New Research on Rapidly-Disappearing Ancient Plant Offers Hope for Species Recovery

Cycads, “living fossil” descendents of the first plants that colonized land and reproduced with seeds, are rapidly going extinct because of invasive pests and habitat loss, especially those species endemic to islands. But new research on Cycas micronesica published recently as the cover article in Molecular Ecology calls into question the characterization of these plants as relicts (leftovers of formerly abundant organisms), and gives a glimpse into how the remaining plants—those that survived the loss of more than 90% of their population—can be conserved and managed.