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Spatial distribution of a endemic and b threatened tree flora in terms of number of species across India. The colour palette depicts the number of species
Source publication
Majority of global biodiversity databases lack sufficient coverage from the developing world and thus severely limiting their worldwide applicability. Bridging these knowledge gaps in global databases merits urgent research priority in biodiversity science. Here, we present Trees of India (ToI), Version-I, a comprehensive database assembled from an...
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Preserving biodiversity requires extensive information on species distributions and effectiveness of conservation actions. A surrogate approach, where a small number of species act as surrogates for broader groups of species, can simplify this task. Types of surrogates include indicator, umbrella, keystone and flagship species, and using diversity...
Citations
... The present checklist culminated in the documentation of a total of 353 taxa (340 species, nine subspecies and four varieties) belonging to 202 genera and 61 families (Appendix 1). Remarkably, the current study comprises a significant proportion of 45% of trees species of the total 783 trees (Mugal et al., 2023) in Maharashtra. Among the families represented Leguminosae (34) stands first followed by Moraceae (23), Rubiaceae (22) and Malvaceae (19) (Fig. 2). ...
The Northern Western Ghats and Konkan region of Maharashtra (NWGK) is a distinct region within the Western Ghats, characterized by unique climatic, geological, and topographical features and by its open landscapes interspersed with fragmented forest patches. It exhibits distinctive attributes in terms of tree diversity. In this study, we conducted an extensive tree survey across NWGK, covering a range of forest types, and compiled a comprehensive checklist of forest trees. The final checklist comprises 353 taxa belonging to 202 genera and 61 families, with Leguminosae, Moraceae, Rubiaceae, and Malvaceae being the most represented families. Notably, 45% of the tree species were deciduous, while 55% were evergreen. Our investigation revealed distinct tree species distributions in the north and south sectors of NWG, with
295 taxa common to both regions. Our study also unveiled the presence of 60 endemic taxa, with 65% being endemic to the Western Ghats. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the arboreal diversity of NWG, shedding light on the unique characteristics and endemism of the region. This checklist provides valuable insights for conservation efforts and the sustainable management of NWGK’s forests in Maharashtra.
... Among different plant lifeforms, trees are the main components of terrestrial biodiversity and essential elements of forest ecosystems. They serve as structural cornerstones supporting a diverse range of biodiversity, such as other plant species, animals, fungi, and microbes (Beech et al., 2017;Mugal et al., 2023). They are essential for preserving ecological balance and mitigating climate change due to their long lifespan, substantial biomass, and role in carbon sequestration (Carrero et al., 2023;Keppel et al., 2021). ...
Despite recent efforts to make large-scale biodiversity datasets available, several data shortfalls still exist that preclude our progress in achieving global conservation and sustainability goals. In this study, we present a comprehensive native tree dataset (1689 species) from the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)—home to two global biodiversity hotspots— assembled from an extensive data synthesis. Based on this database, we investigate the geographic patterns and drivers of α- and β-taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of the native trees among 13 different provinces of IHR. Our results revealed a considerable variation in the α- and β-taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity among the provinces of IHR, with the highest values in eastern provinces. We found phylogenetic clustering mostly in the western provinces, and phylogenetic dispersion in the eastern provinces. We found a positive correlation between the taxonomic and phylogenetic dissimilarity across the IHR. Also, the different sets of explan- atory variables explained the variation of tree species richness, standardized effect size of phylogenetic diversity, net relatedness index, and nearest taxon index, with maximum contribution by temperature seasonality (Bio4). Furthermore, temperature-related climatic distance individually explained most of the variation in the taxonomic and phylogenetic dissimi- larity between the provinces of IHR. Overall, our findings unveil the patterns of taxonomic, biogeographic, and phylogenetic dimensions of tree flora in the IHR, which in turn can help in formulating scientific data-based regional policy and conservation strategies. Looking forward, we presented a model study for bridging the Linnean, Wallacean, and Darwinian short- falls in the globally data-deficient biodiversity-rich regions.
... It is also important to note that the GTS is not a static database, and mistakes in taxonomy, distribution and lifeforms have been identified. For instance, non-tree species were erroneously included as tree lifeforms, hundreds of species names were synonyms and a few thousands tree species in national and regional botanical literature have not been included, particularly in developing countries (Mugal et al., 2023;Qian et al., 2019). ...
Aim
Recent unprecedented efforts to digitise and mobilise biodiversity data have resulted in the generation of ‘biodiversity big data’, enabling ecological research at scales previously not possible. However, gaps, biases and uncertainties in these data influence analytical outcomes and the validity of scientific research and conservation actions. Here, we estimated tree species inventory completeness globally and identified where future surveys should focus to maximise regional inventories.
Location
Global.
Methods
We analysed spatial patterns in sampling effort of tree species occurrence records from the Global Biodiversity and Information Facility (GBIF) and estimated global tree species inventory completeness for 100 × 100 km grid cells (sampling units) and ecoregions. We also identified forested areas for future botanical exploration, by examining the spatial overlap between inventory completeness, remaining natural habitat and protected areas and degrees of forest modification by anthropogenic pressure (forest integrity).
Results
Spatial patterns in sampling effort and tree species inventory completeness were unevenly distributed around the world. Only 35% of ecoregions and 18% of sampling units can be considered well surveyed, most of which were concentrated in the Global North, including Europe, North America and Australia. Large areas in species‐rich tropical regions, especially in Southeast Asia, remained poorly documented. Moreover, our results showed that many areas with low inventory completeness overlapped with ecoregions retaining less than 50% of natural habitat and protected land area, as well as sampling units with low forest integrity.
Main Conclusions
Due to limitations in biodiversity data, simply sampling more will not necessarily lead to increasing knowledge. We illustrated how gaps in these data can be used to improve existing knowledge by identifying priority areas for future surveys. With ongoing anthropogenic impacts and escalating rates of biodiversity loss, limited resources should be allocated to strategically survey regions likely to yield new knowledge and improve biodiversity representativeness.
... Of course, endemic tree species will be the first to be affected by anthropogenic drivers, thus making them vulnerable to risks of extinction. Our results showed a significant and strong correlation between the number of endemic and threatened tree species, which supports the widely held notion that the number of threatened species is commonly used as an indicator for priority setting in the conservation of biodiversity (Gillespie et al., 2014;Keppel et al., 2021;Mugal et al., 2023). ...
... Integrating tree biodiversity data has numerous applications and can help in better understanding of macroecological patterns of tree diversity, distribution, and the underlying processes (Keppel et al., 2021). The present study, by assembling tree species inventories including data on endemic and threat status, holds great promise for identifying the key conservation hotspots at the regional (e.g., the Himalaya) level with implications for informing global biodiversity conservation priorities (Carrero et al., 2022;Mugal et al., 2023). Our study highlights that bridging the knowledge gaps in biodiversity databases from developing countries, especially from the mountainous and hotspot regions has wide policy and management implications. ...
The recent adoption of Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework requires empirical synthesis of biodiversity data spanning across broad biogeographic scales to inform conservation policy and management. Although the availability and access to biodiversity databases have recently improved, yet majority of these databases lack sufficient geographic coverage, especially from the biodiversity hotspot regions of developing countries, thereby severely limiting their utility and generalizability across the globe. Here, we present a comprehensive tree database (2199 species) of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) – home to two global biodiversity hotspots – collated from a quantitative synthesis of 234 studies published over the last one century. Taking leverage of this novel database, we unravel the patterns of diversity, distribution, and drivers of the trees of IHR. We found that the species richness, compositional similarity, distribution patterns, and biome affiliation of the tree diversity vary significantly across the IHR, with nearly half of the tree species affiliated with the wet tropical biome. Of the 10 climatic and environmental drivers used, the annual mean temperature and elevation width in combination best predicted the variation in tree diversity across the IHR. We also document 117 endemic and 88 threatened tree species in the IHR, which merit conservation priority. Our findings have significant utility in formulating management and restoration strategies for biodiversity conservation across the IHR. Overall, our study showcases a model biodiversity database with wide policy implications in the planning and management of tree-focussed environmental programs to restore the degraded forest landscapes and plantation-specific climate change mitigation strategies in the region.
The lack of synthesized information regarding biodiversity is a major problem among researchers, leading to a pervasive cycle where ecologists make field campaigns to collect information that already exists and yet has not been made available for a broader audience. This problem leads to long-lasting effects in public policies such as spending money multiple times to conduct similar studies in the same area. We aim to identify this knowledge gap by synthesizing information available regarding two Brazilian long-term biodiversity programs and the metadata generated by them. Using a unique dataset containing 1904 metadata, we identified patterns of metadata distribution and intensity of research conducted in Brazil, as well as where we should concentrate research efforts in the next decades. We found that the majority of metadata were about vertebrates, followed by plants, invertebrates, and fungi. Caatinga was the biome with least metadata, and that there's still a lack of information regarding all biomes in Brazil, with none of them being sufficiently sampled. We hope that these results will have implications for broader conservation and management guiding, as well as to funding allocation programs.
In an era of global environmental change, empirical synthesis of biodiversity data across geographic scales and taxonomic groups is urgently required. Recently, with an upsurge in data synthesis, substantial progress has been made in making massive biodiversity data available on a global scale. However, most of these databases lack sufficient geographic coverage, particularly from biodiversity hotspot regions of developing countries. Here, we present a comprehensive and curated plant database of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) – home to two global biodiversity hotspots. The database, currently comprising 11,743 native plant species, has been collated from an extensive quantitative synthesis of 324 floristic studies published between 1872 and 2022. Based on this database, we investigate the patterns of species richness, distribution, life-history traits, endemic and threat status of the native flora of the IHR, and the results revealed that these patterns vary considerably among the 12 states of the IHR. Sikkim harbours the highest number of plant species (5090), followed by Arunachal Pradesh (4907). We found a total of 1123 species (ca. 10%) endemic to India and 157 threatened species occurring in the IHR. The life-history traits (growth form and lifespan) were unequally represented between the Himalaya and the Indo-Burma hotspots. We found herbs as the dominant growth form across the IHR. Also, maximum species similarity was found between Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh (Cs = 0.66), and minimum between the former and Meghalaya (Cs = 0.13). Overall, our study represents a significant step forward in filling the knowledge gaps from the global biodiversity hotspots in India, with immense management and policy implications.
