The Red List for the endemic trees of Colombia: Effective conservation targeted for plants required in biodiversity hotspots

Abstract

Conserving trees is fundamental to maintaining forests, which are home to about half of the global biodiversity and provide unmeasurable benefits to people. Colombia has 5868 known species of trees, 1148 of which are endemic to the country. Unfortunately, 45% of the endemic trees of Colombia are threatened with extinction, and therefore, the ecosystem services they provide might be in jeopardy. This study represents an important contribution to conservation planning for the endemic trees of a megadiverse country and highlights critical considerations for their conservation. Summary• Colombia has a very rich tree flora and high levels of tree endemism. As a contribution to the "Global Tree Assessment", we assessed 860 species to complete the Red List of the 1148 endemic trees of the country. The information is being used to support spatial conservation planning as Key Biodiversity Areas identification.• To categorize the species according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List guidelines, we used geographic occurrences obtained from herbarium specimens. We carried out detailed analysis of habitat quantity and quality (using forest cover and human footprint maps) and documented anthropogenic threats and conservation actions.• Almost half (45%) of the endemic trees were categorized as threatened. Most species had small distributions (with an extent of occurrence of less than 40,000 km 2 ). Endemic tree occurrences were more common in the Andes and Magdalena regions, which have very high human footprint and consequently a large proportion of threatened species. The major threat to endemic trees was habitat destruction, due mainly to deforestation for livestock and crops. Many endemic trees were present in protected areas (65%), but threatened and nonthreatened species had low coverage with habitat protection, and many of their populations persist in disturbed habitats.• Colombia has hundreds of threatened endemic trees, most of them in global biodiversity hotspots, with very few proactive conservation actions. It is urgent to

Diversity and conservation status of palms (Arecaceae) in two hotspots of biodiversity in Colombia and Ecuador

“…When focusing on endemic species, the situation is critical in both Colombia and Ecuador. The 83% (36/43) of endemic palms are potentially threatened in the Chocó and Andes of Colombia (Table 2) which is much higher than the 45% of all Colombian endemic tree species assessed as threatened (Lopez‐Gallego & Morales‐Morales, 2023). This level of threat is equivalent to those reported for Madagascar where 86% of the mostly endemic species were assessed as threatened (Rakotoarinivo et al, 2014, 2020) and close to the 78% of endemic plants assessed as threatened in Ecuador in general (León‐Yánez et al, 2011).…”

“…When focusing on endemic species, the situation is critical in both Colombia and Ecuador. The 83% (36/43) of endemic palms are potentially threatened in the Choc o and Andes of Colombia (Table 2) which is much higher than the 45% of all Colombian endemic tree species assessed as threatened (Lopez-Gallego & Morales-Morales, 2023).…”

Can’t carve air, can’t weave names: Plant species used in Colombian artisan crafts are not equally assessed for vulnerability at the international and national level

“…One possible alternative explanation for the positive relationship between number of local common names and national vulnerability status may be that most of the documented plants are regional, and so may be so widespread that the species is considered of little conservation concern or not yet in need of evaluation. Lopez-Gallego & Morales-Morales (2023) found that endemic and threatened species of trees were not uniformly distributed across the biographical regions of Colombia, and for trees in the Amazonia and Guyana shield regions, most species were labeled as Least Concern by the IUCN, because of large extant of occurrence (EOO)—the estimated minimum convex polygon that encompasses all known occurrences of a species—and lack of threats (Lopez-Gallego & Morales-Morales, 2023). The plant species included in this study may also have been assessed as Least Concern for these reasons.…”

The Global Tree Assessment provides a multifaceted view on the future of tree diversity conservation

“…In species rich countries, like Colombia (Lopez‐Gallego & Morales‐Morales, 2023), effective approaches are needed to provide rigorous methods to rapidly assess the threat status of trees in large diverse countries. These assessment efforts are still hampered by the substantial fraction of poorly known species, or even undiscovered species, in some of the world's most biodiverse countries.…”