Plants

Bryophytes are of great importance in their ecosystems and for human well-being. They stabilise soil crust through colonisation of bare grounds and rocks; they are essential in nutrient recycling, biomass production, and carbon fixing; they control water through an effective retention mechanism; and they have economic value as peat for fuel, horticulture, oil absorption, and as sources of a wide variety of chemical compounds.

Plant genetic resources are crucial for world agriculture, food security and the global economy. They are vital for the pharmaceutical industry and are important assests for developing countries rich in biodiversity. The patents and intellectual property rights (IPRs) associated with the development of new products are critical to trade in these resources.

Cette monographie importante et richement illustrée comprend les descriptions de quelque 86 genres et 213 espèces de Poaceae du Niger. Les chapitres d'introduction traitent d'autres sujets pertinents tels que le climat, la phytogéographie générale du Niger, la biologie des Poaceae indigènes et la question plus générale du rôle que jouent ces herbes dans l'économie du pays.

Conifers are one of the world's most important resources of timber. If managed wisely and used sustainably, these resources will provide wood for a multitude of purposes, virtually indefinitely. Additional products include resins and their derivatives, and even medicinal extracts, for example taxol now used in the treatment of cancer. Conifers occur on all continents except Antarctica.

This report reviews European trade and documents the results of in-depth studies in eight countries: Albania, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Turkey and the UK. It identifies 150 species that could be at risk in one or several countries from over-collection in the wild and provides a range of recommendations to assist in the conservation of these species

This represents the most comprehensive compilation of data on threatened vascular plants ever published. It includes the names of some 33,000 plant species determined to be rare or threatened on a global scale. Conservation assessments were provided by the IUCN Species Survival Commission, the National Botanical Institute (South Africa), Environment Australia and CSIRO,.