Study - Between 36% And 57% Of All Amazon Tree Species Should Qualify For IUCN Red List
Deforestation threatens more than half of all tree species in the Amazon, a new study suggests. Researchers, whose work was published Friday in the journal Science Advances, studied the status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species, including the Brazil nut and the plants that produce cacao and açaí palm.
By comparing maps of projected deforestation with data collected in the forest, the researchers found that at least 36 percent and up to 57 percent of the Amazon’s tree species should qualify as threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, the most widely recognized authority on threats to species conservation.
Their findings suggest that the number of globally threatened plant species could increase by about 22 percent, and globally threatened tree species by 36 percent.
“We’ve never had a good idea of how many Amazonian species were vulnerable,” said Nigel Pitman, a tropical ecologist at the Field Museum in Chicago. “And now, with this study, we’ve got an estimate.”
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/science/deforestation-may-threaten-majority-of-amazon-tree-species-study-finds.html?action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
