Regulate Trade in Rare Plants

COMMENT HEALTH The autism BIOGRAPHY The man who ENERGY Don’t depend on the EQUALITY Why women win and anti-vaccine turned natural history into end of coal supplies to cut fewer scholarly awards and saga explored p.468 an explanatory science p.470 emissions p.472 what to do about it p.472 ewer than ten cabbage-on-a-stick plants (Brighamia insignis) are all K. GEHLE K. that remain of the wild population in FHawaii. Yet for US$29.99, anyone could buy the succulent at online auction. Thanks to loosely regulated Internet commerce and efficient shipping, people are increasingly obtaining endangered or threatened plants, legally and illegally, and moving them outside their native ranges. The introduction of non-native plant species causes ecological and economic harm — at an estimated cost of more than $30 billion a year in the United States alone1 — by damaging crops, pastures and ecosys- tems. For example, the Australian paperbark tree (Melaleuca spp.) is a noxious weed in the United States, causing millions of dol- lars of damage, even “People are though its habitats are increasingly considered threatened in Australia owing obtaining to coastal develop- endangered ment2. Moreover, the or threatened trade in endangered plants, legally plants can severely and illegally, affect wild popula- and moving tions by introducing them outside plant pathogens or their native increasing wild-plant range.” harvesting. In the 1980s, for example, the export of more than 60 million wild bulbs a year from Turkey to the Netherlands significantly depleted wild populations of several rare Turkish species, including snowdrops (Galanthus spp.) and cyclamen (Cyclamen spp.)3. Environmental agencies and governing bodies must better enforce existing species- To aid conservation of the species, volunteers legally plant a Florida torreya outside its historical range. protection laws, and establish legal frame- works to monitor and manage this rising tide of species redistribution. SELLING OUT Regulate trade Last year, we searched through thousands of websites containing the phrases ‘seeds for sale’ or ‘plants for sale’ to determine how many of the 753 plants listed as threatened in rare plants and endangered under the US Endangered Species Act can be purchased online. We Patrick D. Shirey and Gary A. Lamberti call found that nearly 10% are being sold or at least advertised online and are available for for action to stem the rising tide of species in-state purchase. Most of these sales are redistribution caused by Internet sales. illegal: of the more than 50 sellers we 27 JANUARY 2011 | VOL 469 | NATURE | 465 © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved COMMENT A found offering to ship plants between between states (as well as sales within them) strains being transferred haven’t grown in P L states, just four had the appropriate interstate become increasingly difficult to control. these sites, but they are expected to flourish T/F commerce permit issued by the US Fish and Ultimately, state laws may have a bigger under climate change7. R TUA S . Wildlife Service (FWS), which costs $100, effect on trade than federal law, but these In the United States, the FWS allows T . & . involves minimal paperwork and can be vary widely, with most being more lenient biologists to conduct assisted colonization C obtained in three months. towards commerce than the federal law5. of animals only if they can demonstrate that LAMY; LAMY; About half the endangered plants avail- Although some states such as Connecticut a species’ original habitat has been altered A S/ R able to buyers in the United States are sold strictly regulate commerce, 25 states, includ- irreversibly. Such restrictions don’t apply to E W 4 O in states outside their native range. Some ing Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia and plants . B are even sold overseas. For example, the Wyoming, lack laws protecting endangered Several individuals and citizen groups star cactus (Astrophytum asterias) is found species or allow trade without restriction, have already begun to apply the approach to in only a few locations meaning that collection, trade and redistri- rare plant species. The Torreya Guardians, L.COM; R. & N. & R. L.COM; P in Texas and Mexico, bution can go unchecked. for example, a group of volunteers including E “The R but cultivars can be botanists and professional conservationists ATU purchasers N / of rare and bought online from A HELPING HAND largely based in Florida, Georgia, North D TE I at least six states and Most online shoppers seem to be amateur Carolina and South Carolina, have been M I endangered L several countries, horticulturalists seeking flowers for their cultivating seedlings of the Florida torreya plants include UN those trying including China, gardens. But anecdotal evidence from online since 2005, and planting them outside the SUALS SUALS Japan, Australia, the forums suggests that the purchasers of rare plant’s formally described historical range I to protect United Kingdom and and endangered plants increasingly include (although the Torreya Guardians argue that them.” V LAMY; Canada. those trying to protect them. the species may have thrived there during A / Part of the problem Assisted colonization — the movement the last peak interglacial warm period8). H GMB is the failure to enforce existing laws. It is of species or genetic subtypes to non-native It is highly unlikely that the US Congress E IF L also relatively easy for sellers to exploit weak environments where they are expected to will change the law on the transport of listed D links in the current legislation. thrive — has been proposed by conserva- species between states, in part because alter- L ; WI ; A P Under federal law, the FWS can regulate tionists as a way to preserve species at risk of ing environmental legislation takes such an L /F R sales between states but not within them. extinction. This idea has grown in popular- enormous bipartisan effort. (Also, people E K O For example, it is legal to sell the endangered ity worldwide as the effects of climate change have been free to move privately owned R EB Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia) within have become more apparent, and scientists plants around for thousands of years.) G South Carolina even though the native range have begun to investigate where and when However, the FWS can tighten trade restric- /IMA of the plant is in Florida and Georgia. If a assisted colonization might work6. For tions without waiting for the government to R plant’s distribution expands through illegal instance, for the past two years, foresters in change the Endangered Species Act. sales, however, more sellers are likely to start British Columbia, Canada, have been mov- The agency should work with legitimate offering it. Because it is legal to transplant ing seedlings of commercially harvested pine sellers to monitor the movement of plants and NUSSBAUME R. plants anywhere in the United States if they and hardwood species to nearly 50 experi- enforce existing legislation. As a first step, it are privately owned4, subsequent transfers mental reforestation sites. Historically, the should establish dedicated surveillance teams 466 | NATURE | VOL 469 | 27 JANUARY 2011 © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved COMMENT For sale online: the American lotus (far left) is This could further improve the survival of the the Convention on International Trade in listed as threatened or endangered in three wild plants by reducing poaching, or it could Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and states (Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) pose a significant risk if it infiltrates the his- Flora, are abided by10. but banned in Connecticut as potentially torical range of the Tennessee coneflower. Although the redistribution of plant invasive. The Tennessee coneflower, the Florida A thornier issue is how to regulate the species around the world is nothing new, the torreya, the star cactus, and the cabbage-on- trade and movement of plants in assisted- ease with which people can now obtain and a-stick plant (pictured from left to right) are all colonization efforts. The FWS and other transfer specimens is unprecedented. This, listed under the US Endangered Species Act. government agencies face an enormous combined with a growing interest in assisted challenge in trying to manage biodiver- colonization, makes it more important than to monitor online transactions; for instance, sity loss in the face of climate change with ever for federal and local governments low-cost automated search engines could inadequate resources. to wrest control of illegal Internet trade, trawl for species names along with phrases Individuals and citizen groups should not develop a policy for hybrids and ensure that such as ‘plants for sale’ or ‘add to cart’. take the lead on this because of the risks asso- genetic diversity is considered when propa- The agency could also restrict the ability of ciated with introducing any species. Instead, gating plants. ■ consumers to buy hybrids bred from endan- the FWS should carry out controlled pilot gered species. Currently, these are not formally studies first, possibly using the grass-roots Patrick D. Shirey and Gary A. Lamberti regulated9 — allowing breeders to cultivate resources of volunteers. The agency has are in the Department of Biological Sciences the unique characteristics of rare plants while begun to make moves in this direction. A at the University of Notre Dame, Notre evading endangered-species laws. Yet hybrids five-year review of its Florida torreya recov- Dame, Indiana 46556, USA. can have serious implications — good and bad ery plan includes a proposal to work with the e-mail: [email protected] — for the management of wild populations. Torreya Guardians on an assisted-coloniza- 1. Pimentel, D., Zuniga, R. & Morrison, D. Ecol. Econ. Take the Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tion project if other approaches fail. 52, 273–288 (2005).

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