244
Such relatively unknown species, and remote areas of even a settled place within
the Rocky Mountains, call out the contradictory nature of presence, and absence as
concerns human errors of judgment; the bias of fishermen, plant hunters, hunters in
general. Organisms beneath the conventional radar of public perception vie with all
those “charismatic species” for protection, at a time when no amount of charisma
can actually guarantee a truly safeguarding response. This has been likened to “the
paradoxical extinction.”
12
26.3 Plant Pertinacity Curves
Notwithstanding such apparent analytical gaps, as translated into public policy, the
scientific community, abetted by satellite data and hands-on field research at tens of
thousands of campsites around the world, has a fairly adept grip on past botanical
fallout. For example, it is estimated that roughly 3 trillion individual trees have been
destroyed, accounting for approximately 50% of all known forests to have ever
seized the day on this earth. While approximately 3 trillion trees also remain (plus
or minus roughly 4% of the various estimates), “around 15 billion trees are cut down
each year,” a rate of destruction that first ensued roughly 12,000 years ago with the
“onset of agriculture” and the rise of domestications.
13
For every tree cut down,
immediately adjacent or co-dependent flowering plants are impacted. In a region
like Central Asia, noted for numerous gene pools of wild relatives and landraces
(local cultivars)—from grapes and apples to almonds, pears, and pomegranates—
the current ecological stressors, from the sheer numbers of consumers to poorly
managed agriculture, do not bode well for countless other botanical species, given
the evolutionarily interdependent mosaics essential for robust ecosystems.
14
So fundamental to overall ecosystem health are flowering, seed-producing plants (angiosperms) that the definition of the 36 terrestrial biological hotspots is as follows: a
place where “at least 1,5000 species of vascular plants found nowhere else on
Earth…[have] lost at least 70 percent of its primary native vegetation.”
15
12 See “The paradoxical extinction of the most charismatic animals,” by Frank Courchamp, Ivan
Jaric, Céline Albert, Yves Meinard, William J. Ripple, Guillaume Chapron, PLOS Biology
Fifteenth Anniversary, April 12, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2003997, https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2003997, Accessed May 17, 2019.
13 See “Global count reaches 3 trillion trees,” Rachel Ehrenberg, September 2, 2015, Nature,
https://www.nature.com/news/global-count-reaches-3-trillion-trees-1.18287, Accessed May 13,
2019.
14 See Conservation of fruit tree diversity in Central Asia: Policy options and challenges edited by
Isabel Lapeña, Muhabbat Turdieva, Isabel López Noriega and Wagdi George Ayad, Biodiversity
International, World Bank Group, Rome, Italy 2014, https://www.thegef.org/sites/default/files/
publications/Conservation_of_fruit_tree_diversity_in_Central_Asia_1734.pdf, Accessed May 13,
2019.
15 See “Biodiversity Hotspots Defined,” Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Conservation
International, https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/hotspots-defined, Accessed
26 Botanical Equations for Paradox
Such relatively unknown species, and remote areas of even a settled place within
the Rocky Mountains, call out the contradictory nature of presence, and absence as
concerns human errors of judgment; the bias of fishermen, plant hunters, hunters in
general. Organisms beneath the conventional radar of public perception vie with all
those “charismatic species” for protection, at a time when no amount of charisma
can actually guarantee a truly safeguarding response. This has been likened to “the
paradoxical extinction.”
12
26.3 Plant Pertinacity Curves
Notwithstanding such apparent analytical gaps, as translated into public policy, the
scientific community, abetted by satellite data and hands-on field research at tens of
thousands of campsites around the world, has a fairly adept grip on past botanical
fallout. For example, it is estimated that roughly 3 trillion individual trees have been
destroyed, accounting for approximately 50% of all known forests to have ever
seized the day on this earth. While approximately 3 trillion trees also remain (plus
or minus roughly 4% of the various estimates), “around 15 billion trees are cut down
each year,” a rate of destruction that first ensued roughly 12,000 years ago with the
“onset of agriculture” and the rise of domestications.
13
For every tree cut down,
immediately adjacent or co-dependent flowering plants are impacted. In a region
like Central Asia, noted for numerous gene pools of wild relatives and landraces
(local cultivars)—from grapes and apples to almonds, pears, and pomegranates—
the current ecological stressors, from the sheer numbers of consumers to poorly
managed agriculture, do not bode well for countless other botanical species, given
the evolutionarily interdependent mosaics essential for robust ecosystems.
14
So fundamental to overall ecosystem health are flowering, seed-producing plants (angiosperms) that the definition of the 36 terrestrial biological hotspots is as follows: a
place where “at least 1,5000 species of vascular plants found nowhere else on
Earth…[have] lost at least 70 percent of its primary native vegetation.”
15
12 See “The paradoxical extinction of the most charismatic animals,” by Frank Courchamp, Ivan
Jaric, Céline Albert, Yves Meinard, William J. Ripple, Guillaume Chapron, PLOS Biology
Fifteenth Anniversary, April 12, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2003997, https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2003997, Accessed May 17, 2019.
13 See “Global count reaches 3 trillion trees,” Rachel Ehrenberg, September 2, 2015, Nature,
https://www.nature.com/news/global-count-reaches-3-trillion-trees-1.18287, Accessed May 13,
2019.
14 See Conservation of fruit tree diversity in Central Asia: Policy options and challenges edited by
Isabel Lapeña, Muhabbat Turdieva, Isabel López Noriega and Wagdi George Ayad, Biodiversity
International, World Bank Group, Rome, Italy 2014, https://www.thegef.org/sites/default/files/
publications/Conservation_of_fruit_tree_diversity_in_Central_Asia_1734.pdf, Accessed May 13,
2019.
15 See “Biodiversity Hotspots Defined,” Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Conservation
International, https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/hotspots-defined, Accessed
26 Botanical Equations for Paradox