Electronic commerce of the endemic plants of northern Morocco (Mediterranean coast-Rif) and Tunisia over the internet

Abstract

Background: Internet trade popularize the ornamental interest of plants but can also threaten species’ wild populations, if this activity is performed in uncontrolled and unauthorised ways.
 Questions: What endemic plants of Morocco and Tunisia are traded over the Internet by whom and at what prices?
 Studied species: 94 endemic plants of northern Morocco and 83 of Tunisia.
 Study site and dates: Tunisia and northern Morocco (Mediterranean coast and Rif region); internet survey between September 2018 and December 2019.
 Methods: To understand the extent of this new form of trade, We recorded the type of plant material sold over the Internet for the studied taxa, their prices and suppliers using online platforms.
 Results: Four northern Moroccan taxa (4.25 % of the total local endemics) were found as marketed by 18 nurseries in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, while no marketing activity was detected for Tunisian endemic plants. The nurseries involved offer for sale and distribution living individuals of Abies marocana at €12.00-259.50, Rhodanthemum hosmariense at €0.35-19.5, Salvia interrupta subsp. paui at €6.23-8.90, and bulbs of Acis tangitana at €1.05-3.95. Although these taxa are classified as endangered, they are traded worldwide without permit of the Moroccan authorities. The source and origin of the plant material are not clearly indicated, and only some nurseries report that their marketed material comes from own cultivated stocks.
 Conclusions: The implementation of protection laws/regulations and the monitoring of nurseries’ websites are recommended to control the illegal trade of wild plant material.

Climate Change Impact on Potential Distribution of an Endemic Species Abies marocana Trabut

“…However, despite favorable bioclimatic conditions, this species has not colonized all potential areas and is still absent in majority of the parts of the northern Morocco, mainly around the current distribution areas (northwestern parts), where the ecological conditions are highly suitable. This absence can be probably due to some factors, which are as follows: i) the nature of the forest land tenure in North Morocco, where the presence of forest species like A. marocana could consider land parcels as part of public forest domain, such presumption limits species extension (in private land) outside the forest-recognized areas (Moore et al, 1998); ii) the dissemination capacity of this species (Ben-Said et al, 2020;Navarro-Cerrillo et al, 2020) difficulties encountered in its regeneration (removal of juvenile plants and the horticultural commerce of individual living plants of A. marocana (Khabbach et al, 2022)); iv) silvicultural choices made in the past, advocating the expansion of certain species (pines, cypresses, sometimes holm oak) to meet the needs of local populations in terms of firewood (Moore et al, 1998); and v) past excessive pressure (fir clearance for wood used in building purposes) and illegal cutting and clearance by the local population of appropriate highly fertile land for the establishment of cannabis cultivation (Moore et al, 1998).…”

GIS-Facilitated Germination of Stored Seeds from Five Wild-Growing Populations of Campanula pelviformis Lam. and Fertilization Effects on Growth, Nutrients, Phenol Content and Antioxidant Potential

“…Furthermore, conservation efforts have been increased to date to achieve effective protection for local endemic NUPs, especially for those threatened with extinction [2]. Significant information on both the economic and biological value of threatened local endemic NUPs has been gathered through species-specific studies [2,[11][12][13], and basic research gaps related to their propagation and ex-situ cultivation protocols have been addressed during the last decade [2,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29].…”

Deficiencies in compliance with environmental regulation for orchid trade via social networks in Mexico

“…Native orchids traded on social networks shift the platforms into scenarios for illicit wildlife trafficking, and they can generate environmental crimes and that represent additional risks for its conservation (Bennett 2011, Carpio-Domínguez et al 2018). The problem is exacerbated because interactions between sellers and buyers multiply in a short time while they remain anonymous (Brenner 2002, Grabosky 2013, Lavorgna 2014, Khabbach et al 2022.…”

“…O n l i n e f i r s t compared with traditional markets, collaboration between governments, NGOs, scientists and platforms is required (Hinsley et al 2016a, b, 2018, Wong & Liu 2019, Khabbach et al 2022.…”