Page 28 - Aruba Today

A28

SCIENCEWednesday 2 December

Study: About 1/3 of world cactus threatened with extinction

MEXICO CITY (AP) — About was involved in putting to- western Argentina, tour- for the plant it is very de- Muruago said the har-
a third of the world’s cac- gether the report. “How ists enjoy strolling among manding,” Bibiloni said. “It vesting of cactus for ship-
tus species are threatened did (the plants) make it giant cactuses and snap- really costs them to adapt ment to Europe is as old
with extinction, the Inter- there (Europe)? We can ping pictures of their bright to different climates and as Christopher Columbus’
national Union for Conser- simply say through illegal yellow flowers. situations. ... In many cases arrival in the Americas and
vation of Nature warns in a extraction.” Manuel Bibiloni, owner of they end up dying, espe- the practice was essen-
new report. He added that authori- Huin Cactus, a company cially if you do not know tially unregulated until the
The study evaluated 1,478 ties are trying to combat in Argentina’s Tucuman how to care for them.” 1970s.
species and determined
that 31 percent are en- In this Nov. 4, 2015 photo, endangered echinocactus grusonii cacti, also known as Biznaga, are seen growing inside the botanical
dangered due to factors
such as the conversion of gardens of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. Associated Press
wilderness areas to farm-
ing and ranching, urban the problem, but more province that focuses on Nora Beatriz Muruago, a “Cacti have always cap-
development and the har- resources and education sustainable trade of cac- biologist specializing in tivated people. ... The
vest of cactus seeds and are needed. tuses, said the key for pro- cactus at the National Uni- beauty of their flowers
plants for trade and pri- Scientists say cactuses are tecting them is to ensure versity of Tucuman, said and the singularity of their
vate collection. important elements of des- that appreciation for the she was not surprised by forms,” Muruago said.
“We show that cacti are ert ecosystems as sources spiny plants happens in the the findings of the report. “So the depletion should
among the most threat- of food and water for flora places where they grow. Cactuses have suffered not surprise us,” she add-
ened taxonomic groups and fauna. They’re also a “Taking plants from their in parts of Argentina from ed. “The collectors cre-
assessed to date ... dem- source of nourishment and natural habitat is harm- burning of natural grasses ate a huge network of il-
onstrating the high anthro- building materials for local ful firstly because you are for agriculture and live- legal trafficking and put
pogenic pressures on bio- human populations. doing direct damage to stock and from road con- many species at risk of
diversity in arid lands,” said In places like arid north- them, and furthermore struction, she said. disappearing.”q
the report, which was pub-
lished in the journal Nature
Plants.
It identified hotspots of
endangered cactuses
across the Americas, from
the southern Brazilian state
of Rio Grande do Sul and
parts of neighboring Uru-
guay north to the Mexican
states of Queretaro, San
Luis Potosi, Oaxaca and
Puebla.
Salvador Arias, cactus
curator at the National
Autonomous University of
Mexico’s botanical gar-
den, said a little over a
third of the country’s 700
or so native species are
at severe risk for survival
and called the situation
“alarming.”
He said the greatest threat
comes from destruction of
habitat for crops and cat-
tle. Second is illegal collec-
tion, often by aficionados
who take seeds or plants
to sell in European coun-
tries.
“These plants belong to
the so-called exotic plants,
which have ornamental
value for people around
the world,” said Arias, who