WHY PROTECT RARE SPECIES IN IOWA?
Humans are one of 10 to 100 million species that inhabit the earth (Wilson 1992). Fewer than two million species have been described and we know virtually nothing beyond the names of most of those already documented, nothing of the potential economic and medical benefits they might provide (Wilson 1992). While most North American species of plants have been described, even in a state as small as Iowa and with as few natural habitats remaining, we still are finding previously undescribed species (albeit rarely), new state records for some (e.g., a population of Southern Adder’s-tongue (Ophioglossum vulgatum L.) was discovered in southeast Iowa in 1994, Horton unpublished data), and county records for numerous species. And we have much to learn about the ecological role of the species that occur here. The remnants of natural habitats and the biodiversity they harbour are the natural heritage of this state and country. Learning about them — which species are present; which species are ra
