Conservation / Tree Health

By Shihab Jamal

For the first time, researchers have completed threat assessments for all 881 native tree species in the contiguous United States, resulting in a comprehensive checklist and synthesis that will serve as a critical baseline to guide future tree conservation efforts.

A conservation team has rediscovered a native magnolia tree in a forest in Haiti for the first time since it was lost to science in 1925.

Boasting pure white flowers and uniquely shaped leaves, the northern Haiti magnolia (Magnolia emarginata) was found originally in the forest of Morne Colombo, which has since been destroyed by deforestation. It was considered endangered and featured on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species, and its discovery has sparked new hope for the potential rewilding of Haiti’s forests.

A new genomic study of the rarest pine tree in the world, the Torrey pine, aimed at bolstering the case for a genetic rescue of the species barely surviving in the western U.S., revealed the complexity and risk associated with the endeavor. However, a tree geneticist at Penn State who oversaw the research suggests it may benefit efforts she is involved in to save other species in the East.

(July 7, 2022)—Botanical researchers representing a coalition of more than 10 institutions have discovered an oak tree once thought to be extinct, and now in immediate need of conservation within Big Bend National Park in Texas.

In a new global study of more than 46,000 species of trees, an international team of researchers has shown that many tree species are under substantial pressure and poorly protected. The research team, headed by Aarhus University, has also studied how this situation can be improved by means of ambitious and smart designation of new protected natural areas.

Trees play an important role for natural ecosystems, for our climate and for societies across the world. However, recent research shows that many tree species are rare, and are at risk of disappearing.

by Sammy Witchalls

Continuing to plant forest monocultures under carbon offset schemes is not only an inefficient way to mitigate against climate change but it is a missed opportunity to promote biodiversity, adapt against anthropogenic disturbances and provide economic benefits.

by Zhang Nannan, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Xishuangbanna, a tropical–subtropical forest transition, is a key biodiversity hotspot in Southwest of China. However, rapid expansion of rubber plantations in the region increasingly threatens local diversity and there are gaps to be bridged between practical protection and national planning. 

Trees can supply a host of benefits for animals and people, but some trees planted in the tropics may be doing more harm than good. New research finds that 92 percent of new tree plantations planted in the tropics between 2000 and 2012 were in biodiversity hotspots, and 14 percent were in arid biomes, where trees are unlikely to thrive and likely to damage existing ecosystems. Tree plantations had also encroached into 9 percent of accessible protected areas in the humid tropics, such as national parks.

By Study Finds

Earth could be home to 9,000 more species of tree than previously believed, according to scientists. A third of these trees are rare species with a population that is limited in terms of numbers and the size of area they cover, a research team from around the world reports.