Algorithmic Analysis Leads to Efficient Approach for Plant Conservation

Posted by Rob Knies

Efficiency is one of the hallmarks of successful science, and for proof, you need look no further than the Sept. 5 issue of the journal Science, which features a study by a team of scientists from Microsoft Research Cambridge, Duke University, and North Carolina State University that culminates in an astounding conclusion:

Protecting 17 percent of the land on Earth, the authors state, could result in the preservation of 67 percent of endemic plant species.

That’s certainly efficient—and the result of a new, collaborative plant-conservation study—Achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Goals for Plant Conservation—led by Lucas Joppa and Piero Visconti of Microsoft Research Cambridge, Clinton N. Jenkins of North Carolina State, and Stuart L. Pimm of Duke.