PLANT BIODIVERSITY

About 300,000 species of plants have been identified, out of an estimated total of 320,000. Recently developed genetic techniques have enabled botanist to distinquish much more precisely the differences between species of plants. Flowering plants are by far the most numerous. While some are pollinated by wind, most species have arisen through successful co-evolution; using scent, color and taste to encourage animals to pollinate them and disperse their seed.

Natural habitats provide numerous benefits, including the prevention of soil erosion, filtering of pollutants from water and the exchange of gases with the atmosphere. Such “ecosystem services” are not alwasy taken into account, however, when development plans are drawn up. Over-extraction of natural resources and the cultivation of a small number of fast-growing varieties of crops condemn ever-larger areas of the Earth’s surface to low biodiversity.