Format: ORAL

Jay Delves1,2,Joaquina Albn-Castillo3,Asuncin Cano4,Carmen Fernndez Aviles4,Edeline Gagnon1,5,Pal Gonzles3,Sandra Knapp6,Blanca Len3,7,Jose Luis Marcelo-Pea8,Carlos Reynel9,Roco del Pilar Rojas Gonzles10,Eric F. Rodrguez Rodrguez11,Tiina Srkinen1,Rodolfo Vsquez Martnez10,Peter W. Moonlight1,12

1 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK 2 Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 3 Herbario San Marcos, Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru 4 Instituto Científico Michael Owen Dillon (IMOD), Arequipa, Peru 5 Dept. Integrative Biology, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada 6 Natural History Museum, London, UK 7 Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA 8 Universidad Nacional de Jaén, Cajamarca, Peru 9 Herbario, Departamento Académico de Biología, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima, Peru 10 Herbario Selva Central (HOXA), Jardín Botánico de Missouri, Oxapampa, Pasco, Peru 11 Herbarium Truxillense (HUT), Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Trujillo, Peru 12 Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

Herbaria can be considered plant libraries, each holding collections of dried specimens documenting plant diversity in space and time. For many plant species, these are our only evidence of their existence and the only means of assessing their conservation status. Specimens in all herbaria, especially those in small and often under-resourced herbaria in megadiverse countries, are key to achieving accurate estimates of the conservation status of the worlds plant species. They are also part of a countrys shared heritage and critical contributions to knowledge of the worlds diversity. Summary Internationally agreed targets to assess the conservation status of all plant species rely largely on digitised distribution data from specimens held in herbaria. Using taxonomically curated databases of herbarium specimen data for the mega-diverse generaBegonia(Begoniaceae) andSolanum(Solanaceae) occurring in Peru, we test the value added from including data from local herbaria and herbaria of different sizes on estimations of threat status using International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. We find that the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) has little data from Peruvian herbaria and adding these data influences the estimated threat status of these species, reducing the numbers of Critically Endangered and Vulnerable species in both genera. Similarly, adding data from small- and medium-sized herbaria, whether in-country or not, also improves the accuracy of threat assessments. [Correction added on 08 September 2023, after first online publication: In the preceding sentence, litter has been corrected to little in this version.] A renewed focus on resourcing and recognising the contribution of small and in-country herbaria is required if we are to meet internationally agreed targets for plant conservation. We discuss our case study in the broader context of democratising and increasing participation in global botanical science.