Bamboo biodiversity in Africa, Madagascar and the Americas

[Bamboo Conne'isseur]

Here is a article, and the link to its study that is informative, making for some really good reading for those interested. Wow, is all I can say after reading this, as it may be one of the most information rich articles I have ever read on bamboo.

This study used an innovative approach to map potential current distributions of nearly 400 individual bamboo species that occur naturally within the remaining forests of Africa, Madagascar and the Americas. The maps were also combined to generate regional maps showing potential species and generic richness. By quantifying the area of forest cover remaining within each species? range, this analysis shows that over half the species studied are potentially threatened by the destruction of natural forest cover. The situation is particularly alarming in Madagascar, where the woody bamboos are all endemic and 75 per cent of them have only very small amounts of forest remaining within their ranges. Conservation and sustainable management of wild populations of bamboo should be a priority in all three regions, especially where diversity is high or deforestation is a significant threat. This report contributes to implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, which aims to halt the current and continuing loss of plant diversity.

A joint project between UNEP-WCMC and INBAR (International Network for Bamboo and Rattan).

UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 19

The link

http://www.ourplanet.com/wcmc/pdfs/bamboo2.pdf

[Mike McG]

Bamboo Conne'issseur,
Yes, very informative. There is also one for Asian bamboo:
Bamboo biodiversity, Information for planning conservation and management in the Asia-Pacific region by Nadia Bystriakova, Valerie Kapos, Chris Stapleton, Igor Lysenko you may want to look for.

Mike near Brenham TX

[Gunnar_GG]

Yes, very informative. Tho' the .pdf maps are slightly pixelated, it's clear that Tham. tessellatus, in south Africa, as per my post of Oct. 6th, needs re-collection. Ay, it's on the Red List! And this database resource is old; i.e., only ONE species of Arundinaria in U.S.? Maybe traffic between Eur. and the resort beaches of South Africa would be so much easier than U.S. trippers? who'd rather do Rio.

[Bamboo Conne'isseur]

I Checked out the Asian pacific series, which also has some good info. Here is the link if anyone is interested. Thanks MikeMcG
http://www.ourplanet.com/wcmc/pdfs/bamboo.pdf
GunnarGG, I wonder what has been lost already? If the estimates about the loss of forest canopy is true, some of the best ones may already be extinct.