Some of the world’s longest-lived organism may be facing extinction. A recent report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature – also known as IUCN – revealed that a third of conifers are now endangered.
The term conifer encompasses numerous woody trees and shrubs, including cedars, cypresses, firs, pines, and redwoods. The threat of extinction is even more disturbing considering conifers are among the longest-lived organisms on Earth. The Bristlecone Pine, for example, can live 5,000 years. Conifers are also the largest plants in the world, with some trees growing to well over 300 feet.
Logging and development are largely to blame for conifers’ precarious position, but the trees are also becoming increasingly vulnerable to disease. California’s Monterey Pine was rated “least concern” by the IUCN in 1998, but is now endangered due to the spread of fungal disease.
Global warming may also explain the decline of these great trees and their vulnerability to sickness; as temperatures rise and rainfall patterns change, conifers are exposed to new pathogens, which they are not equipped to withstand.
The IUCN’s report did contain some encouraging news. In California and Oregon, for example, better management and tougher export restrictions have helped Lawson’s Cypress recover in record numbers. It, too, was once at risk of extinction.
But overall, the picture is alarming. Over the past 500 years, it’s estimated that nearly 800 plants and animals have become extinct. If we’re not careful, some of our most ancient, beautiful, and ecologically important trees follow suit.
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Web Links
Third of conifers under threat of extinction, study says
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/02/us-conifers-idUSBRE96100020130702
The lonesome pines: a third of conifer species put on endangered list
Conserving endangered conifers
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-83KHE5
Photo, taken on August 2, 2007, courtesy of Jason Hollinger via Flickr.
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