Two Out of Three Thirds ain’t Bad: Protecting the Majority of Earth’s Plant Species
Wednesday,
Sep 11
Sep 11

Well, plant species are not uniformly distributed on Earth? For example, Asia, Africa and Central America display much higher concentrations of endemic species than North America or Europe. The researchers, led by Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology Stuart L. Pimm, analyzed data on more than 100,000 different species of flowering plants, compiled by the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England. Then, they used computer algorithms to identify the smallest set of geographical regions that contain the largest set of plant species and published their findings in the journal Science.Pimm had this to say:
"Species endemic to small geographical ranges are at a much higher risk of being threatened or endangered than those with large ranges," added Lucas N. Joppa, a conservation scientist at Microsoft Research's Computational Science Laboratory in Cambridge, U.K. "We combined regions to maximize the numbers of species in the minimal area. With that information, we can more accurately evaluate each region's relative importance for conservation, and assess international priorities accordingly."
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130905142806.htm
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