30% of tree species worldwide threatened with extinction
Roy Erkens (MSP) and MSP alumna Nadja Verspagen have cooperated in the Global Tree Assessment, which has undertaken intensive research over the past five years to compile extinction risk information on the 58,497 tree species worldwide.
We now know that 30% of tree species are threatened with extinction, and at least 142 tree species are recorded as extinct. The main threats to tree species are forest clearance and other forms of habitat loss, direct exploitation for timber and other products and the spread of invasive pests and diseases. Climate change is also having a clearly measurable impact.
Tree diversity is unevenly distributed across the globe. The largest number of tree species is in Central and South America, followed by the other tropical regions of Southeast Asia and Africa. The highest proportion of threatened species is found in Tropical Africa, which includes Madagascar which is one of the countries with the highest level of threatened trees.
Temperate zones of Europe, Asia and North America which have relatively low tree diversity also have the lowest proportion of tree species which are threatened with extinction.
Also read:
-
Quantum Machine Learning enters the fray in CERN’s LHCb experiment
Wednesday, August 3, 2022Read moreIn a recent article in the Journal of High Energy Physics (JHEP), the LHCb collaboration reports the application of Quantum Machine Learning for identifying properties of so-called jets: streams of particles that result from particle collisions.
-
The new engineer seeks the balance between resources, environment and public opinion
Thursday, July 21, 2022Read moreThe new engineer seeks the balance between resources, environment and public opinion
-
Companies should help you buy less
Wednesday, July 20, 2022Read moreA pair of pants that tear after a year, a laptop that only lasts three years. We keep buying and throwing away and buying. We know it's destroying our planet, but we let it happen. Professor of sustainable business Nancy Bocken investigates how we can break that pattern.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Forward
Reddit