Plant conservation priorities of Xinjiang region, China

[摘要] As an important region in the Silk Road, Xinjiang is getting a good chance of developing economy. However at the same time, its natural environment is facing a big challenge. To better protect the plant diversity, it is urgent to make a thorough conservation plan. With a full database of vascular and medicinal plant distributions and nature reserve plant lists and boundaries in Xinjiang of China, we analysed the plant diversity hotspots, protection gaps and proposed the plant conservation priorities of this region. Differed from the widely accepted viewpoints that lots of plants were not included in nature reserves, we found that most of the plants ( > 90%) were actually included in the current nature reserves. We believe that compared with establishing more nature reserves, improving the management of the existing ones is also important. Furthermore, the very few unprotected plants (

[发布机构] Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing; 100101, China^1;South China Sea Branch, State Oceanic Administration, Guangzhou; 510310, China^2;College of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing; 100083, China^3;Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi; 830011, China^4;College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology, Ministry of Education, Xinjiang University, Urumqi; 830046, China^5

[效力级别] 政治学

[关键词] Conservation plans;Conservation priorities;Developing economies;Medicinal plants;Natural environments;Nature reserves;Plant conservation;Xinjiang regions