State of the world's plants Flashcards
How much of the global plant species is currently threatened with extinction according to IUCN red list criteria?
21%
How many vascular plant species are there?
391,000
How many flowering plant species are there?
369,000
New plant species discovered in 2015?
2,034
How many plants currently have a documented use?
31,128
The term useful plants is used to describe…?
Plant species which have been documented as fulfilling a particular need for humans, animals, or the wider environment.
Where in the world are the most important areas to protect because of the incredible diversity of plants that they
contain?
1,771 important plant areas have been identified but few currently have conservation protection.
Important Plant Areas (IPAs) is a scheme that determines
priority sites by using three key measures of importance:
threatened species; exceptional botanical richness; and
threatened habitats.
How much of the earth’s vegetated surface demonstrates high sensitivity to climatic variability?
Greater than 10%
How is the climate changing?
The concentration of global atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased from pre-industrial levels of around 280 ppmv to the current 400 ppmv.
Global temperatures are warming each year at an average
rate that is faster than any trend seen in the past 1,400
years.
Changing precipitation or melting snow and ice are altering hydrological systems and affecting water resources, and some extreme events (e.g. periods of extreme heat) are predicted to increase as temperatures rise.
How much land cover change has the world’s biomes seen in the past decade?
All but one of the world’s biomes have seen more than 10% change.
10/14 biomes have seen a decrease in vegetation productivity between 2000 and 2013.
What is our best estimation of how many plants are
threatened with extinction?
One in five.
