On October 10, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, published the State of the World's Plants and Fungi 2023 report. It presents the study results on global biodiversity and highlights significant knowledge gaps.
Researchers from RBG Kew cross-referenced large data samples from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants with the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. From these data, they drew up a series of extrapolated predictions regarding the risk of extinction.
Plants Under Threat
The report examined the research conducted by 200 experts in 30 countries. It reveals that pressure on nature threatens the extinction of 45% of the known flowering plants on the planet. Plant species under threat include orchids, pineapple varieties, and other important crops.
Since 2020, almost 19,000 new plants and fungi species have been discovered by scientists, and 77% of them are thought to be endangered. This means they could be gone before we get to know them.
A backlog of around 100,000 new plant species discovered by botanists has yet to be formally classified. Recent discoveries include the world's largest giant waterlily (Victoriana boliviana) and the Queen's hedgehog mushroom (Hydnum reginae). The RBG Kew team suggests that the newly discovered plants should be automatically described as threatened unless proven otherwise.
The report also identified over 30 global "dark spots" in countries rich in wildlife but not yet explored and mapped by botanists. Most are from tropical Asia, such as Vietnam and New Guinea.
Knowing that many species remain unnamed and unmapped, yet most likely to be threatened, is crucial. According to Dr. Samuel Pironon from the UN's Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, this information can help them refine their estimates of priority areas for conservation. Plants support every aspect of humanity but are increasingly threatened by climate change and biodiversity loss.
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Fungi as New Sources of Medicine
Nine out of ten medicines used by humans come from plants. According to conservation specialist Dr. Matilda Brown from RBG Kew, plant extinction will also mean humanity is losing half of our future medicines.
The State of the World's Plants and Fungi 2023 report called the fungi kingdoms the "next frontier in biodiversity science." Environmental DNA from soil samples around the world was analyzed by scientists using genomics and machine learning. Data analysis reveals that there could be 2.5 million species of fungi on Earth, and 90% of them are yet to be discovered. They found that only 155,000 species of fungi have been named so far.
Experts are just starting to understand the potential of fungi, such as their ability to consume plastic and their language decoded by electrical signals. Fungi can do anything with their amazing compounds. They also possess chemicals that can be used for industry such as in the development of drugs.
However, scientists know very little about fungi since they have identified less than 10% of them. This means that the other 90% could be amazing resources they have not yet discovered.
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