Russian Red Data Book Orchids: Taxonomic Diversity and Anthropogenic Drivers of Their Extinction in Regions

Abstract

The research of drivers leading to plant extinction is a primary task in global biodiversity conservation. Despite Russia covering a large area, there is a lack of data on factors leading to plant extinction there, including orchids. We aimed to evaluate the anthropogenic drivers that threaten orchids included in the Russian Red Data Books. For this purpose, we generalized and systematized data on orchids included in all relevant (i.e., published during the last 10–11 years) regional Red Data Books available online on 31 December 2020. For each Red Data Book orchid, we identified threats, i.e., drivers leading to species extinction, according to the sections “Limiting factors” or “Limiting factors and threats” of the regional Red Data Books. We found the total taxonomic list of Red Data Book orchids in the analyzed regions of Russia. The similarity of the lists of orchid taxa in analyzed regions was established based on the Jaccard index. In regard to extinction drivers, we found which of them are the most serious threats to orchids in the regions of the Russian Federation. We believe that conducting a similar study for the whole array of threatened plants of Russia will provide highly valuable results demanded all over the world.