Establishing Status of Endemic and Threatened Plants of Micronesia

Effective conservation is entirely dependent on robust and up to date taxonomy.  The Tropical Pacific Islands, all together, comprise the largest globally recognized biodiversity hotspot with some of the highest levels of species endemism on Earth. Endemic species restricted to tiny islands are highly vulnerable to extinction. Over half of the world’s recorded species extinctions since 1983 occurred on islands, most of which were from Hawaii and Guam. This renders the Pacific islands as one of the most threatened bioregions on planet Earth. Despite these statistics, up to date baseline biodiversity data for the Pacific Islands is considerably lacking. Checklists of the endemic taxa for specific islands are virtually non-existent and most of the checklists for all native taxa are out of date. In addition, very little work outside of Hawaii has been done to formally assess the level of threat posed to the endemic and native plants of the Pacific. This project is addressing these problems by:

1. Publishing checklists of the endemic plant species for specific island states of Micronesia
2. Assessing these endemic taxa against the IUCN red list criteria
3. Identify data gaps for poorly known endemic species to prioritize future collection efforts
4. Collaborating on the publication of updated checklists of all vascular plants in the region
5. Investigating the factors that drive and sustain plant endemism in the Western Pacific