Botanists have 33″dark spots” around the world where thousands of plant species are likely waiting to be discovered, according to new research.
From a palm tree in Borneo that flowers underground to a Malagasy orchid that spends its life growing on other plants, researchers continue to make dozens of new species discoveries each year.
But with more than 100,000 plant species believed to be undiscovered, the majority of which are thought to be at risk of extinction, a new project led by Kew’s Royal Botanic Gardens highlights areas of the world where botanists should focus their search.
From Madagascar to Bolivia, scientists have identified areas of plant diversity in an attempt at turbocharger identification. The study, published in the journal New Phytologist, builds on that analysis by researchers at Kew last year which found that three-quarters of all undescribed plant species were likely to be threatened with extinction.
Scientists believe the unknown species may hold clues to future drug discoveries, fuels or other innovations.
Prof Alexandre Antonelli, director of science at Kew and senior author of the paper, said the research was aimed at helping to better target conservation and speed up the pace of plant discoveries, warning that many species will become extinct before they ever reach science is known. at the current rate of identification.
“We are protecting 30% of the planet under current UN targets by this decade – but we don’t know which areas to protect unless we have the right information,” said Antonelli.
“Previous research has shown that biologists have not been particularly efficient at documenting biodiversity. We went back to the same places over and over and we neglected some areas that could hold many species,” he said.
Most of the regions are in Asia, which has 22 areas listed as needing further research, including the island of Sumatra, the eastern Himalayas, Assam in India and Vietnam. In Africa, Madagascar and South Africa’s Cape provinces were identified, while Colombia, Peru and south-eastern Brazil were areas highlighted in South America.
Almost all of the areas overlap with areas that have already been identified as biodiversity ‘hotspots’ – areas of the planet that are rich in life but threatened with destruction.
Dr Samuel Pironon, a biology lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, an honorary research fellow at Kew and a lead author of the paper, said: “All countries have agreed to conserve and restore biodiversity, including plant biodiversity. How do we do this if we don’t know which species we are talking about or what the biodiversity is and where we can restore it?”
Many of the countries where these dark spots occur have limited capacity for formal species identification and the researchers said they hope the analysis will inspire future collaboration between research institutions and local people around the world.
The scientists warned that members of the public should not collect species themselves because of strict international laws on the movement of biodiversity around the planet, as well as the potential threat to the survival of species, but said to take pictures of plants in these areas and share it on citizen science. platforms can help.
Pironon said: “This is a great opportunity to strengthen partnerships between scientists and citizens, because platforms like iNaturalist rely on both. People take pictures of things that they think are interesting to the rest of the world, and scientists are key because they help identify those species.”
Next month governments will attend the Police 16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, for the first time since they agreed in 2022 on targets to prevent the loss of life on Earth this decade.
