Abstract
A high proportion of plant species is predicted to be threatened with extinction in the near future. However, the threat status of only a small number has been evaluated compared with key animal groups, rendering the magnitude and nature of the risks plants face unclear. Here we report the results of a global species assessment for the largest plant taxon evaluated to date under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Categories and Criteria, the iconic Cactaceae (cacti). We show that cacti are among the most threatened taxonomic groups assessed to date, with 31% of the 1,478 evaluated species threatened, demonstrating the high anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity in arid lands. The distribution of threatened species and the predominant threatening processes and drivers are different to those described for other taxa. The most significant threat processes comprise land conversion to agriculture and aquaculture, collection as biological resources, and residential and commercial development. The dominant drivers of extinction risk are the unscrupulous collection of live plants and seeds for horticultural trade and private ornamental collections, smallholder livestock ranching and smallholder annual agriculture. Our findings demonstrate that global species assessments are readily achievable for major groups of plants with relatively moderate resources, and highlight different conservation priorities and actions to those derived from species assessments of key animal groups.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mora, C., Tittensor, D. P., Adl, S., Simpson, A. G. B. & Worm, B. How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean. PLoS Biol. 9, e1001127 (2011).
IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria Version 3.1 (IUCN Species Survival Commission, 2001).
Polidoro, B. A. et al. The loss of species: mangrove extinction risk and geographic areas of global concern. PLoS ONE e13636 (2010).
Short, F. T. et al. Extinction risk assessment of the world's seagrass species. Biol. Cons. 144, 1961–1971 (2011).
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Version 2014.1; http://www.iucnredlist.org
Gaston, K. J. The Structure and Dynamics of Geographic Ranges (Oxford Univ. Press, 2003).
Pitman, N. C. A. & Jørgensen, P. M. Estimating the size of the world's threatened flora. Science 298, 989 (2002).
Hubbell, S. P. et al. How many tree species are there in the Amazon and how many of them will go extinct? Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105 (suppl.), 11498–11504 (2008).
Joppa, L. N., Visconti, P., Jenkins, C. N. & Pimm, S. L. Achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity's goals for plant conservation. Science 341, 1100–1103 (2013).
Paton, A. & Nic Lughada, E. The irresistible target meets the unachievable objective: what have 8 years of GSPC implementation taught us about target setting and achievable objectives? Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 166, 250–260 (2011).
Stuart, S. N. et al. Status and trends of amphibian declines and extinctions worldwide. Science 306, 1783–1786 (2004).
Schipper, J. et al. The status of the world's land and marine mammals: diversity, threat, and knowledge. Science 322, 225–230 (2008).
Bramwell, D., Raven, P. & Synge, H. Implementing the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. Plant Talk 30, 32–37 (2002).
Burton, J. On the Red Lists and IUCN. Plant Talk 32, 5 (2003).
Heywood, V. H. Red listing – too clever by half? Plant Talk 31, 5 (2003).
Heywood, V. H. & Iriondo, J. M. Plant conservation: old problems, new perspectives. Biol. Conserv. 113, 321–335 (2003).
Callmander, M. W., Schatz, G. & Porter, P. P. IUCN Red List assessment and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation taxonomist must act now. Taxon 54, 1047–1050 (2005).
Schussler, E. E., Link-Perez, M. A., Weber, K. M. & Dollo, V. H. Exploring animal and plant content in elementary science textbooks. J. Biol. Educ. 44, 123–128 (2010).
Mares, M. A. Neotropical mammals and the myth of Amazonian biodiversity. Science 255, 976–979 (1992).
Durant, S. M. et al. Forgotten biodiversity in desert ecosystems. Science 336, 1379–1380 (2012).
Carpenter, K. E. et al. One-Third of reef-building corals face elevated extinction risk from climate change and local impacts. Science 321, 560–563 (2008).
Taylor, N. P. in Cactus and Succulent Plants - Status survey and Conservation Action Plan (ed. Oldfield, S. ) Comp. 18–19 (IUCN, 1997).
Salafsky, N. et al. A standard lexicon for biodiversity conservation: unified classifications of threats and actions. Conserv. Biol. 22, 897–911 (2008).
Hernández, H. M. & Gómez-Hinostrosa, C. Studies on Mexican Cactaceae IV. A new subspecies of Echinocereus palmeri Britton & Rose, first record of the species in the Chihuahuan Desert. Bradleya 22, 1–8 (2004).
Sajeva, M., Augugliaro, C., Smith, M. J. & Oddo, E. Regulating internet trade in CITES species. Conserv. Biol. 27, 429–430 (2013).
Hoffmann, M. et al. The impact of conservation on the status of the world’s vertebrates. Science 330, 1503–1509 (2010).
Acknowledgements
In memory of Betty Fitz-Maurice and Eduardo Méndez. We are grateful to the University of Sheffield and the University of Exeter for housing the Global Cactus Assessment (GCA); for the institutional support of IUCN, in particular staff of the Global Species Programme, the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the IUCN SSC Cactus and Succulent Specialist Group and the office of the Chair of IUCN SSC which made available valuable resources, via the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi, at a critical juncture in the project; to the donors and hosts who made the eight GCA workshops possible as well as the individuals (in parentheses) who helped with the organization and logistics—Mexico's Comisión Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas, Comisión Nacional para Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (S. Cariaga and A. López) and Instituto Nacional de Ecología, Conservation International, the North of England Zoological Society, Jardín Botánico Regional de Cadereyta (E. Sánchez and M. Magdalena Hernández Martínez), Desert Botanical Garden (C. Butterworth), the Cactus and Succulent Society of America, Jardin Exotique de Monaco (J.-M. Solichon), the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Conservation International-Brazil, Instituto Chico Mendes, Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de Zonas Áridas (R. Kiesling and M. Superina), The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad project P05-002 ICM, Universidad de Chile (P. Guerrero), Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (J. Maschinski), National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Laboratorio de Cactología at the Insituto de Biología UNAM (H. Hernández and C. Gómez-Hinostrosa) and Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund; and to G. Charles, P. Hoxey, J. A. Hawkins, C. Yesson and Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich who provided point locality data. B.G. was partially funded by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología grant 0000000000118202. We are indebted to the hard work put in by volunteers P. Durán, E. Hounslow, R. Lee, C. Malone, C. F. Rose, K. Watt and S. Willhoit; to L. Bacigalupe and J. Bennie for assistance with analyses; and to M.L. Ávila-Jiménez, J. Bennie, M.G. Gaston, S. Gaston and five anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
B.G. and K.J.G. jointly created, developed and led the project. C.H.T., A.F., H.M.H., J.S., M.S., N.P.T., M.T., A.M.A, S.A., H.J.A.N., M.A.B., R.T.B., D.B., P.B., C.A.B., A.B., F.C., M.C.B., R.C.D., M.D.V.P., P.H.D., W.A.D.B., R.D., L.F.Y., R.S.F., B.F.M., W.A.F.M., G.G., C.G.H., L.R.G.T., M.P.G., P.C.G., B.H., K.D.H., J.G.H.O., M.H., M.I.I., R.K., J.L., J.L.L.D., C.R.L.S., M.L., M.C.M., L.C.M., J.G.M.A., C.M., J.M., E.M., R.A.M., J.M.N., V.N., L.J.O., P.O.B., A.B.P.F., D.J.P., J.M.P., R.P., J.R.G., P.S.P., E.S.M., M.S., J.M.S.M.C., S.N.S., J.L.T.M., T.T., M.T., M.T., T.V., T.R.V., M.E.V., H.E.W., S.A.W., D.Z., J.A.Z.H. contributed to the species assessment process. G.C.P., J.P.D., R.I. and C.P. conducted the analyses. B.G. and K.J.G. drafted the manuscript and this was commented on by all of the authors.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Goettsch, B., Hilton-Taylor, C., Cruz-Piñón, G. et al. High proportion of cactus species threatened with extinction. Nature Plants 1, 15142 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2015.142
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2015.142
This article is cited by
-
Looking for non-hermaphrodite cacti: multidisciplinary studies in Gymnocalycium bruchii endemic to central Argentina
Plant Reproduction (2024)
-
DNA barcodes reveal the hidden arthropod diversity in a threatened cactus forest of the central Andes
Biodiversity and Conservation (2023)
-
Genomic and morphological assessment of the status of Kuenzler’s hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus fendleri var. kuenzleri)
Conservation Genetics (2023)
-
Elevated extinction risk of cacti under climate change
Nature Plants (2022)
-
Livestock impacts on an iconic Namib Desert plant are mediated by abiotic conditions
Oecologia (2022)
