides a novel, timely tool to guide and accelerate the work of the conservation and taxonomic communities by enabling practitioners to conduct preliminary assessments simultaneously for hundreds or even thousands of species in an efficient and time-saving way.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02140914/document

ConR: An R package to assist large-scale multispecies preliminary conservation assessments using distribution data.

Societal Impact Statement Plants and fungi have provided, or inspired, key pharmaceuticals for global health challenges, including cancer, heart disease, dementia, and malaria, and are valued as traditional medicines worldwide. Global demand for medicinal plants and fungi has threatened certain species, contributing to biodiversity loss and depletion of natural resources that are important for the health of humanity. We consider the evolving role of plants and fungi in global healthcare as new challenges to human health and to biodiversity arise. We present current and emerging scientific approaches, to uncover and preserve nature‐based health solutions for the future, through harmonization with biodiversity conservation strategies. Summary Non‐communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes, are the main causes of deaths globally, and communicable diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis affect billions of people. Plants and fungi have provided key pharmaceuticals in our armory against these global health challenges, while in some regions of the world, they continue to have a central role in healthcare systems as traditional medicines. Consequently, global demand for plants and fungi in healthcare has threatened certain medicinal species, and is a driving factor in biodiversity loss. Yet the future of therapeutics from nature is evolving. Scientific advances are enabling the untapped potential of the world's plants and fungi to be explored for their medicinal value, and to reveal other roles they may have for improving health and well‐being; this demonstrates the value of natural capital as an incentive for biodiversity conservation. Emerging technologies also offer new hope for safeguarding essential medicines for the future, by revealing more sustainable solutions for sourcing key natural products. This review discusses recent developments and future approaches for the discovery of natural products as medicines, for health and well‐being, and strategies to harmonize the therapeutic use of biodiversity with its proactive conservation through nature‐based solutions.

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ppp3.10138

Molecules from nature: Reconciling biodiversity conservation and global healthcare imperatives for sustainable use of medicinal plants and fungi

Oxygyne Schltr. (Thismiaceae) is a rare and little-known genus of achlorophyllous mycoheterotrophic perennial herbs with one of the most remarkable distributions of all angiosperm plant genera globally, being disjunct between Japan and West-Central Africa. Each species is known only from a single location, and in most cases from a single specimen. This monographic study names, describes and maps two new species, Oxygyne duncanii Cheek from cloud forest in SW Region Cameroon and O. frankei Cheek from gallery forest in the Central African Republic, representing the first new Oxygyne species described from Africa in 112 years, and raising the number of described Oxygyne species from four to six. Oxygyne duncanii is remarkable for sharing more morphological characters with two of the three Japanese species (O. hyodoi C.Abe & Akasawa, O. shinzatoi (H. Ohashi) Tsukaya) than with the geographically much closer type species of the genus, O. triandra from Mt Cameroon. Based mainly on herbarium specimens and field observations made in Cameroon and Japan during a series of botanical surveys, we provide descriptions, synonymy, mapping and extinction risk assessments for each species of Oxygyne, together with keys to the genera of Thismiaceae and the species of Oxygyne. The subterranean structures of African Oxygyne are described for the first time, and found to be consistent with those of the Japanese species. We review and reject an earlier proposal that the Japanese species should be segregated from the African species as a separate genus, Saionia Hatus. The only character that separates the two disjunct species groups is now flower colour: blue or partly-blue in the Japanese species compared with orange-brown in the African species. Studies of the pollination biology and mycorrhizal partners of Oxygyne are still lacking. Two of the six species, O. triandra Schltr. and O. hyodoi, appear to be extinct, and the remaining four are assessed as Critically Endangered using the IUCN 2012 criteria. To avoid further extinction, an urgent requirement is for conservation management of the surviving species in the wild. Since few achlorophyllous mycoheterotrophs have been successfully cultivated from seed to maturity, ex situ conservation will not be viable for these species and protection in the wild is the only viable option. While natural habitat survives, further botanical surveys could yet reveal additional new species between Central Africa and Japan.

Taxonomic monograph of Oxygyne (Thismiaceae), rare achlorophyllous mycoheterotrophs with strongly disjunct distribution.

Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Timor Leste, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea) is a region of high plant diversity with an estimated 50,000 flowering plant species. Estimates of plant diversity in the region continue to grow as large numbers of new species are described even though there have been suggestions that there are few new species to be Gard. Bull. Singapore 71 (2) 2019 268 found in some parts of Southeast Asia. It is likely that most estimates of species numbers in the countries of Southeast Asia are too low due to the lack of taxonomic work on groups which have many locally endemic species. Differing collecting densities across the region can profoundly affect our understanding of plant diversity and lead to large underestimates of species diversity in poorly collected countries and regions. Progress on each of the major Flora projects in Southeast Asia, Flora of Thailand, the Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam/Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêtnam, Flora Malesiana, Flora of Peninsular Malaysia, Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak, Flora of Singapore and Flora of Vietnam, along with floristic research in Myanmar, the only country not covered by at least one of these Flora projects, is discussed. In addition to the formal Flora projects, there is much floristic activity occurring in the countries otherwise covered by transnational Floras.

/pdf/progress-on-southeast-asia-s-flora-projects-1cn6dqt6ew.pdf

Progress on Southeast Asia’s Flora projects

Despite the severe threats to plant habitats and high levels of extinction risk for plant species in many parts of the world, plant conservation priorities are often poorly represented in national and global frameworks because of a lack of data in an accessible and consistent format to inform conservation decision making. The Important Plant Areas (IPAs) criteria system offers a pragmatic yet scientifically rigorous means of delivering these datasets, enabling informed national- or regional-scale conservation prioritisation, and contributing significantly towards global prioritisation systems including the International Union for Conservation of Nature Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) Standard. In this paper, we review the IPA rationale and progress on IPA identification to date, including the perceived limitations of the process and how these may be overcome. We then present a revised set of criteria for use globally, developed through the combined experiences of IPA identification over the past decade and a half and through a recent global consultation process. An overview of how the revised IPA criteria can work alongside the newly published KBA Standard is also provided. IPA criteria are based around a sound, scientific, global framework which acknowledges the practical problems of gathering plant and habitat data in many regions of the world, and recognises the role of peer reviewed expert opinion in the selection process. National and sub-national engagement in IPA identification is essential, providing a primary route towards long term conservation of key sites for plant diversity. The IPA criteria can be applied to the conservation of all organism groups within the plant and fungal kingdoms.

/pdf/important-plant-areas-revised-selection-criteria-for-a-2lcw0atuoj.pdf

Andrew Byfield

Papers

Important Plant Areas: revised selection criteria for a global approach to plant conservation