Abies beshanzuensis

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

Bibliography

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
PLANTAE	TRACHEOPHYTA	PINOPSIDA	PINALES	PINACEAE

Scientific Name:

Abies beshanzuensis

Species Authority:

M.H.Wu

Common Name/s:

English

–

Baishan Fir

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Critically Endangered D ver 3.1

Year Published:

2013

Date Assessed:

2010-12-13

Assessor/s:

Yang, Y., Zhang, D, Luscombe, D, Liao, W., Farjon, A., Katsuki, T., Xiang, Q. & Li, N.

Reviewer/s:

Thomas, P. & Rushforth, K.

Justification:
Abies beshanzuensis species is assessed as Critically Endangered under Criterion D due to its extremely small population size (only three plants left in the wild).

History:

1998	–	Critically Endangered
1997	–	Endangered (Walter and Gillett 1998)

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Endemic to China's Zhejiang Province where it occurs on Mt. Baishan-zu northeast of Qingyuan in the Tung-Kung Range at 27° 45' N, 119° 11' E.
Countries:	Native: China (Zhejiang)
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	Known from only a few mature individuals in the wild, without natural regeneration, in degraded angiosperm woodland. According to an account by Dudley (1988), in 1987 only three individual trees were left (after two plants had been removed to Beijing Botanic Gardens and subsequently died there and to Hang Zhou Botanic Garden which also died) of a population at discovery in 1963 of only seven individuals, of which four were flowering and coning at that time. The population had been greatly reduced in size following flooding and subsequent landslides in the area.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Population:

Known from only a few mature individuals in the wild, without natural regeneration, in degraded angiosperm woodland. According to an account by Dudley (1988), in 1987 only three individual trees were left (after two plants had been removed to Beijing Botanic Gardens and subsequently died there and to Hang Zhou Botanic Garden which also died) of a population at discovery in 1963 of only seven individuals, of which four were flowering and coning at that time. The population had been greatly reduced in size following flooding and subsequent landslides in the area.

Population Trend:

Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	On a medium high mountain in the maritime southeastern part of China, with warm summers and cool, moist winters (annual precipitation ca. 1,250 mm), where it is found between 1,500-1,700 m a.s.l. It grows there with other conifers, such as Tsuga chinensis, Cephalotaxus sinensis and Taxus chinensis, and broad-leaved trees, e.g. Castanopsis spp., Fagus lucida, Quercus spp., Acer spp., Magnolia cylindrica and Lithocarpus hancei. The angiosperm trees are dominating the present site of Abies beshanzuensis.
Systems:	Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology:

On a medium high mountain in the maritime southeastern part of China, with warm summers and cool, moist winters (annual precipitation ca. 1,250 mm), where it is found between 1,500-1,700 m a.s.l. It grows there with other conifers, such as Tsuga chinensis, Cephalotaxus sinensis and Taxus chinensis, and broad-leaved trees, e.g. Castanopsis spp., Fagus lucida, Quercus spp., Acer spp., Magnolia cylindrica and Lithocarpus hancei. The angiosperm trees are dominating the present site of Abies beshanzuensis.

Systems:

Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Deforestation (for agriculture) has in the past reduced the population to a few trees. Regeneration of the forest mainly causes angiosperms and bamboos to dominate at present on the site where Abies occurred before.Climate change is a potential future threat as this species has such a small population size and limited distribution. The population has been impacted by flooding in the past and this remains a future threat.

Major Threat(s):

Deforestation (for agriculture) has in the past reduced the population to a few trees. Regeneration of the forest mainly causes angiosperms and bamboos to dominate at present on the site where Abies occurred before.Climate change is a potential future threat as this species has such a small population size and limited distribution. The population has been impacted by flooding in the past and this remains a future threat.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	This species was taken into cultivation from cuttings at a forestry station in Qingyuan, south Zhejiang, China, as a graft on Abies firma rootstock. The remaining plants in the wild are under protection. There is an ex situ programme under-way and they are now reintroducing seedlings grown in cultivation back into the original habitat.

Conservation Actions:

This species was taken into cultivation from cuttings at a forestry station in Qingyuan, south Zhejiang, China, as a graft on Abies firma rootstock. The remaining plants in the wild are under protection. There is an ex situ programme under-way and they are now reintroducing seedlings grown in cultivation back into the original habitat.

Bibliography [top]

	Dudley, T.R. 1988. Chinese Firs: Particularly Abies beshanzuensis. American Conifer Society Bulletin 5(4): 84-93. Farjon, A. 2010. Conifer Database (June 2008) In Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2010 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., eds). Reading, UK. Available at: http://www.catalogueoflife.org/. Farjon, A. 2010. A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden. Farjon, A. and Page, C.N. (compilers) 1999. Conifers. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Conifer Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. IUCN. 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2013.1). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 12 June 2013). Li-kuo, F. and Jian-ming, J. 1992. China Plant Red Data Book – Rare and Endangered Plants 1. Science Press, Beijing.

Dudley, T.R. 1988. Chinese Firs: Particularly Abies beshanzuensis. American Conifer Society Bulletin 5(4): 84-93.

Farjon, A. 2010. Conifer Database (June 2008) In Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2010 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., eds). Reading, UK. Available at: http://www.catalogueoflife.org/.

Farjon, A. 2010. A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Farjon, A. and Page, C.N. (compilers) 1999. Conifers. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Conifer Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN. 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2013.1). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 12 June 2013).

Li-kuo, F. and Jian-ming, J. 1992. China Plant Red Data Book – Rare and Endangered Plants 1. Science Press, Beijing.

Citation:	Yang, Y., Zhang, D, Luscombe, D, Liao, W., Farjon, A., Katsuki, T., Xiang, Q. & Li, N. 2013. Abies beshanzuensis. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 09 March 2014.
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