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In the 1980s, a cloud‑forest on a coastal hilltop in Ecuador was cleared for agriculture, allegedly wiping out around 90 plant species. The event quickly became a cautionary tale that spurred efforts to safeguard endangered rainforest flora.
However, a team of botanists from the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago), Harvard University, the University of Miami, and Universidad de Las Américas have published new evidence that challenges this narrative. Their October 2024 study in Nature Plants documents that almost every species once listed as extinct in the Centinela Ridge area has been rediscovered in remaining cloud‑forest fragments or other sites across South America. Only one species remains elusive.
Lead author Dr. Dawson White, a postdoctoral researcher in Harvard’s Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, explained in a press release, “It’s a miracle. Many of Centinela’s plants are still on the brink of extinction, but fortunately the reports of their demise were exaggerated. There’s still time to save them and turn this story around.”
The authors argue that the perceived mass extinction was likely overstated. At the time, botanists were cataloguing a surge of new species without confirming whether those plants existed elsewhere. By analyzing museum specimens, biodiversity databases, and conducting fresh fieldwork, the team underscored the crucial need to protect the world’s rainforests.
Among the most infamous “extinct” species was Gasteranthus extinctus, a neon‑orange wildflower whose name reflects its presumed demise. During recent expeditions, the international team found the plant thriving in a fragment of the original cloud forest—a type of tropical rainforest ecosystem. These remnants are often smaller than an acre and located in remote areas, which is why they were previously overlooked.
But this was not the first time the flower had been rediscovered. A prior study by White and colleagues, published in PhytoKeys in April 2022, detailed how the species, first described in 2000, was believed extinct. Subsequent searches in 2009 failed to locate it, until 2021 when White, ecologist Nigel Pitman of the Field Museum, and their team located the plant within hours of starting their search.
These findings do not negate the global biodiversity crisis. Thousands of tropical rainforest plants and animals remain endangered, and scientists continue to collaborate with conservationists to protect what remains, even in degraded habitats like Centinela Ridge.
