Sven Buerki recently published an article in Scientific Reports titled, “Gymnosperms on the EDGE,” which examines one aspect of species conservation – that of plants that have seeds unprotected by an ovary or fruit (for example: ginkgo, conifers, cycads and gnetophytes).
Gymnosperms are one of the most threatened groups of living organisms, with 40 percent of the species at high risk of extinction, about twice as many as the most recent estimates for all plants. Using the Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) method, which rapidly ranks species based on their evolutionary distinctiveness and the extinction risks they face, Buerki makes the case that gymnosperms should be prioritized for conservation efforts.
Scientific Reports is an online multidisciplinary, open access journal from the publishers of Nature.