Conservation status assessments and area of habitat analyses of Sulawesi Begonia (Begoniaceae)

• Main Author: Chong, Yu Hong
• Other Authors: -
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Science::Biological sciences::Botany::Plant ecology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/166627
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Begonia is a mega-diverse (>2100 species), pantropically distributed genus of flowering plants. The Indonesian island of Sulawesi harbours a Begonia flora of 65 species, most of which are restricted to rainforest habitats which have substantially declined because of anthropogenic disturbances in the last decades. Determination and prioritisation of conservation efforts for these species has been hampered by the lack of conservation assessments. Detailed conservation assessments following the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Criteria, based on occurrence data from herbarium specimens, data on forest landscape integrity, karst limestone landscape extent, and tree cover loss between 2001 and 2021, as well as a literature survey on reported threats, are presented here. Area of Habitat estimations integrating species’ geographic and elevational range data and medium to high forest landscape integrity as proxy for habitat availability were also performed. The results indicate that the majority of Sulawesi Begonia species are narrow endemics whose forest habitats have substantially deteriorated in the last two decades. Based on the results, 19 species are assessed as Critically Endangered, 31 as Endangered, and 6 as Vulnerable. Conservation action in the form of habitat protection and ex-situ cultivation is urgently required to conserve these species.