Legal protection biases and gaps for China’s threatened vascular plants

Yalei Feng; Yangjun Lai; Jinlong Li; Yuchang Yang; Liangchen Yuan; Xiaohua Jin; Qiang Wang; Lina Zhao; Limin Lu; Zhiduan Chen

doi:10.59717/j.xinn-life.2026.100205

The Innovation Life > 2026 Vol. 4 > No. 2 > 100205

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Legal protection biases and gaps for China’s threatened vascular plants

1.
State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
2.
China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China
3.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
4.
College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China
5.
Dongguan Institute of Forestry Science, Dongguan 523006, China
6.
Department of Wildlife Conservation, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing 100714, China
7.
Plant Science Data Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
8.
Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China
9.
These authors contributed equally

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Corresponding authors: liminlu@ibcas.ac.cn (L.L.); zhiduan@ibcas.ac.cn (Z.C.)
Received Date: October 17, 2025

Accepted Date: February 09, 2026

Published Online: February 28, 2026

The Innovation Life 4(2), https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-life.2026.100205 | Cite this article

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1. Over 80% of China's threatened vascular plants remain legally unprotected.
  
  A total of 208 species were identified as high-priority candidates for legal protection.
  
  Legal protection gaps spatially overlap with diversity hotspots of unprotected threatened species.
  
  National nature reserves safeguard the majority of species and evolutionary history in gap regions.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

With over 10% of its flora threatened, China faces a growing plant extinction crisis. While the List of National Key Protected Wild Plants (Legal Protection List) currently provides legal protection to over 1,100 plant species, its overall coverage and effectiveness remain uncertain. Here, we integrated the vascular plants in China’s Threatened Species List and the Legal Protection List to assess the legal protection of 4,393 key species. Using > 110,000 distribution records and a comprehensive phylogeny, we evaluated the taxonomic and phylogenetic distribution of legally protected versus unprotected species and projected their responses to future climate change. We also assessed spatial variation in the effectiveness of legal protection using a newly developed Legal Protection Index (LPI). Our results indicate that legal protection extends to only 18% of threatened species. Unprotected species are phylogenetically clustered and disproportionately vulnerable to future climate, highlighting 208 species as high-priority candidates for legal protection. Regions with the highest taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity—Southwestern China, Hainan, and Taiwan—exhibit the lowest effectiveness of legal protection, representing critical protection gaps. However, a positive finding is that 72% of species and 83% of evolutionary history in these regions are already safeguarded through in situ conservation, although nationwide, 1,195 threatened species remain neither legally protected nor conserved in nature reserves. These findings highlight spatial and evolutionary gaps in China’s legal protection system and offer a roadmap for prioritizing climate-resilient and evolutionarily informed conservation strategies.

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Feng Y., Lai Y., Li J., et al. (2026). Legal protection biases and gaps for China’s threatened vascular plants. The Innovation Life 4:100205. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-life.2026.100205

Feng Y., Lai Y., Li J., et al. (2026). Legal protection biases and gaps for China’s threatened vascular plants. The Innovation Life 4:100205. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-life.2026.100205

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Legal protection biases and gaps for China’s threatened vascular plants

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