Climate mapping can point to danger spots of Africa’s cycads
- Category
Environment
- Published
13th Apr, 2021
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Cycads which are the world’s oldest seed-producing plants are facing extinction.
Context
Cycads which are the world’s oldest seed-producing plants are facing extinction.
About
About African Cycad
- Taxa: It belongs to the most prominent taxa of Cycad.
- Genus: It comes under the genus Encephalartos.
- Endemism: Cycad is endemic to Africa.
- Global Hotspot: Africa is considered home to a variety of cycad species and South Africa is considered as a global hotspot for cycad diversity.
- Conservation Status: It is categorized under the “critically endangered” category by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
- Threat:The biggest threat to their survival is poaching, mainly cutting of the wild old trees.
- Use: They are used in traditional medicine markets and as ornamental plants in gardens.
Why they are threatened with extinction?
- Alien Species: The wild cycads are facing threat by an invasive alien species, Aulacaspis yasumatsui that has entered South Africa.
- Aulacaspis yasumatsuiis a scale insect which is commonly known as the Cycas Aulacaspis Scale.
- It has the potential to kill cycad plants within a few months of infestation.
- Climate plays an important role in influencing the spread and establishment of invasive alien species in new habitats.
Invasive Species
- An invasive species is a living organism that is not native to an ecosystem and can causes harm.
- It can include amphibians, plants, insects, fish, fungus, bacteria, or even an organism's seeds or eggs.
- They can harm the environment, economy, or even human health.
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How it is being tackled?
- CLIMEX, a bio-climatic software, is used to map the areas which have favorable climatic conditions for the establishment of the pest in Africa.
- The software uses historical climate data sets and future climate scenarios which are based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommendations.
- It collects information about temperature, relative humidity, phenology, and soil moisture that helps inthe establishment of the Cycas Aulacaspis Scale in a novel range.
- These values are fed to the software, which subsequently predicts the potential hot spots for Cycas Aulacaspis Scale establishment.
How the software is helpful?
- Integrated Pest Management approaches which include cultural, biological as well as chemical practices can be applied in potential hotspots to protect the cycads.
IUCN Red List
- IUCN red list was established in 1964.
- The IUCN Red List Categories species based on risks of global extinction.
- It divides species into nine categories: Not Evaluated, Data Deficient, Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild, and Extinct.
- Extinct (EX): It is said to be when it is beyond reasonable doubt that the species is no longer extant.
- Extinct in the wild (EW) – When species survives only in captivity.
- Critically endangered (CR) – When species are in a particular and extremely critical state.
- Endangered (EN) – Species face a very high risk of extinction in the wild, meet any of criteria A to E for Endangered.
- Vulnerable (VU) – It meets one of the 5 red list criteria.
- Near threatened (NT) – Species are close to being at high risk of extinction shortly.
- Least concern (LC) – It is unlikely to become extinct shortly.
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