Bridging biodiversity and ecosystem services through useful plant species
Social Impact Statement Global change endangers the terrestrial vegetation that sustains us. Therefore, policymakers need to make informed decisions about what and where to protect. However, with limited resources, we must decide whether to protect the intrinsic value of plants or their value to hum...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Plants, People, Planet |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10642 |
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| _version_ | 1849233646482882560 |
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| author | Nina Obiar Isaac Eckert Janelle Baker Daniel Moerman Laura J. Pollock |
| author_facet | Nina Obiar Isaac Eckert Janelle Baker Daniel Moerman Laura J. Pollock |
| author_sort | Nina Obiar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social Impact Statement Global change endangers the terrestrial vegetation that sustains us. Therefore, policymakers need to make informed decisions about what and where to protect. However, with limited resources, we must decide whether to protect the intrinsic value of plants or their value to humans. Protecting both is possible. By investigating the distributions of over 3000 of Canada's useful native plants defined in ethnobotanical databases, we identified areas that are essential in harbouring plant benefits. Here, we bridge biodiversity with the benefits it provides to inform conservation policies by prioritizing plant species. Summary Plants are foundational for ecosystems and provide essential services to humans, but little is known about the distribution and protection about useful plants. Here, we address how well the biodiversity of all plants captures the diversity and conservation status of plants that provide human uses. We calculated diversity metrics for plants in Canada at 1‐km2 spatial scale based on species distribution models and a large plant‐use database for use categories of food and feed, medicinal, biochemical and genetic resources and materials. We used the Species Protection Index (SPI) to determine whether species are adequately represented in protected areas and derive a new index—Useful Species and Globally Endangered (USaGE)—to identify important species for conservation based on the combination of metrics of usefulness and (USa) metrics of extinction risk (GE) obtained from the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) species assessments. Overall, c. 30% of native plants has documented uses, and plant richness is correlated with useful plant richness. Useful plants are generally concentrated in southern and agricultural areas, with the exception of some use categories (e.g., medicinal plants are also prevalent in coastal and boreal regions). Around 94% of useful species are inadequately represented in Canada's existing protected areas, including many important USaGE species like American Ginseng. Our combined approach identifies priority species and areas in need of conservation that have a long and extensively documented record of potentially providing ecosystem services to humanity. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b05aa515dbb5424bb1f6387f36179ddf |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2572-2611 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-09-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Plants, People, Planet |
| spelling | doaj-art-b05aa515dbb5424bb1f6387f36179ddf2025-08-20T04:57:23ZengWileyPlants, People, Planet2572-26112025-09-01751498150910.1002/ppp3.10642Bridging biodiversity and ecosystem services through useful plant speciesNina Obiar0Isaac Eckert1Janelle Baker2Daniel Moerman3Laura J. Pollock4Biology Department McGill University Montréal QC CanadaBiology Department McGill University Montréal QC CanadaAthabasca University Athabasca Alberta CanadaUniversity of Michigan‐Dearborn Dearborn Michigan USABiology Department McGill University Montréal QC CanadaSocial Impact Statement Global change endangers the terrestrial vegetation that sustains us. Therefore, policymakers need to make informed decisions about what and where to protect. However, with limited resources, we must decide whether to protect the intrinsic value of plants or their value to humans. Protecting both is possible. By investigating the distributions of over 3000 of Canada's useful native plants defined in ethnobotanical databases, we identified areas that are essential in harbouring plant benefits. Here, we bridge biodiversity with the benefits it provides to inform conservation policies by prioritizing plant species. Summary Plants are foundational for ecosystems and provide essential services to humans, but little is known about the distribution and protection about useful plants. Here, we address how well the biodiversity of all plants captures the diversity and conservation status of plants that provide human uses. We calculated diversity metrics for plants in Canada at 1‐km2 spatial scale based on species distribution models and a large plant‐use database for use categories of food and feed, medicinal, biochemical and genetic resources and materials. We used the Species Protection Index (SPI) to determine whether species are adequately represented in protected areas and derive a new index—Useful Species and Globally Endangered (USaGE)—to identify important species for conservation based on the combination of metrics of usefulness and (USa) metrics of extinction risk (GE) obtained from the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) species assessments. Overall, c. 30% of native plants has documented uses, and plant richness is correlated with useful plant richness. Useful plants are generally concentrated in southern and agricultural areas, with the exception of some use categories (e.g., medicinal plants are also prevalent in coastal and boreal regions). Around 94% of useful species are inadequately represented in Canada's existing protected areas, including many important USaGE species like American Ginseng. Our combined approach identifies priority species and areas in need of conservation that have a long and extensively documented record of potentially providing ecosystem services to humanity.https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10642biodiversityecosystem servicesglobal plant servicesnative floranature's contributions to peopleprotected areas |
| spellingShingle | Nina Obiar Isaac Eckert Janelle Baker Daniel Moerman Laura J. Pollock Bridging biodiversity and ecosystem services through useful plant species Plants, People, Planet biodiversity ecosystem services global plant services native flora nature's contributions to people protected areas |
| title | Bridging biodiversity and ecosystem services through useful plant species |
| title_full | Bridging biodiversity and ecosystem services through useful plant species |
| title_fullStr | Bridging biodiversity and ecosystem services through useful plant species |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bridging biodiversity and ecosystem services through useful plant species |
| title_short | Bridging biodiversity and ecosystem services through useful plant species |
| title_sort | bridging biodiversity and ecosystem services through useful plant species |
| topic | biodiversity ecosystem services global plant services native flora nature's contributions to people protected areas |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10642 |
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