A simple method for assessing preliminary conservation status of plants at a national level: a case study using the ferns of El Salvador

Abstract

AbstractAssessments of conservation status are usually carried out on a global scale but national priorities often necessitate a more focused approach. Using a typology of rarity first articulated in the early 1980s by Deborah Rabinowitz, coupled with presence/absence from protected areas, preliminary conservation status at the national level was assessed for 397 species of ferns and fern allies from El Salvador in Central America. Of these, 43 lacked sufficient data, 175 were considered not of conservation concern, 106 were considered to be at risk and 73 to be threatened. The majority of the threatened species were from cloud or montane forest habitats but aquatics and species restricted to pine–oak forests are also rare and occur outside protected areas. The utility of this simple methodology is discussed and the importance of field studies by local experts with local knowledge emphasized.