Species Composition and Diversity of Provincial Key Protected Wild Plants in China
In order to reveal the main characteristics of provincial key protected wild plants in China,the checklists of 24 provinces containing such plant species which have been recently released,were collated and analyzed in terms of species composition,life form spectrum and endangered categories for the first time.The results showed that:(1)There were 2 044 species of wild plants under provincial key protection,belonging to 208 families and 844 genera.Among them,there were 23 species of macro fungi,14 species of bryophytes,63 species of lycopodium and ferns,50 species of gymnosperms,and 1 894 species of angiosperms.The number of key protected plant species differed among these provinces ranging from 17 to 448,with an average of 115.(2)There were ten types of life forms for these species.The majority of them were herbs with 1 200 species,accounting for 58.71％of the total species.Evergreen trees had 262 species,accounting for 12.82％of the total species while deciduous trees had 225 species,accounting for 11.01％of the total species.(3)According to the IUCN Red List,the 2 044 plant species could be classified into six categories.There were 1224 species of Least Concern(LC),248 Vulnerable(VU),198 Nearly Threatened(NT),173 Endangered(EN),128 Critically Endangered(CR),accounting for 59.88％,12.13％,9.69％,8.46％,6.26％respectively.It is worth noting that there are 747 endangered species(including CR,EN,VU,NT),accounting for 36.55％of the total.Our findings indicate that collectively the checklist of key protected wild plants at the provincial scale covers a wide range of plant taxa,but each province varies dramatically in the number and proportion of such species in its own checklist.These plant species have various life forms,with a great majority of herbs.More than a third of these plants have a relatively high threat categorization,probably resulting from restricted geographical range,small population size,and anthropogenic interference.Therefore,administrative departments from national and provinces should exercise careful oversight over the checklist-making.It is necessary to emphasize the rarity,endangerment and endemism of candidate species,and it is also important to ensure the suitability,adequacy and effectiveness of management.
Key protected wild plantsThreat categorizationLife form
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
