“Darkspots” are home to the greatest number of species yet to be discovered, and are where conservation efforts should be directed, according to a new study.
Of the immense biodiversity that exists on our Planet, we currently know of 400,000 plant species, described and named by science. But there are tens of thousands more — estimated at over 100,000 — whose existence we are still unaware of, and therefore whose characteristics, and above all whose state of health, remain unknown to us.
Every species plays a vitally important role in the ecosystem, forming the great biodiverse mosaic of the Planet, upon which the future of countless other species depends, including our own. Yet every day we receive news of species under threat, at risk of extinction, and others being bid farewell for ever. This is why countries around the world are taking action to meet conservation and restoration targets in order to counter the ongoing ecosystem crisis.
To carry out conservation work, one must know what to protect, and above all where. A group of botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the United Kingdom, have produced a study identifying 33 locations around the world where the greatest number of species yet to be discovered are concentrated — known as "dark spots" or botanical areas — which must be made a priority in scientists' search for new species.
"The research aims to help direct conservation efforts and accelerate the discovery of new plants, because some could go extinct before science reaches them," said Alexandre Antonelli, one of the study's authors and scientific director of Kew Gardens. Given the number of species still unknown, 30 per cent of which are thought to be at risk of extinction, it is essential that conservation efforts are properly directed.
These botanical areas were identified by starting from the very limits of scientific knowledge — from the missing data. "We want to address the challenge of accelerating the description and mapping of plant diversity by assessing taxonomic and geographical gaps," the study reads.
The botanists identified 33 darkspots:
Of these 33 darkspots or botanical areas, the majority are located in places that had already been defined as biodiversity hotspots — zones characterised by extremely high levels of biological diversity that must be protected. Not all the countries hosting these zones have the capacity (the socioeconomic conditions of countries were one of the study's parameters), or the speed, to identify this enormous number of species and to implement conservation efforts on their own. This is precisely why those efforts need to be properly directed.
At the end of the month, countries will gather at Cop16, the sixteenth United Nations conference on biodiversity to be held in Colombia, to assess the targets set in 2022 to slow biodiversity loss by the end of this decade. And so we return to the objective and intent of this invaluable study: "Countries have agreed to preserve and restore biodiversity. How can we do that if we don't know which species we're talking about, if we don't know what this biodiversity is and where we can restore it?" This study offers a starting point.