Land flora, species

With this priority in mind, we are faced with the convergence of two historical trends. If Floras are to be at the forefi-ont of plant conservation activities, they need to be both encyclopaedic and concise. Ecologists, climate modellers, environmental scientists and land managers require detailed data on distribution, morphology and physiology. They also require concise, speedy, accessible means to effect accurate species identifications. If they are to warrant Wheeler s (2004) call for a funding shift... 

The Directive 2009/28/EC also promotes biodiversity protection of threatened species in those lands where biodiesel and bioliquid production would have negative impacts on flora and fauna. Raw materials used in biodiesel and bioliquid production should therefore achieve the status of sustainable, by competent bodies, before being processed. In the longer term, the 2007 Renewable Energy Road Map (European Commission, 2007) specifies the adoption of a minimum 10% consumption of biofuels in the transport sector. Biofuels use in the transport sector would contribute to 14% of total market fuels (corresponding to about 43 million tons of Equivalent Oil) and the share may increase from either current bio—ethanol production in Sweden or biodiesel production in Germany and other European Union countries or other feedstock such as ethanol from straw, rapeseed oil, palm oil, and second-generation biofuels mainly obtained from wood processes (De Lucia, 2010). 

According to a recent book by Wilson (7), "tropical rain forests, though occupying only 6% of the land surface, are believed to contain more than half frie species of organisms on Earth. An explicit example is offered by the vascular plants. Of the approximately 250,000 species known, 170,000 (68%) occur in the tropics and subtropics, especially in the rain forests. The peak of global plant diversity is the combined flora of the three Andean countries of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. There over 40,000 species occur on just 2% of the world s land surface. [This number] is to be compared with 700 native species found in all of the United States... 

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