Research Ideas and Outcomes (Jan 2021)

ConservePlants: An integrated approach to conservation of threatened plants for the 21st Century

  • Živa Fišer,
  • Giovanna Aronne,
  • Tsipe Aavik,
  • Meleksen Akin,
  • Paraskevi Alizoti,
  • Filippos Aravanopoulos,
  • Gianluigi Bacchetta,
  • Manica Balant,
  • Dalibor Ballian,
  • Oz Barazani,
  • Andrea Francesca Bellia,
  • Nadine Bernhardt,
  • Magda Bou Dagher Kharrat,
  • Adrian Bugeja Douglas,
  • Michael Burkart,
  • Dušica Ćalić,
  • André Carapeto,
  • Tor Carlsen,
  • Sílvia Castro,
  • Guy Colling,
  • Joana Cursach,
  • Sara Cvetanoska,
  • Cvetanka Cvetkoska,
  • Renata Ćušterevska,
  • Laura Daco,
  • Kalina Danova,
  • Aida Dervishi,
  • Gordana Djukanović,
  • Snežana Dragićević,
  • Andreas Ensslin,
  • Marianne Evju,
  • Giuseppe Fenu,
  • Ana Francisco,
  • Pedro Pablo Gallego,
  • Marta Galloni,
  • Anatolie Ganea,
  • Birgit Gemeinholzer,
  • Peter Glasnović,
  • Sandrine Godefroid,
  • Mette Goul Thomsen,
  • Melinda Halassy,
  • Aveliina Helm,
  • Marko Hyvärinen,
  • Jasmin Joshi,
  • Amra Kazić,
  • Michael Kiehn,
  • Marcin Klisz,
  • Anneleen Kool,
  • Marcin Koprowski,
  • Anna Kövendi-Jakó,
  • Karel Kříž,
  • Matthias Kropf,
  • Tiiu Kull,
  • Sandro Lanfranco,
  • Predrag Lazarević,
  • Maja Lazarević,
  • Merav Lebel Vine,
  • Ligita Liepina,
  • João Loureiro,
  • Diana Lukminė,
  • Nathalie Machon,
  • Conor Meade,
  • Detlev Metzing,
  • Đorđije Milanović,
  • Luis Navarro,
  • Saša Orlović,
  • Bart Panis,
  • Hana Pankova,
  • Taras Parpan,
  • Ondřej Pašek,
  • Dhimiter Peci,
  • Theodora Petanidou,
  • Kristina Plenk,
  • Radosław Puchałka,
  • Ivan Radosavljević,
  • Hassan Rankou,
  • Valerijus Rašomavičius,
  • Gabriela Romanciuc,
  • Anna Ruotsalainen,
  • Nina Šajna,
  • Terezia Salaj,
  • Carolina Sánchez-Romero,
  • Murat Sarginci,
  • Deborah Schäfer,
  • Ole Seberg,
  • Suzanne Sharrock,
  • Jozef Šibík,
  • Mária Šibíková,
  • Olav Skarpaas,
  • Milena Stanković Neđić,
  • Srdjan Stojnic,
  • Boštjan Surina,
  • Katalin Szitár,
  • Aco Teofilovski,
  • Rannveig Thoroddsen,
  • Ivaylo Tsvetkov,
  • Domas Uogintas,
  • Koenraad Van Meerbeek,
  • Nils van Rooijen,
  • Loukia Vassiliou,
  • Rita Verbylaitė,
  • Philippine Vergeer,
  • Petr Vít,
  • Margareta Walczak,
  • Alex Widmer,
  • Justyna Wiland-Szymańska,
  • Goran Zdunić,
  • Elke Zippel

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.7.e62810
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7
pp. 1 – 29

Abstract

Read online Read online Read online

Even though plants represent an essential part of our lives offering exploitational, supporting and cultural services, we know very little about the biology of the rarest and most threatened plant species, and even less about their conservation status. Rapid changes in the environment and climate, today more pronounced than ever, affect their fitness and distribution causing rapid species declines, sometimes even before they had been discovered. Despite the high goals set by conservationists to protect native plants from further degradation and extinction, the initiatives for the conservation of threatened species in Europe are scattered and have not yielded the desired results. The main aim of this Action is to improve plant conservation in Europe through the establishment of a network of scientists and other stakeholders who deal with different aspects of plant conservation, from plant taxonomy, ecology, conservation genetics, conservation physiology and reproductive biology to protected area's managers, not forgetting social scientists, who are crucial when dealing with the general public.

Keywords