Researchers have discovered a plant species called Amalophyllon miraculum in western Ecuador. Its survival inspires hope that devastated forests can be preserved.
On the western slopes of the Andes in Ecuador, John L. Clark, a research botanist at Florida’s Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, happened upon what he calls a miracle. In an area of formerly lush cloud forest known as Centinela devastated by clearing, Clark spotted a tiny, 2-inch-high plant with delicate white petals and spiky, iridescent leaves in 2022. That he could see it at all, nestled there on a moss-covered rock in a remnant patch of untouched land, was impressive.
” The devastation was documented in a 1991 study called “Biological Extinction in Western Ecuador.” A biodiversity hot spot seemingly had been extinguished. The renowned late naturalist E.O. Wilson coined the term “Centinelan extinction” to refer to the loss of entire species before they are even known and scientifically described due to wholesale habit loss.
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