Geographical distribution and conservation strategy of national key protected wild plants of China

Chao Ye; Huiyuan Liu; Haining Qin; Jiangping Shu; Zhihua Zhou; Xiaohua Jin

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107364

Geographical distribution and conservation strategy of national key protected wild plants of China

iScience. 2023 Jul 13;26(8):107364. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107364. eCollection 2023 Aug 18.

Authors

Chao Ye^{1

2

3}, Huiyuan Liu^{1

3}, Haining Qin^{1

3}, Jiangping Shu^{4

5}, Zhihua Zhou⁴, Xiaohua Jin^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China.
⁴ National Forestry and Grassland Administration, No. 18, Hepingli Dongjie, Beijing 100714, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Orchid Conservation and Utilization, The Orchid Conservation and Research Centre of Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518114, China.

Abstract

National key protected wild plants (NKPWPs) are considered flagship species for plant diversity conservation in China. Using data for 1101 species, we characterized NKPWPs distribution patterns in China and assessed conservation effectiveness and conservation gaps. In total, 4880 grid cells at a 20 × 20 km resolution were filled with occurrence records for NKPWPs. We identified 444 hotspot grid cells and 27 diversity hotspot regions, containing 92.37% of NKPWPs. However, 43.24% of these hotspot grid cells were fully or partially covered by national nature reserves (NNRs), where 70.21% of species were distributed. Approximately 61.49% of the NKPWPs species were protected by NNRs, but the populations or habitats of 963 species were partially or fully outside of NNRs. With global warming, the overall change in the extent of suitable habitats for NKPWPs is expected to be small, however, habitat quality in some areas with a high habitat suitability index will decrease.

Keywords: Environmental management; Nature conservation; Plant biogeography.