Recent Anthropogenic Plant Extinctions Differ in Biodiversity Hotspots and Coldspots (Current Biology)

Le Roux et al. show that contemporary plant extinction rates, while low, far exceed historical background rates. They find extinctions to be higher, and accruing faster, in biodiversity hotspots than in coldspots and that the latter loses more unique taxonomic diversity to extinction. They also find the drivers of extinctions to vary over time.