Recovery Plan(t)s

Hello again,


Thank you for joining us for our final post! We hope that you have learned a few things about terrestrial recovery over the course of the last few weeks. While we have only addressed two major species (the American marten and piping plover), we want you to realize that the number of species in need of recovery planning is much higher than you may think. As you can see in Figure 1, there is a huge number of species threatened in every major group of animals and plants.



Figure 1: Number of at risk species for different groups. Note the high number of plants threatened (middle column of the bottom section)
Source: Essentials of Conservation Biology, 5th Edition, Primack, 2010

The recovery planning involved for each group must take into account the nuances of the species that make it up, so it is clear that recovery planning is not a “one size fits all” type of thing. There is a major difference between recovery planning and terrestrial recovery planning, and you can see this by reading some of the posts made by another group from our class on marine recovery plans (see here and here)

However, in our brief look at terrestrial species there is one important group which we have not yet looked at. We're talking about plants.

As you can see from Figure 1, plants can clearly hold their own in a “I'm more at risk than you” contest (these may or may not exist). According to Schemske et al. (1994), nearly 25% of the vascular plants in the world may be extinct within 50 years, so clearly this is a very serious issue.

However, they don't really get the recognition they deserve. This can be seen by looking at funding of recovery plans in the United States. In the early 1990's plants made up nearly 50% of United States Fish and Wildlife Service's endangered and threatened list, yet were only receiving 8% of recovery funds.

So if plants are so at risk, why aren't they getting more attention? Well, it can be attributed to two main things. First of all, there is a much larger knowledge gap relating to certain plant species, and so it is nearly impossible to perform proper environmental assessments on them. Recovery planning for plants can also be complicated because it is very hard to get public support for them. This is because, quite simply, it's a lot harder to get the public to rally behind the plight of a threatened mushroom, than it is a major mammal (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Comparison of threatened plants (mountain fern) and mammals (polar bear). Most will agree that it is easier to generate public interest about the photogenic bears
Source: Management Plan Mountain Fern, Department of Environment and Conservation, 2011 and Lunn et al., Polar Bears, 2011

As we demonstrated in our posts about piping plovers and martens here in the province, public support for recovery plans is a key component. Getting the public on board is key for two reasons: 1) Environment managers want the public to think the work they do is important and worth the money, and 2) Public support means the public will (somewhat) respect the conservation measures imposed, which is critical for the success of the program (Schultz & Gerber, 2002).

To some extent, this is not as big a problem here in Newfoundland. This is because many of the endangered species found in the province are of a very unique nature. The limestone barrens ecoregion on the Great Northern Peninsula (see Figure 3) of the island is the home of the majority of these plants, many of which are not found anywhere else in the world.

Figure 3: Ecoregions of Newfoundland, note the limestone barrens in blue on the Northern Peninsula
Source: http://www.heritage.nf.ca/

Since the species are either entirely endemic (that is, only found in that area), or just rare globally, they are still very rare, and that makes it easy to increase public interest. Because of this, programs such as the Limestone Barrens Habitat Stewardship Program have been formed, centering on getting the public involved in the conservation of Newfoundland's unique plant species.

To learn more about the different at risk plants here in the province, you can visit the Department of Environment and Conservation's website, here.

And now, our journey together comes to an end. While we have only been able to scratch the surface of recovery planning, we hope you have learned at least a few things that you never knew about before. Maybe you were inspired by one of our stories to do some research of your own and came across something really cool, if so definitely let us know in the comments!

As far as an overall conclusion goes, our answer to “How is Newfoundland doing?” falls along the lines of “pretty good,” all things considered. The successful application of the pine marten recovery plan demonstrates an excellent application of conservation science, and shows how well the people of the province can respond to changes needed to help out an endangered species. The ongoing efforts to restore numerous plants on the limestone barrens demonstrates that, as a province, we can put a real effort into learning more about a species, and working together to conserve it. There is definitely still work to be done, but looking at success stories clearly shows that it is not all doom and gloom, and there is potential to achieve so much in terms of recovery planning here in the province.

Signing off,

Shane and Asfa

References

Schemske, D., Husband, B., Ruckelshaus, M., Goodwillie, C., Parker, I. & Bishop, J. (1994). Evaluating appriaches to the conservation of rare and endangered plants. Ecology 73.3, 584-606.

Schultz, C. & Gerber, L. (2002). Are recovery plans improving with practice? Ecological Applications 12.3, 641-47.