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Geographic distribution,conservation effectiveness,and gaps for national key protected wild plants in China |
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| Authors: | Fei Qin Xiao-Xia Zhang Yun-Feng Huang Lei Wu Wei-Bin Xu Tian-Tian Xue Wen-Di Zhang Qin Liu Jiang-Hong Yu Jie-Jing Gao Rainer W Bussmann Juan Wang Sheng-Xiang Yu |
| Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093 China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China These authors contributed equally to this study.;2. Guangxi Institute of Traditional Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nanning, 530022 China;3. College of Forestry, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, 410004 China;4. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin, 541006 Guangxi, China;5. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093 China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China;6. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093 China College of Forestry, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, 410004 China;7. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093 China College of Forestry, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025 China;8. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093 China School of Life Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550025 China;9. Department of Ethnobotany, Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, 0105 Georgia;10. College of Tourism and Urban-Rural Planning, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059 China;11. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093 China |
| Abstract: | National key protected wild plants (NKPWPs) are species with important conservation value based on genetics, ecology, culture, and/or scientific research, which are also confronted with serious threats. However, their geographical distribution patterns and conservation status remain unclear. In this study, we compiled 1032 species of NKPWPs. We measured the diversity to identify hotspots of NKPWPs based on species richness, weighted range size rarity and a complementarity-based analysis. Comparing the distribution and hotspots of NKPWPs with the coverage of Chinese nature reserves (NRs), we assessed conservation effectiveness and identified conservation gaps. The results identified 13 diversity hotspots; only 9.5% of them were covered by NRs with >30% of the grid cell area, and even 19.5% were not covered at all by NRs. Overall, 44.7% of NKPWPs were effectively protected by national NRs. Despite this success, 571 species in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangxi, Guangdong, southern Hainan, Taiwan, and northern Xinjiang remain unprotected by NRs. The protected proportion of plants with first-level protection was lower than that of plants with second-level protection. The low overall proportion of protected hotspots indicates that the conservation outlook for NKPWPs is not optimistic. This study identifies priority conservation areas and conservation gaps and provides a scientific reference for the conservation of wild plants in China. |
| Keywords: | complementarity conservation effectiveness conservation gaps hotspot national key protected wild plants species richness weighted range size rarity |