In ecosystems around the globe, the danger of being a common or widespread species is the tendency to be overlooked by conservation efforts that prioritize rarity.

In forests, the most common species can be essential to ecosystem structure and function, which crumble with the decline of these pivotal trees, known collectively as foundation species.

In an effort to identify forest foundation species and elevate their conservation status before they disappear, a unique research collaboration between Chinese and American scientists has synthesized long-term biodiversity data from 12 immense forest study plots spanning 1,500 miles, from China's far north to its southern tropics.

Their results, published in the journal Ecology, point to maple trees - long appreciated for their autumn foliage and the syrup that graces our tables - as potential foundation species in both China and North America.

The study comes on the heels of the latest "Red List" published by Botanic Gardens Conservation International, which showed that 36 out of the 158 maples species worldwide - nearly a quarter of all maples - are at high risk of extinction in the near future in the wild. Fourteen of those high-risk species exist only in China.

"Foundation species are the species upon which ecosystems are built and supported, just like the foundation of your house," explains Aaron Ellison, Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Forest and a co-author of the study. "But they can be so common that they hide in plain sight, overlooked because they lack the cachet and appeal of rarities."

The study was led by Xiujuan Qiao, an Associate Professor at the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who spent all of 2019 in residence at the Harvard Forest facilitating this global collaboration. She adds, "We should pay more attention to foundation species, identifying and protecting them before their inevitable decline."

Research paper

Related Links
Harvard University
Forestry News - Global and Local News, Science and Application

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

US firms fund deforestation, abuses in Amazon: report
Rio De Janeiro (AFP) Oct 27, 2020
Major US financial firms are helping fund environmental destruction and indigenous rights abuses in the Amazon with billions of dollars in investments in questionable companies, according to a report published Tuesday. Six top firms - BlackRock, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Vanguard, Bank of America and Dimensional Fund Advisors - have invested more than $18 billion over the past three years in mining, agribusiness and energy companies involved in a "series of abuses" in the world's biggest rainfore ... read more