Peter Wilkie

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh · Tropical Section

Tree diversity in Asia’s tropical and subtropical forests is central to nature-based solutions. Species vulnerability to multiple threats, which affect provision of ecosystem services, is poorly understood. We conducted a region-wide, spatially explicit assessment of the vulnerability of 63 socioeconomically important tree species to overexploitati...

Trees play vital roles in many of the world's ecosystems while providing many benefits to people. New evidence indicates that a third of tree species are threatened with extinction, representing a tree extinction crisis. Here we demonstrate how tree species extinction will lead to the loss of many other plants and animals and significantly alter th...

In response to the worldwide coronavirus outbreak, which effectively shut down fieldwork, laboratory and herbarium‐based studies, an evaluation was made of the effectiveness and limitations of undertaking a virtual taxonomic study using only online herbarium specimen resources related to the genus Madhuca (Sapotaceae) for the Flora of Singapore. Th...

Tree diversity in Asia's tropical and subtropical forests is central to nature-based solutions. Species vulnerability to multiple threats, which affects the provision of ecosystem services, is poorly understood. We conducted a region-wide, spatially explicit vulnerability assessment (including overexploitation, fire, overgrazing, habitat conversion...

The Edinburgh Journal of Botany has moved to online only and is now using the Diamond Open Access model. The journal will continue to publish high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific papers, but these will now be both free to publish and free to access.

Unprecedented changes in the Earth’s biota are prompting urgent efforts to describe and conserve plant diversity. For centuries, botanical monographs — comprehensive systematic treatments of a family or genus — have been the gold standard for disseminating scientific information to accelerate research. The lack of a monograph compounds the risk tha...

New Guinea is the world’s largest tropical island and has fascinated naturalists for centuries. Home to some of the best-preserved ecosystems on the planet and to intact ecological gradients—from mangroves to tropical alpine grasslands—that are unmatched in the Asia-Pacific region, it is a globally recognized centre of biological and cultural diver...

A biographic summary of the research of Dr Graham Charles George Argent (born 15 May 1941, died 24 April 2019) is presented, summarising his research career. Expedition information, including dates, collection number series and the names of collaborators, is given, as is a list of his publications, annotated with taxonomic decisions and the names o...

Six new species of Vaccinium , identified as new to science by the late George Argent while compiling a revision of Vaccinium sect. Orianthe for New Guinea, are described and illustrations provided.

A taxonomic revision of Desplatsia Bocq. (Malvaceae s. lat. Juss., subfamily Grewioideae Hochr., tribe Grewieae Endl.) based on about 800 herbarium specimens is presented. Desplatsia is a genus of trees and shrubs found in tropical West and Central Africa and is characterized by subulately divided stipules, the absence of an androgynophore, stamens...

The species of the tree genus Pterospermum Schreb. (Malvaceae: Dombeyoideae) in Malesia are revised. Twenty-six species of Pterospermum are recognised, six of which are new ( P. aureum S.K.Ganesan, P. borneense S.K.Ganesan, P. glabrum S.K.Ganesan, P. havilandii S.K.Ganesan, P. merrillianum S.K.Ganesan and P. zollingerianum S.K.Ganesan) and one ( P....

GRAHAM CHARLES GEORGE ARGENT, 1941–2019 - Volume 76 Issue 3 - Peter Wilkie

This canopy tree species is native to Borneo. The population is experiencing a continuing population decline due to conversion of native lowland habitat and some harvesting of mature individuals for timber. From country to country the decline in the species is variable from very low in Brunei Darussalam and Sabah, where the species is found in prot...

Indonesia holds a large percentage of Malesian Sapotaceae taxa with an estimated 15 genera and 158 species. Bogor Botanic Gardens currently hold 12 genera and 41 species of which 29 are native to Indonesia. This represents just under 20% of Sapotaceae species currently recorded from Indonesia. The utility of these collections is dependent on the ty...

The 10th Flora Malesiana Symposium was held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) between 11 and 15 July 2016 and was attended by 185 researchers from 25 countries. Over five days, taxonomists, horticulturists and conservationists came together to present and discuss their research on the plant diversity of the Malesian region. Over 160 pres...

Indonesia holds a large percentage of Malesian Sapotaceae taxa with an estimated 15 genera and 158 species. Bogor Botanic Gardens currently hold 12 genera and 41 species of which 29 are native to Indonesia. This represents just under 20% of Sapotaceae species currently recorded from Indonesia. The utility of these collections is dependent on the ty...

A new species, Diplycosia kalimantanensis P.Wilkie & Argent (Ericaceae), collected on an expedition to Gunung Besar in the Meratus mountains, South Kalimantan, is described and illustrated, and a conservation assessment provided.

Sapotaceae belongs to the heterogeneous order Ericales and exhibits extensive diversity in floral morphology. Although pentamery is widespread and probably the ancestral condition, some clades are extremely variable in merism, with fluctuations between tetramery to hexamery and octomery, affecting different floral organs to different degrees. We as...

Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA sequence data were generated for 80 of the c. 200 species of Isonandreae and were added to data from African and Neotropical representatives in subfamily apotoideae and outgroups in Sapotaceae. Bayesian dating and ancestral area reconstruction indicated that Isonandreae are derived from within an Afri...

Silica gel has become the most common instrument for preserving leaf material in the field for future DNA extraction. This has generally involved leaf material being placed in silica gel in zip-lock type bags. Although effective it often requires a large amount of silica gel and large number of plastic bags to be taken into the field, something whi...

An overview of the pan-tropical family Sapotaceae is provided with particular focus on the Malesian region. Past and current taxonomic and phylogenetic research is summarised and publications relating to the production of a Flora Malesiana Sapotaceae account highlighted. Challenges to delivering a Flora Malesiana account are identified and some pot...

Species delimitation in Scaphium (Sterculioideae, Malvaceae/Sterculiaceae) has been problematic and has led to confusion in identification of species. The genus was last revised in 1953 and at that time comprised four species. Since then five new species have been published. This revision of Scaphium recognises eight species, with other names being...

Aim  Identify environmental correlates for tropical tree diversity and composition.Location  Borneo, Southeast Asia.Methods  A GIS-environmental database with 5 arc minute (c. 10 × 10 km) resolution was combined with tree inventory data. Tree diversity, phylogenetic diversity (PD) and the two main compositional gradients were determined for 46 tree...

A parsimony analysis of ndhF nucleotide sequences representing 24 species and 13 genera of Sterculioideae strongly supports (100% bootstrap) the monophyly of the group. Within the Sterculioideae clade four major clades are recognized with good bootstrap support but relationships among them are not resolved. This analysis suggests the recognition of...

Scaphium parviflorum P.Wilkie sp. nov. (Sterculioideae, Malvaceae/Sterculiaceae) is described and illustrated. The flowers are intermediate between the tubular flowers of Scaphium macropodum and the deeply lobed ones of Scaphium affine. However, Scaphium parviflorum differs from these species by its smooth to fissured or dippled and brown to grey-b...

A new Lobelia species is described from Mount Guiting Guiting, an ultramafic mountain on Sibuyan Island in the Philippines.

Pterospermum mengii P.Wilkie (Dombeyoideae, Malvaceae/Sterculiaceae) from Cambodia and Vietnam is described as new to science and illustrated. It is most similar to Pterospermum pecteniforme Kosterm., sharing a distinctive wavy ridge at the margin of each locule of the capsular fruit, but differing by its larger leaves, oblong to obovate leaf shape...

Fifteen hectares of primary forest in Central Kalimantan were enumerated and all trees 10 cm dbh tagged and identified to species as far as possible. Tree density, relative abundance of families and species diversity were calculated, as was a mean additive species/area curve for 1 ha and a species/area curve for all 15 ha. The Jaccard index of simi...

Aim To (1) identify floristic regions in the lowland (below 500 m a.s.l.) tropical dipterocarp rain forest of Borneo based on tree genera, (2) determine the characteristic taxa of these regions, (3) study tree diversity patterns within Borneo, and (4) relate the floristic and diversity patterns to abiotic factors such as mean annual rainfall and ge...

One hectare of primary forest in Central Kalimantan was enumerated and all trees 10 cm dbh tagged and identified to species as far as possible. Two informants, regarded as the most knowledgeable on forest trees by the local community, supplied the vernacular names for the trees. The study found that only 12% of vernacular names given by one informa...

Thematic Review of DI's contribution to the GTI The Darwin Initiative aims to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of resources around the world. It uses UK expertise working with local partners to help countries rich in biodiversity but poor in resources to fulfil their commitments under the CBD. The Initiative is funded and admin...