AI could help win ‘race against extinction’ of vital plants, say botanists
Summary
Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, report that new digital tools and artificial intelligence (AI) can help identify and save plant and fungi species before they disappear. These technologies allow faster species identification, better access to global collections, and new studies on how climate change shifts plant flowering times.Key Facts
- About 40% of assessed plant species and many unknown fungi species face extinction risks.
- AI can identify plant species with microscopic features faster and sometimes better than human experts.
- Digitisation has made 7.4 million plant and fungi specimens from Kew available online, including historic collections.
- Around 145 million digital specimens are online globally, but this is less than 16% of all collections worldwide.
- AI analysis showed that plant flowering times have shifted by about 2.5 days per decade over the last 100 years due to climate changes.
- Digitised collections improve international collaboration and give insights into biodiversity hotspots like Madagascar.
- Thousands of new plant species are found yearly, but many more remain undiscovered and at risk.
- Changes in flowering times can disrupt ecosystems by affecting animals and insects that rely on plants.
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