World’s largest plant survey reveals alarming extinction rate

The world’s seed-bearing plants have been disappearing at a rate of nearly 3 species a year since 1900 ― which is up to 500 times higher than would be expected as a result of natural forces alone, according to the largest survey yet of plant extinctions. Some plant species are “functionally extinct”, he notes, and are present only in botanical gardens or in such small numbers in the wild that researchers don’t expect the population to survive. And few researchers have the money or time to launch a comprehensive effort to find a plant species that they think might have gone extinct.

Source: www.nature.com