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41 p. ; [EN] China is one of the richest countries in plant biodiversity in the world. Besides to a rich flora, which contains about 33 000 vascular plants (being 30 000 of these angiosperms, 250 gymnosperms, and 2 600 pteridophytes), there is a extraordinary ecosystem diversity. In addition, China also contains a large pool of both wild and cultivated germplasm; one of the eight original centers of crop plants in the world was located there. China is also considered one of the main centers of origin and diversification for seed plants on Earth, and it is specially profuse in phylogenetically primitive taxa and/or paleoendemics due to the glaciation refuge role played by this area in the Quaternary. The collision of Indian subcontinent enriched significantly the Chinese flora and produced the formation of many neoendemisms. However, the distribution of the flora is uneven, and some local floristic hotspots can be found across China, such as Yunnan, Sichuan and Taiwan. Unfortunately, threats to this biodiversity are huge and have increased substantially in the last 50 years. The combined effects of habitat destruction and/or fragmentation, environmental contamination, overexploitation of natural resources and, in lower extent, introduction of exotic species, have produced an irremediable damage to plant biodiversity; furthermore, the economic and population growth have contributed to this deterioration. Currently it is considered that up to 5 000 species of flora are endangered in China, and some taxa have already become extinct. Although government authorities have done some efforts in order to preserve biodiversity in recent years, there is still a lot of work to do. China has established a extense network of nature reserves and protected areas, covering more than 16% of the total land area; nevertheless, lack of budget and staff are common trends in their management. Ex situ conservation is still also deficient, primarily due to botanical gardens are not representative of the several local floras and they often have not adequate sizes and amount of species. The lack of an efficient environmental legislation and education are also root causes which enhance the loss of Chinese plant biodiversity. ; Peer reviewed

China is one of the richest countries in plant biodiversity in the world. Besides to a rich flora, which contains about 33.000 vascular plants (being 30.000 of these angiosperms, 250 gymnosperms, and 2.600 pteridophytes), there is a extraordinary ecosystem diversity. In addition, China also contains a large pool of both wild and cultivated germplasm; one of the eight original centers of crop plants in the world was located there. China is also considered one of the main centers of origin and diversification for seed plants on Earth, and it is specially profuse in phylogenetically primitive taxa and/or paleoendemics due to the glaciation refuge role played by this area in the Quaternary. The collision of Indian subcontinent enriched significantly the Chinese flora and produced the formation of many neoendemisms. However, the distribution of the flora is uneven, and some local floristic hotspots can be found across China, such as Yunnan, Sichuan and Taiwan. Unfortunately, threats to this biodiversity are huge and have increased substantially in the last 50 years. The combined effects of habitat destruction and/or fragmentation, environmental contamination, overexploitation of natural resources and, in lower extent, introduction of exotic species, have produced an irremediable damage to plant biodiversity; furthermore, the economic and population growth have contributed to this deterioration. Currently it is considered that up to 5.000 species of flora are endangered in China, and some taxa have already become extinct. Although government authorities have done some efforts in order to preserve biodiversity in recent years, there is still a lot of work to do. China has established a extense network of nature reserves and protected areas, covering more than 16% of the total land area; nevertheless, lack of budget and staff are common trends in their management. Ex situ conservation is still also deficient, primarily due to botanical gardens are not representative of the several local floras and they often have not ...

The Strait of Gibraltar, the gateway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, has a convulsive geological history, with recurring closing and opening events since the late Miocene. As a consequence, this region has played a major role in the evolutionary history of many species. Cynara baetica (Compositae) is a diploid perennial herb distributed in both sides of this strait. It is currently subdivided into two subspecies: C. baetica subsp. baetica for the Spanish populations, and C. baetica subsp. maroccana for the Moroccan ones. Following three different approximations of species delimitation, including phylogenetic and population genetic analyses (based on three AFLP primer combinations and two intergenic spacers of cpDNA), ecological niche modeling (ENM) and morphological studies, this taxon is investigated and reinterpreted. The results obtained showed a clear genetic, morphological and ecological differentiation between the two taxa and the important role played by the Strait of Gibraltar as a geographical barrier. Based on this evidence, the current taxonomic treatment is modified (both taxa should recover their specific rank) and specific conservation guidelines are proposed for the newly delimited taxa. ; An ADR fellowship (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain) was awarded to S. Massó for his PhD studies. This work has been supported by the Financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Inovación (Spanish Government; projects CGL2007-60781 and CGL2010/18631) and the Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (Generalitat de Catalunya) (2009SGR0439 and 2014SGR514). ; Peer reviewed

23 p., 2 ilustraciones -- Postprint del artículo publicado en Botanical Review. Versión revisada y corregida ; Herbarium collections constitute permanent and often well-documented records of the distribution of taxa through space and time. Since their creation, their uses have dramatically expanded and with many new uses being proposed, including some for which herbaria were not initially intended for. In this paper we assess the potential of these collections on conservation biology, by providing exemplary studies that use herbarium specimens, grouped into four categories: (1) based on occurrence data, such as studies about plant extinction or introduction, or those focused on modelling their ecological niche; (2) based on the specimens themselves, such as morphological or phenological studies to evaluate the impact of climate change; (3) based in genetic data, such as phylogeographic or taxonomical studies; and (4), other applied studies. ; This research was supported by project 2014SGR00514 from the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government) and by the Proyecto Intramural Especial, PIE (grant no. 201630I024) from the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) ; Peer reviewed