Unfortunately the topic of endangered species of trees is a vast one because of the extensive loss of their habitat in most parts of the world and in many cases because of overexploitation. The World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Plants, published in 1997, lists almost 34000 species of plants that are now threatened with extinction. That is just over 10% of the total number of plant species in the world. These lists include many species of trees. Red data lists exist for many countries and are catalogs of species where future survival in nature is uncertain. Most threatened species of trees are those of the tropical regions and on oceanic islands, in the tropics because of habitat destruction and because of the enormous diversity and often localized distribution of individual species, and on islands because they tend to have many unique endemic species, but also because of habitat destruction and the introduction of alien invasive species that take the place of the native flora.
[...] Many island species around the world have become endangered through the introduction of alien pests and diseases, or even other species of trees such as Eucalyptus, which take over at the expense of the native forest. The Monocotyledons The flowering plants have generally been divided into two major groups, the monocotyledons and the dicotyledons, based on the number of seed leaves in the embryo. Most of the monocots are narrow-leafed with parallel veins and are herbaceous, but one group, the palms, are secondarily woody and constitute one of the most important components of tropical rainforest. [...]
[...] Many species of trees that were collected and classified during the nineteenth century have not been re-collected in recent times. For example, Roupala thomesiana species of Roupala, a genus of trees whose wood is much used) was collected in the forests of Bahia state by Swiss botanist Jacques Samuel Blanchet in 1833. It has never been seen since the original collection and this is a common feature of Atlantic coastal forest species. Another important hot spot for trees is the Guinean forests of West Africa that extend from Sierra Leone to Cameroon. [...]
[...] Fruit bats play an important role as pollinators and seed dispersers of many species of trees in the Old World tropics and many oceanic islands. The Rodrigues flying fox (Pteropus rodricensis) once occurred on both the islands of Rodrigues and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It was exterminated from Mauritius many years ago but remained abundant on Rodrigues until, by the mid-1990s, its population was reduced to fewer than 100 animals through a combination of habitat destruction, hunting, and cyclone damage. [...]
[...] There are many endangered species of dicots and a few are highlighted here to illustrate what is happening to trees around the world. South American Mahogany This species (Swietenia macrophylla) grows in Central America and in Mexico and in an arc around the western and southern fringes of the Amazon basin. It is severely threatened due to overexploitation for its much sought-after timber and because of habitat loss. Mahogany is the most valuable timber of the American tropics. The area where it grows in southern Amazonia is also one of the major areas of deforestation. [...]
[...] There are several endangered species of palms in Hawaii in the genus Pritchardia and the once common vuleito palm of Fiji (Neoveitchia storckii) is reduced to a single population of about 150 trees. The only palm of Easter Island, Paschalococcus disperta, is extinct and was only described from subfossil fruit. The chonta palm (Juania australis) of Juan Ferna ´ndez Islands or Robinson Crusoe Island is highly endangered from illegal felling and habitat destruction by grazing animals. Continental Palms It is not just island palms that are endangered, there are also many examples from continental areas. [...]
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