Conservation status of the native fl ora of the Arica-Parinacota and Tarapacá regions, Chile

Abstract

Knowledge of the conservation status of the native fl ora at an administrative level, such as the regional level, is useful to
take actions to reduce biodiversity loss at a local level. In this study, we classifi ed the native fl ora of the Arica-Parinacota
and Tarapacá Regions according to its conservation status using a database of 7,432 geo-referenced records corresponding
to 717 native vascular species. The classifi cation was carried out using mainly geographical criteria of IUCN (version 3.1).
A 27.6% of the native species in these regions have conservation problems (3.2% Endangered and 24.4% Vulnerable). In
the Arica-Parinacota and Tarapacá Regions, 34.4% and 24.3% of the species, respectively are threatened. The native fl ora
of these two regions has a greater degree of threat than that found in either Antofagasta, Atacama or Coquimbo. This is
partially explained by restricted distributions (extent of occurrence and/or area of occupancy) combined with a decline in
habitat quality.