Effects of trade and poaching pressure on extinction risk for cacti in the Atacama Desert

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dc.coverageDOI: 10.1111/cobi.14353
dc.creatorVillalobo-Lopez, Angelica
dc.creatorPeña, Carol M.
dc.creatorVaras-Myrik, Antonio
dc.creatorPillet, Michiel
dc.creatorJahnsen, Paulina
dc.creatorPliscoff, Patricio
dc.creatorGoettsch, Bárbara
dc.creatorGuerrero, Pablo C.
dc.date2024
dc.date.accessioned05-01-2026 18:21
dc.date.available05-01-2026 18:21
dc.description<p>In this era of a global biodiversity crisis, vascular plants are facing unprecedented extinction rates. We conducted an assessment of the extinction risk of 32 species and 7 subspecies of Copiapoa, a genus endemic to Chile's fog-dependent coastal Atacama Desert. We applied the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List Categories and Criteria enhanced by expert insights and knowledge. Our primary aim was to analyze the impact of trade and poaching on their extinction risk. We employed machine learning models, including multinomial logistic regression (MLR), decision tree (DT), and random forest (RF), to analyze the relationships between conservation status and various factors. These factors encompassed trade and poaching activities, landscape condition, human footprint, monthly cloud frequency, and biological traits such as evolutionary distinctiveness and maximum diameter. Seven taxa had an area of occupancy (AOO) of &lt;10 km<sup>2</sup>, 10 additional taxa had an AOO of &lt;20 km<sup>2</sup>, and 16 taxa had an AOO of ?100 km<sup>2</sup>. This reassessment exposed a critical level of extinction risk for the genus; 92% of the taxa were classified as threatened, 41% as critically endangered, 41% as endangered, and 10% as vulnerable. MLR, DT, and RF exhibited accuracies of 0.784, 0.730, and 0.598, respectively, and identified trade and poaching pressure and landscape condition as the primary drivers of extinction risk. Our assessment of Copiapoa showed trade, poaching, habitat degradation, and their synergic impacts as the main drivers of the genus’ extinction risk. Our results highlight the urgent need for nations to develop and enforce strategies to monitor and control trade and poaching pressure because these factors are crucial for the long-term persistence of desert plants.</p>eng
dc.identifierhttps://investigadores.uandes.cl/en/publications/66732e48-0d94-436a-af78-579a36deb92d
dc.languageeng
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.sourcevol.38 (2024) nr.5
dc.subjectCITES
dc.subjectCactaceae
dc.subjectIUCN red list
dc.subjectLista Roja de la UICN
dc.subjectcolecta ilegal
dc.subjectextinction risk
dc.subjectpoaching
dc.subjectriesgo de extinción
dc.titleEffects of trade and poaching pressure on extinction risk for cacti in the Atacama Deserteng
dc.typeArticleeng
dc.typeArtículospa
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