Herbarium-Based Preliminary Conservation Assessments of Lesser Antillean Endemic Seed Plants Reveal a Flora at Risk

Abstract

Conservation assessments present a formidable challenge for regions of the developing world such as the Lesser Antilles. Of the 2652 seed plant taxa recorded from this archipelago (Acevedo-Rodríguez & Strong, 2012, 2016), only 150 taxa (including 14 endemics) are listed in the IUCN Red List. Using only herbarium data, we carried out a preliminary conservation assessment of the 263 seed plant taxa unique to these islands by two methods. Using the algorithm originally developed to assess the Hawaiian flora (Krupnick et al. in Biodiversity and Conservation 18: 1459–1474, 2009), 8% of the taxa were deemed to be Potentially Extinct and 62% Potentially Threatened while 30% were assessed as Not Threatened. Using a Red List criteria approach, 70% were deemed Threatened (Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable), while 30% were assessed as Near Threatened, Least Concern or Data Deficient. The congruence between the assessments by these distinct methods and for the 14 Red Listed species validate this approach as a first step in prioritising plant conservation efforts.