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By Douglas Main
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Plants often don't get the same attention animals do, especially when it comes to conservation. But that's a big mistake, even for those who could care less about flora. Because without plants, animals would cease to exist. And new research suggests there may be plants in dire need of that attention.
A study published October 5 in the journal Nature Plants looked at the status of a particular group of plants: the cacti, all 1,480 known species of them. Of these, nearly one-third, or 31 percent, are threatened with extinction, the paper found. By comparison, 25 percent of mammals and 13 percent of bird species are threatened, noted the study, authored by scientists from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
These plants are particularly targeted by collectors and horticulturists, who often take them from the wild to sell on the black market. According to the study, 86 percent of the threatened cacti used in horticulture were snagged from nature.
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"The results of this assessment come as a shock to us," lead author Barbara Goettsch, co-chairwoman of the IUCN's Cactus and Succulent Plant Specialist Group, told the BBC. "We did not expect cacti to be so highly threatened and for illegal trade to be such an important driver of their decline."
Besides collection, cacti are also threatened by habitat destruction driven by agriculture and mining.
The paper noted that three out of the five most imperiled groups of organisms are plants; more than one-third of conifers and nearly two-thirds of cycads (a type of mostly tropical plant) are threatened.
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