Extinction by design

Extinction by design is based on the author''s doctoral research at the University of Oxford (Herbarium-based trait studies on plant extinction risk in the Flora Zambesiaca region, south-central Africa). For it, field visits to herbaria and other research institutions took place over several years in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The book is a sterling contribution as it is the first to offer insights into the relationship between intrinsic species design and vulnerability to extinction in Africa. The work draws on frontiers of the IUCN''s Red Data List concept. New terms to ecology, like extinction signatures and persistence potential, are introduced. An annotated list of over 1,100 country endemics that were evaluated from woodlands, forests and grasslands, is provided. The series of studies in this book shows that life- history trait data, derived from taxonomic sources, can increase our understanding of rare and threatened plant biodiversity in data-poor countries. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Millennium Seed Bank Project and the Bentham-Moxon Trust), and the University of Oxford funded the research.