40 percent of assessed plant species are under threat of extinction, according to the latest figures by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Out of 63,306 assessed plant species, 25,208 are on the red list. The bulk of these are flowering plants (24,000 species), followed by a group called gymnosperms (436 species) and then ferns and allies (288). Out of the 539 mushroom species assessed, 226 are threatened - 49 percent. The number of assessed species is different from the IUCN’s category of “discovered” species, as not all species could be assessed.
As the following chart shows, thousands of animal species are currently at risk too. Under the vertebrates category, the highest absolute number of species at risk fall under the ‘fishes’ subcategory (3,551 species). This is also the category with the most species assessed in the first place (25,351). When looking at the rate of species that are being assessed to species threatened, then amphibians have the highest share enlisted as endangered (35 percent of assessed amphibians), followed by mammals (22 percent) and then reptiles (18 percent).
Out of the invertebrates category, a significant number of arachnids species are greatly at risk, with 251 out of 441 threatened - or 57 percent. The same can be said of corals, with 253 out of the 831 under threat - 30 percent.
May 22 marks International Day for Biological Diversity.
