Central Asian wild tulip conservation requires a regional approach, especially in the face of climate change

Funder: Finnis Scott FoundationAbstractTulips (Tulipa spp.) are one of the most widely appreciated plants worldwide, nevertheless species taxonomy and biogeography are often poorly understood. Most wild tulips inhabit the mountains of Central Asia, a recognised biodiversity hotspot, and a centre of tulip diversity. Despite the presence of several country-level endemic Tulipa species, most taxa span the borders of several nations. With no globally Red Listed tulip taxa from this region national level conservation assessments are an important resource. Nonetheless, threats posed to tulips are still inadequately understood, especially climate change, and given the trans-national nature of most species, distributional information is restricted and often misleading. Here we collate 330 species records from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility with 85 newly collected records, to undertake species distribution modelling (MaxEnt) for ten native Central Asian species. This work showed that regional level models provide a much more comprehensive understanding of species’ extinction risks, proportions of habitat in different countries, and limitations in protected area coverage. Furthermore, our climate modelling, the first of its kind for tulips, suggests that climate change will have a significant negative impact on the range size of all species; including those that are currently widespread. We therefore add climate change to the list of threats affecting tulip populations in Central Asia, which already includes livestock overgrazing, urbanisation, wild collection, and mining. Overall, our work shows that although national information is important, a regional approach is crucial not just for tulip conservation efforts, but likely for Central Asian plant conservation in general.</jats:p

Typification of taxa of subfamily Silenoideae (Caryophyllaceae Juss.) from Siberia and Russian Far East based on materials kept in the Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute (LE)

Data on type material of previously not typified taxa of the subfamily Silenoideae (Caryophyllaceae Juss.), kept in the Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute (LE) are summarized in the paper. All relevant taxa including eight species (or subsequently accepted as species: Gastrolychnis violascens Tolm., Gypsophila stricta Bunge, Heterochroa petraea Bunge, Lychnis ajanensis var. villosula Trautv. [L. villosula (Trautv.) Gorschk.], L. fulgens var. wilfordi Regel [L. wilfordi (Regel) Maxim.], L. tristis Bunge, Melandrium olgae Maxim., Silene melandriiformis Maxim.), five varieties (Melandrium affine var. Intermedium Tolm., Silene repens var. pratensis Kom., S. repens var. alpina Kom., S. repens var. angustifolia Turcz., S. repens var. latifolia Turcz.), and one form (Silene repens f. densa Kom.) are lectotypified.Key words: Caryophyllaceae, Silenoideae, type specimens, typification, Komarov Botanical Institute (LE), Siberia, Far East. </p

New species of the genus Juno Tratt. (Iridaceae) from Kyrgyzstan

A new species Juno rodionenkoi Lazkov et Naumenko from Kyrgyzstan is described. Morphological description and differences from related species Juno narbutii (O. Fedtsch.) Vved. are given

A new species of genus Gagea Salisb. (Liliaceae) from Kyrgyz Republic (Western Tian Shan, Chatkal Range, Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve)

A new white-flowered species of Gagea is described from the Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve (Chatkal Range, Kyrgyzstan), which grows at a relatively low elevation in shallow shady niches on gorge walls formed by conglomerates. In its habit and flower color, this species resembles G. delicatula but differs from the latter mainly in the number and location of bulbils in generative and vegetative individuals. Keywords: Chatkal Range, Gagea Salisb., Liliaceae, Sary-Chelek Reserve, Western Tian Sha

Contribution to the flora of Asian and European countries : new national and regional vascular plant records, 8

The paper presents new records of 24 vascular plant species from 11 Eurasian countries. One taxon (Orobanche laxissima) is reported from Armenia; one (Epipactis condensata) from Azerbaijan; two (Phragmites americanus, Polygala multicaulis) from Belarus; one (Stipa caucasica) from Egypt; one (Puccinellia hauptiana) from Kyrgyzstan; three (Aquilegia xinjiangensis, Geranium saxatile, Ranunculus songaricus) from Mongolia; one (Stipa roborowskyi) from Pakistan; three (Echinochloa muricata, Erigeron acris subsp. podolicus, Hypericum majus) from Poland; six from Russia, whereof one (Zanthoxylum armatum) from the European part of Russia and five (Chaerophyllum aureum, Elsholtzia densa, Poa compressa, Ranunculus subrigidus, Viola sororia) from the Asian part of Russia; two (Ludwigia repens, Sagittaria latifolia) from Slovakia; and three (Rubus ambrosius, Rubus camptostachys, Rubus perrobustus) from Ukraine. For each species, synonyms, general distribution, habitat preferences, taxonomy with remarks on recognition and differentiation of the species from the most similar taxa occurring in a given country, as well as a list of recorded localities (often far from the previously known areas), are presented