Seminarios de frontera 'Integrating phylogenetic and extinction risk data for conservation...'

Transmisión en vivo 7/03/2023, 11h.
Ponente: Dr. Felix Forest, Ecosystem Stewardship, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Resumen: With biodiversity in rapid decline, and limited resources available for conservation action, the question of which species and regions should be prioritised for conservation is both critical and urgent. Global scale analyses of biodiversity distribution and conservation prioritisation have so far generally failed to account for plants, the structural and ecological foundation of virtually all terrestrial ecosystems. There are approximately 350,000 species of vascular plants known to science, the majority of which are vital for the survival of countless other species of plants, fungi, animals, and microorganisms that depend on them. With recent estimates showing that almost two in five (39%) vascular plants are threatened with extinction, determining which plant species are at risk and which threats they face is central to protecting not only these species, but entire ecosystems. Here, I will present the latest developments in the EDGE metric (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered), which uses phylogenetic and extinction risk data, and the preliminary work we have done on Gymnosperms using this approach. I will also discuss the ongoing development of the first global conservation prioritisation for flowering plants, the EDGE Angiosperms prioritisation list, which will facilitate the integration of flowering plants into global biodiversity analyses on an equal footing with tetrapods, thus addressing an imbalance which has undermined conservation actions for decades.