A recent study in the journal Nature found that New Guinea has more plant species than any other island on Earth.The island has more than 13,000 species of plants, more than two-thirds of which live only in New Guinea.
![Homalanthus nutans, or Mamala. Photo: [Mark Marathon / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) Mark Marathon]](/sites/default/files/styles/news_teaser/public/tradPLANTS_sam.jpg?itok=W_t_Vb4j)
The healing properties of some plants used in traditional Samoan medicine have been scientifically proven in a new study. Published on Friday in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology it looked at 14 Samoan plants.The Samoa Observer reports all were found to have positive effects on wounds, burns
Friends and family identified Hawaii’s third coronavirus-related fatality Friday as a well-known scientist and author who traveled the world to teach people about plants. Arthur Whistler, 75, died Thursday in the hospital, weeks after testing positive for COVID-19.
A key feature of life’s diversity is that some species are common but many more are rare. Nonetheless, at global scales, we do not know what fraction of biodiversity consists of rare species. Here, we present the largest compilation of global plant diversity to quantify the fraction of Earth’s plant biodiversity that are rare. A large fraction, ~36.5% of Earth’s ~435,000 plant species, are exceedingly rare. Sampling biases and prominent models, such as neutral theory and the k-niche model, cannot account for the observed prevalence of rarity.
This report provides a comprehensive overview of Wallis and Futuna’s biodiversity, conservation framework
and wetland fauna and flora.
*could be used for the regional SOE initiative*
This study examines the status of plant conservation in Oceania, where most islands have experienced two waves of anthropogenic habitat alteration and extinction, following Austronesian and European contact.
A series of handbooks (Vol 1 - Vol 3) pertaining to the flora of Papua New Guinea. The aim was to document the diversity of plants so that the conservation status of the species which make up the various communities can be monitored more accurately.
Excel file with multiple worksheets and graphs summarising the status and threats to IUNC red-listed flora and fauna in the Solomon Islands. Accessed from IUCN red list October 2018.