The great USA plant conservation challenge

Excerpt

We spend time quantifying the global number of plant taxa and predicting, debating, and demonstrating how many have gone extinct (Knapp et al 2020 and citations therein). We acknowledge that many plant taxa will continue to become rarer or will go extinct, that plant conservation is underfunded, and that we have a lot of gaps in our knowledge regarding rare plants (Negron-Ortiz 2014, Molano-Flores et al 2019). Calls for action continue to be voiced (Roberson et al 2020), however progress is slow. The same threats to plant taxa decline continue and new ones emerge making the conservation and preservation of these taxa difficult, but we do not give up. State and federal agencies, NGOs, and botanical gardens are at the forefront of our efforts to learn as much as we can about our federally listed plant taxa, in particular those that are very rare and/or near extinction. Such efforts are to be applauded; however, we cannot deny that not enough people are doing the much needed, and some may argue less glamorous basic research to fill the data gaps. For example, fundamental information such as the population genetics and seed ecology of rare plants are key elements for their collection, propagation, and reintroduction. This information is essential for their conservation, but it is often not known. Unless we get an influx of government funding (e.g., Recovering America's Wildlife Act—if plants are included as part of State Wildlife Action Plans) and a lot of non-government funding, efforts to fill these data gaps will be slow. Lastly, in addition to being concerned with plant taxa that are very rare and/or at the brink of extinction, we must broaden our focus to include taxa that are vulnerable, but not yet imperiled—taxa that are in jeopardy but still have a good chance of being saved. …