A new study published in the prestigious journal Science shows that, although the total number of plant species on Europe’s mountain peaks is on the rise, this trend also masks an acceleration in local extinctions, which particularly affect species characteristic of high altitudes.
The research was carried out by a European consortium to which Prof. Dr. Mihai Pușcaș, from Babeș-Bolyai University (the Alexandru Borza Botanical Garden and the Faculty of Biology and Geology), and researcher Dr. Tudor Ursu, from the Institute of Biological Research in Cluj-Napoca, contributed. The study is based on the monitoring of 896 permanent vegetation plots on 62 mountain peaks across 16 European mountain regions, including the Carpathians, which were surveyed four times between 2001 and 2022 as part of the international GLORIA network.
The full article can be found here: Wessely J. et al. 2026. Rising plant extinction rates on European mountain summits. Science, 393, 1021. DOI: 10.1126/science.aed2974.
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