Open Access BASE2015

Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species

ter Steege, H; Pitman, Nigel C.A; Killeen, TJ; Laurance, William F; Peres, CA; Guevara, JE; Salomão, RP; Castilho, CV; Amaral, I; de Almeida Matos, FD; de Souza Coelho, L; Magnusson, WE; Phillips, OL; de Andrade Lima Filho, D; de Jesus Veiga Carim, M; Irume, MV; Martins, MP; Molino, JF; Sabatier, D; Wittmann, F; López, DC; da Silva Guimarães, JR; Mendoza, AM; Vargas, Percy Nunez; Manzatto, AG; Reis, NF; Terborgh, J; Casula, KR; Montero, JC; Feldpausch, T.R; Honorio Coronado, EN; Montoya, AJ; Zartman, CE; Mostacedo, B; Vasquez, R; Assis, RL; Medeiros, MB; Simon, MF; Andrade, A; Camargo, JL; Laurance, Susan G.W; Nascimento, HE; Marimon, BS; Marimon-Junior, BH; Costa, Flavia R.C; Targhetta, N; Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães; Brienen, Roel J.W; Castellanos, H; Duivenvoorden, JF; Mogollón, HF; Piedade, MT; Aymard C., Gerardo A; Comiskey, JA; Damasco, G; Dávila, N; García-Villacorta, R; Diaz, PR; Vincentini, A; Emilio, T; Levis, C; Schietti, J; Souza, Priscilla; Alonso, A; Dallmeier, F; Ferreira, Leandro; Neill, D; Araujo-Murakami, A; Arroyo, L; Carvalho, FA; Souza, FC; do Amaral, DD; Gribel, R; Luize, BG; Pansonato, MP; Venticinque, E; Fine, P; Toledo, M; Baraloto, C; Cerón, CE; Engel, J; Henkel, TW; Jiménez, E; Maas, P; Mora, MC; Petronelli, Pascal; Revilla, JD; Silveira, M; Stropp, J; Thomas-Caesar, R; Baker, Tim; Daly, D; Paredes, MR; da Silva, NF; Fuentes, A; Jørgensen, PM; Schöngart, J; Silman, MR; Arboleda, NC; Cintra, BB; Valverde, FC; Di Fiore, A; Phillips, JF; van Andel, TR; von Hildebrand, P; Barbosa, EM; de Matos Bonates, LC; de Castro, D; de Sousa Farias, E; Gonzales, T; Guillaumet, JL; Hoffman, B; Malhi, Y; de Andrade Miranda, IP; Prieto, A; Rudas, A; Ruschel, Ademir R; Silva, N; Vela, CI; Vos, VA; Zent, EL; Zent, S; Cano, A; Nascimento, MT; Oliveira, AA; Ramirez-Angulo, H; Ramos, JF; Sierra, R; Tirado, M; Medina, MN; van der Heijden, Geertje; Torre, Emilio Vilanova; Vriesendorp, C; Wang, O; Young, KR; Baider, C; Balslev, H; de Castro, N; Farfan-Rios, W; Ferreira, C; Mendoza, C; Mesones, I; Torres-Lezama, A; Giraldo, LE; Villarroel, D; Zagt, RJ; Alexiades, M; Garcia-Cabrera, K; Hernandez, L; Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau; Milliken, W; Cuenca, WP; Pansini, S; Pauletto, D; Arevalo, FR; Sampaio, AF; Valderrama Sandoval, EH; Gamarra, LV

Open Access

Abstract

Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%. We show that the trends observed in Amazonia apply to trees throughout the tropics, and we predict that most of the world's >40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened. A gap analysis suggests that existing Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories will protect viable populations of most threatened species if these areas suffer no further degradation, highlighting the key roles that protected areas, indigenous peoples, and improved governance can play in preventing large-scale extinctions in the tropics in this century. ; Alberta Mennega Stichting ; ALCOA Suriname ; Amazon Conservation Association ; Banco de la República ; CELOS Suriname ; CAPES (PNPG) ; Conselho Nacional de Desenvovimento Científico e Tecnológico of Brazil (CNPq) Projects CENBAM, PELD (558069/2009-6), PRONEX-FAPEAM (1600/2006), Áreas Úmidas, MAUA; PELD (403792/2012-6), PPBio, PVE 004/2012, Universal (479599/2008-4), and Universal 307807- 2009-6 ; FAPEAM projects DCR/2006, Hidroveg with FAPESP, and PRONEX with CNPq ; FAPESP ; Colciencias ; CONICIT ; Duke University ; Ecopetrol ; FEPIM 044/2003 ; The Field Museum ; Conservation International/DC (TEAM/Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus ; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation ; Guyana Forestry Commission ; Investissement d'Avenir grant of the French ANR (CEBA: ANR-10-LABX-0025 ; IVIC ; Margaret Mee Amazon Trust ; Miquel fonds ; MCTI–Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi–Proc. 407232/2013-3–PVE-MEC/MCTI/CAPES/CNPq; National Geographic Society (7754-04 and 8047-06 to P.M.J.; 6679-99, 7435-03, and 8481-08 to T.W.H.); NSF-0726797 to K.R.Y ; NSF Dissertation Improvement ; Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research WOTRO (grants WB85-335 and W84-581) ; Primate Conservation Inc. ; Programme Ecosystèmes Tropicaux (French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development) ; Shell Prospecting and Development Peru ; Smithsonian Institution's Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield Program ; Stichting het van Eeden-fonds ; The Body Shop ; The Ministry of the Environment of Ecuador ; TROBIT ; Tropenbos International ; U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF-0743457 and NSF-0101775 to P.M.J.; NSF-0918591 to T.W.H.) ; USAID ; Variety Woods Guyana ; Wenner-Gren Foundation ; WWF-Brazi ; WWF-Guianas ; XIIéme Contrat de Plan Etat Région-Guyane (French Government and European Union) ; European Union ; UK Natural Environment Research Counci ; European Research Council ; Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award