Urban Plant Extinctions Pose Threat to Global Biodiversity

Another thank you to Claire Thompson for providing a write-up. Claire is a UBC Botanical Garden work-study student. Claire writes:

Botanists from 5 countries have compiled data on plant extinctions from 22 cities around the world. According to their study, both the pace of urban change and the proportion of native plants remaining in a city influence the variation in extinction rates. Modern cities were found to carry a large extinction debt. For example, Melbourne, Australia is expected to lose half of its native plants species over the next 100 years. These urban plant extinctions are a threat to worldwide biodiversity, highlighting the need for protection of native flora.

Links:

• How cities drive plants extinct via BBC Earth News
• Hahs et al 2009. A global synthesis of plant extinction rates in urban areas. Ecol. Letters 12:1-9 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01372.x

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 2:59 PM on October 14, 2009