A new study by scientists at Wake Forest University predicts that more than four thousand of the Amazon's 50 thousand plant species face extinction within the next 40 years, mainly due to loss of habitat.
The co-authors of the study, Kenneth Feeley and Miles Silman, examined several hundred individual plant records to map the kinds of plants found in the Amazon. Using the maps, along with predictions about deforestation and changes in land use, the two researchers were able to make extinction risks for about 80 percent of Amazonian plant species. The study was published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
According to Feeley and Silman, five to nine percent of Amazonian trees and other plant species will be lost by 2050, as more land is switched to agricultural use to raise crops and livestock. This estimate is substantially lower than others in the past, which assumed that species are spread evenly across the Amazon rain forest.
"The good news from this study is that the areas with highest species diversity are, for the most part, the areas least likely to be threatened by development in the near future," said Silman. "The most rapid rates of land-use change will likely occur in the so-called 'arc of deforestation' in the southern Amazon rain forest and the vast grassland and forest mosaics of the Cerrado in southeastern Brazil."
The study concluded that if realistic conservation measures are put in place to reduce development, the rate of loss could be cut by 50 percent. "While we are almost certain to lose some species, we still have time to save several thousand species from extinction," said Feeley. He added that there are still serious threats to biodiversity in the Amazon region, but he said the study will likely motivate future research on the distribution of tropical plant species and the impact of human activity on plant survival. Feeley works at Wake Forest with the Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group.
Wow! These measures are extreme. It is important that this information is communicated to create an awareness. Thanks!
Posted by: Luma Plants | July 15, 2009 at 09:29 AM