Plants: Winners, Losers, Useful, Not Useful Examples (IMAGE)
Caption
Upper left: Winners useful to humans include species that are widespread and provide wood, medicine, food and ornamental value. Ginkgo biloba, for example, has been grown by humans for hundreds of years and is a popular ornamental tree that has also been used for food, medicine and as a dietary supplement. Upper right: Losers that are useful to humans tend to be over-exploited wild species that may be medicinal, ornamental or used for timber. One such species is Ekman’s magnolia tree (Magnolia ekmanii), a critically endangered tree only found in Haiti that was most likely harvested for its wood to produce charcoal and building materials. Lower left: Winning plant species that are not useful to humans are often considered invasive and able to exploit the conditions associated with intense human impact on the environment. Halophila stipulacea is a good example of this category. A 2006 study identified it as one of the “100 Worst Invasive Alien Species in the Mediterranean” due to its serious negative impacts on marine biodiversity. Native to the Indian Ocean, this species spread into the Mediterranean Sea after the opening of the Suez Canal and is now found in the Caribbean Sea as well. Lower right: The category of losers that are not useful to humans features mostly plants that cannot survive in human-dominated environments or have suffered under direct or indirect pressures from human activities. An example of a loser not useful to humans is Araucaria muelleri, a New Caledonian endemic conifer threatened by habitat loss, forest fires and nickel-mining activities.
Credit
Upper left: Smithsonian Institution by permission from G.A. Cooper Upper right: Copyright Martin Reith, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) Lower left: Louis Hadjioannou (CC BY-SA) Lower right: Copyright Joey Santore, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
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