European Red List of Vascular Plants - European Commission

with the predicted range in 2055. Their results indicated
that for the three genera, 16–22% of species would go
extinct; the majority of species showed greater than 50%
loss of distributional range and the range that remained
was highly fragmented, placing the extant species under
greater threat of genetic erosion or extinction. The loss
of such a high number of species is extremely disturbing;
however, the potential range decreases of 85–94% for
extant Arachis spp. reported by the authors are also a grave
concern because although it is unlikely that range loss is
directly correlated to genetic diversity, range loss of this
magnitude must question the viability of populations in
terms of retaining sufficient genetic diversity to maintain
the long-term survival of the species. Although this study
was of non-European crop gene pools, it is likely that the
impact on CWR diversity in Europe could be similarly
catastrophic.
trend and 21 are thought to be stable – for 23 of these
species, the population trend is unknown. It is clear that
the 48 species assessed as threatened or Near Threatened
with a decreasing population trend should be flagged up
as an urgent priority for conservation action – particularly
those endemic to Europe. Those with unknown population
trends should have monitoring programmes put in place
immediately and the species reported to be stable should
also be closely monitored to ensure that potential changes
in the trend can be reported.
Figure 18. Population trends of 571 European CWR
species
4.6 Population trends
At least 10.9% (62) of the species assessed are in decline,
while for 38.7% (221) of the species the populations are
considered to be stable and for a small percentage (13
species) they are thought to be increasing; however, the
population trend for the majority of species (48.2%) is
unknown (Figure 18).
Forty-eight of the 92 species assessed as threatened or Near
Threatened are reported to have a decreasing population
Lepidium turczaninowii is a wild relative of brassica crops and garden cress, L. sativum. It is endemic to the surroundings of Feodosija in eastern Crimea where it grows on sea bluffs
and slopes. It is ecologically sensitive as it is adapted to permanent erosion of soils, moisture deficit and open plant communities. Competition from other plant species, housing
developments and slope stabilization work are its main threats and it is globally assessed as Critically Endangered. Photograph © Viktor Melnyk.
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