Conservation Assessments of Plants of the Americas

The lack of a comprehensive list of the world’s threatened plant species is one of the greatest impediments to strategically protecting the world’s flora, and fewer than five percent of the world’s plant species have had their global conservation status assessed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

To address this shortfall, NYBG has developed a streamlined method to conduct plant conservation assessments using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis of data derived from herbarium specimens. Employing this protocol, NYBG proposes to complete preliminary conservation assessments for all species of plants of the Western Hemisphere. These assessments will be used by international agencies such as the IUCN and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which prevents the illegal trafficking of endangered species.

More information:
Eureka Alert: Triage for Plants: NYBG Scientists Develop and Test Rapid Species Conservation Assessment Technique