Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London warn that the world faces a grave threat to flowering plants, with every known species potentially facing unresolved risk of extinction. The study detailing this assessment appears in a respected scientific journal, New Phytology, and points to alarming gaps in our understanding of plant survival on a global scale.
Researchers employed the BART AI model, trained on a dataset comprising more than 53 thousand plant entries drawn from the IUCN Red List. This innovative approach enabled them to estimate the likely conservation status of the remaining catalog of 275,004 species. The analysis identifies climate change, human activity, and a variety of still unidentified pressures as primary drivers behind potential declines or losses.
The team combined data from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, the IUCN Red List, and continually updated human impact datasets to build a comprehensive risk model for entire plant lineages. This multi-source integration provides a clearer picture of which species are most vulnerable and where urgent conservation actions could make the greatest difference.
“Assessing the health of a plant can alter the fate of its species, especially for those deemed endangered or critically endangered. By acting on risk assessments, the probability of extinction can be reduced,” explained a leading researcher as the project published its findings. The study also marks the first occasion on which a projection has been made for every known plant species, highlighting a new era in plant conservation analytics and the need for timely, evidence-based interventions.
Past warnings by scientists have raised concerns about the possible extinction of a substantial portion of the world is medicinal flora. The implications are broad, touching medicine, biodiversity, and cultural knowledge that depend on plant resources. The current work underscores the urgency of expanding and refining global conservation inventories, ensuring that more species receive formal assessments and protection measures before it is too late.