Geographic distribution, conservation effectiveness, and gaps for national key protected wild plants in China

Only 9.5% of the diversity hotspots for China’s national key protected wild plants (NKPWPs) are covered by nature reserves with over 30% grid-cell protection, while 19.5% receive no reserve coverage at all—leaving more than half (44.7%) of these species effectively unprotected despite their critical conservation value. The study identified 13 NKPWP hotspots across China using species richness and rarity metrics, revealing alarming gaps in protection, especially for first-level protected plants compared to second-level ones. Researchers compiled data on 1,032 NKPWPs and applied complementarity-based analysis to pinpoint priority conservation areas, emphasizing urgent action needed to safeguard biodiversity hotspots in regions like Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guangxi.

Qin, F., Zhang, X.-X., Huang, Y.-F., Wu, L., Xu, W.-B., Xue, T.-T., Zhang, W.-D., Liu, Q., Yu, J.-H., Gao, J.-J., Bussmann, R. W., Wang, J., & Yu, S.-X. (2023). Geographic distribution, conservation effectiveness, and gaps for national key protected wild plants in China. Journal of Systematics and Evolution, 61(6), 967–978. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.12941