No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions Edition 2
... This second data set contains a largely complete set of fossil age ranges for the valid species as well as comprehensive distribution data, especially for southern hemisphere continents and Asia where the data mainly derive from type localities. Distributions are illustrated in the form of Biodiversity Information Standards (historically known as the Taxonomic Databases Working Group, TDWG) polygons (Brummitt, 2001). A major geographic bias is unlikely considering that most species are only known from their type localities or small geographic regions. ...
... Data for the palaeogeographic reconstructions are derived from Kocsis & Scotese (2021). The attribution of polygons to continents follows the TDWG scheme (level-1 polygons; Brummitt, 2001), with the exception that the Caucasus region and East Aegean islands are attributed to Europe. Continent delimitation in the fossil record is based on the present-day political situation. ...
... This bias may be enhanced by limited accessibility and patchy geological exploration across large parts of these continents. (Brummitt, 2001). Species diversity was log 10 -transformed to minimise the impact of exceptionally diverse regions (e.g. ...
Gastropoda are an exceptionally successful group with a rich and diverse fossil record. They have conquered land and freshwater habitats multiple times independently and have dispersed across the entire globe. Since they are important constituents of fossil assemblages, they are often used for palaeoecological reconstruction, biostratigraphic correlations, and as model groups to study morphological and taxonomic evolution. While marine faunas and their evolution have been a common subject of study, the freshwater component of the fossil record has attracted much less attention, and a global overview is lacking. Here, I review the fossil record of freshwater gastropods on a global scale, ranging from their origins in the late Palaeozoic to the Pleistocene. As compiled here, the global fossil record of freshwater Gastropoda includes 5182 species in 490 genera, 44 families, and 12 superfamilies over a total of ~340 million years. Following a slow and poorly known start in the late Palaeozoic, diversity slowly increased during the Mesozoic. Diversity culminated in an all-time high in the Neogene, relating to diversification in numerous long-lived (ancient) lakes in Europe. I summarise well-documented and hypothesised freshwater colonisation events and compare the patterns found in freshwater gastropods to those in land snails. Furthermore, I discuss potential preservation and sampling biases, as well as the main drivers underlying species diversification in fresh water on a larger scale. In that context, I particularly highlight the importance of long-lived lakes as islands and archives of evolution and expand a well-known concept in ecology and evolution to a broader spectrum: scale-independent ecological opportunity.
... Since our seasonality proxy is based on data collected in Sweden, we have confined our analysis to Sweden and five countries in geographical proximity. Indeed, the six Northern European countries (Ireland, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland) chosen in this study are defined as a biogeographical region in the biogeographical system (World Geographical Scheme) for Recording Plant Distributions [70]. (We note that future research could expand on our analysis by using similar data from other geographical areas, e.g., the United States [46].) ...
... Our study area is the six neighbouring Northern European countries (Ireland, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland) as defined by a biogeographical system (World Geographical Scheme) for Recording Plant Distributions [70]. These countries were chosen (a) because all six countries have relatively similar demographics, GDPs, etc., as developed Northern European countries and (b) due to their close geographical proximity to the source for our seasonality proxy, i.e., the incidence of beta-coronaviruses in Stockholm over a ten-year period [45]. ...
Background: Most government efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic revolved around
non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and vaccination. However, many respiratory diseases show
distinctive seasonal trends. In this manuscript, we examined the contribution of these three factors
to the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Pearson correlation coefficients and timelagged analysis were used to examine the relationship between NPIs, vaccinations and seasonality
(using the average incidence of endemic human beta-coronaviruses in Sweden over a 10-year period
as a proxy) and the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic as tracked by deaths; cases; hospitalisations; intensive care unit occupancy and testing positivity rates in six Northern European countries
(population 99.12 million) using a population-based, observational, ecological study method. Findings: The waves of the pandemic correlated well with the seasonality of human beta-coronaviruses
(HCoV-OC-43 and HCoV-HKU-1). In contrast, we could not find clear or consistent evidence that the
stringency of NPIs or vaccination reduced the progression of the pandemic. However, these results
are correlations and not causations. Implications: We hypothesise that the apparent influence of NPIs
and vaccines might instead be an effect of coronavirus seasonality. We suggest that policymakers
consider these results when assessing policy options for future pandemics. Limitations: The study
is limited to six temperate Northern European countries with spatial and temporal variations in
metrics used to track the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic. Caution should be exercised when
extrapolating these findings.
... Pro účely této publikace je Evropa chápána jako území definované pro botanickou práci v rámci publikace World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions vydané v roce 2001. (Brummitt, R. K., et al., 2001) | For this publication, Europe is understood as the area defined for botanical study in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions published in 2001 (Brummitt, R. K., et al., 2001). In the checklist of cultivated plants, all items are indexed under an accession number, used in a modified form as in the Botanical Garden of Berlin-Dahlem. ...
... Pro účely této publikace je Evropa chápána jako území definované pro botanickou práci v rámci publikace World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions vydané v roce 2001. (Brummitt, R. K., et al., 2001) | For this publication, Europe is understood as the area defined for botanical study in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions published in 2001 (Brummitt, R. K., et al., 2001). In the checklist of cultivated plants, all items are indexed under an accession number, used in a modified form as in the Botanical Garden of Berlin-Dahlem. ...
... Habitats were assigned based on own observations in the field and expert opinions as well as literature. The regions of origin follow the delineation of the continental regions in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (TDWG Level 1, Brummitt 2001). The annotated checklist and information on used definitions is provided in Supplementary Information 2. We give an overview to the current situation in Austria and patterns emerging in this dataset by displaying frequency distributions and spatiotemporal patterns. ...
... The most frequent orders found (Erysiphales, Peronosporales, Agaricales, Mycosphaerellales, Pleosporales, Pucciniales) are in agreement with other inventories; in Switzerland powdery mildews (Erysiphales), rust fungi (Pucciniales) and downy mildews (Peronosporales) together accounted for more than 40% of Continental region's colors (orange to red = low to high) and the thickness of the arrows correspond to the number of taxa introduced from the respective region. Delineation of the continental biogeographic regions follows the TDWG continental scheme (Brummitt, 2001). Intracontinental flows from other Euro-pean regions to Austria are shown, and taxa with unknown native ranges (n = 64) or classified as cryptogenic (n = 11) are displayed above the world map. ...
Unlabelled:
Fungal invasions can have far-reaching consequences, and despite increasing relevance, fungi are notoriously underrepresented in invasion science. Here, we present the second annotated checklist for alien and cryptogenic fungi and oomycetes in Austria. This list contains 375 taxa of which 278 are classified as established; compared to the first checklist from 2002, this amounts to an almost five-fold increase and the number of decade-wise first records is steadily rising since the mid-twentieth century. The introduction pathway is unclear for the vast majority of taxa, while the main means of spread within the country is unassisted secondary spread. Fungi were predominantly introduced from the Northern Hemisphere, especially North America and Temperate Asia. Rates of newly recorded alien fungi differ among phyla; the majority belongs to the Ascomycota, which experienced an 9.6-fold increase in numbers. Orders found most frequently are powdery mildews (Erysiphales, Ascomycota), downy mildews (Peronosporales, Oomycota), agarics (Agaricales, Basidiomycota), Mycosphaerellales (Ascomycota), rusts (Pucciniales, Basidiomycota) and Pleosporales (Ascomycota). The majority (about 80%) of the taxa are plant pathogens, while animal pathogens are few but severely affecting their native hosts. The dominance of pathogens in our checklist underlines the need of better tackling fungal invasions-especially in the light of emerging infectious diseases-and highlights potential knowledge gaps for ectomycorrhizal and saprobic alien fungi, whose invasion processes are often much more inconspicuous. Our results show that fungal invasions are a phenomenon of increasing importance, and collaborative efforts are needed for advancing the knowledge and management of this important group.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10530-022-02896-2.
... The reproductive characteristics of invasive alien plants were classified as seeds, sporulation, and clonal propagation (Barrett et al., 2008). The origin of the species was classified into Europe, Africa, Asia-Temperate, Asia-Tropical, Australasia, Northern America, and Southern America (Brummitt, 2001) based on the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). Species with multiple origins were counted once for each origin. ...
Invasive alien plants have received increasing attention due to their worldwide environmental impacts, ecological concerns, and significant economic consequences. The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is an important global biodiversity hotspot hosting rich biodiversity and serving as a crucial component of the southwest ecological security barrier, with global conservation value. However, in recent years, invasive plants have been detrimental to the conservation of biodiversity and native ecosystems on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Here, 197 invasive plant species were recognized from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, encompassing 133 genera across 47 families. We used the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) method to predict the potential distribution of invasive alien plants on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Furthermore, potential geographic distribution regions suitable for 43 invasive alien plant species were found to be primarily concentrated in central and eastern Qinghai, southern and eastern Tibet, southwest Xinjiang, and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau part of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Gansu in China. Notably, the current potential distribution area for all 43 invasive alien plant species accounts for 29.92 % of the total area, with an increase of 32.72-59.39 % projected by 2050. Moreover, risk screening results confirm the high risk of invasion of most alien plants on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. This study provides a foundation for assessing the risks associated with introducing and managing invasive alien plants in the region. It also offers scientific support for conserving the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau's unique biodiversity, ecological originality, and sustainable development during economic growth.
... bution data were obtained for nine ubiquitous synanthropic mammal species not mapped in DAMA (Bos taurus, Canis familiaris, Capra hircus, Equus asinus, Equus caballus, Felis catus, Mus musculus, Ovis aries, and Sus scrofa) from various sources(Table S1). We overlaid non-native species distributions reported in these databases onto the common regionalization scheme of Biodiversity Information standards, formerly the Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG level 4), which distinguishes 609 terrestrial regions (423 mainland regions and 186 islands or archipelagos;Brummitt, 2001). ...
The ecological impact of non‐native species arises from their establishment in local assemblages. However, the rates of non‐native spread in new regions and their determinants have not been comprehensively studied. Here, we combined global databases documenting the occurrence of non‐native species and residence of non‐native birds, mammals, and vascular plants at regional and local scales to describe how the likelihood of non‐native occurrence and their proportion in local assemblages relate with their residence time and levels of human usage in different ecosystems. Our findings reveal that local non‐native occurrence generally increases with residence time. Colonization is most rapid in croplands and urban areas, while it is slower and variable in natural or semi‐natural ecosystems. Notably, non‐native occurrence continues to rise even 200 years after introduction, especially for birds and vascular plants, and in other land‐use types rather than croplands and urban areas. The impact of residence time on non‐native proportions is significant only for mammals. We conclude that the continental exchange of biotas requires considerable time for effects to manifest at the local scale across taxa and land‐use types. The unpredictability of future impacts, implied by the slow spread of non‐native species, strengthens the call for stronger regulations on the exchange of non‐native species to reduce the long‐lasting invasion debt looming on ecosystems' future.
... The southern polar regions include not only the Antarctic continent, with less than c. 1% surface area suitable for terrestrial vegetation (Peat et al. 2007), but also the climatically milder maritime Antarctic Peninsula and the islands in the South Atlantic, as well as the islands in the southern Indian Ocean, the New Zealand shelf islands (Auckland Islands and Campbell Island), Macquarie Island (Lauer et al. 1996;Brummitt et al. 2001) and the subantarctic subregions along the mountain ranges in southern South America (Morrone 2000). ...
Two new species of the genus Lecidella, one with a North American-maritime Antarctic distribution and one with a so far exclusively southern South American-maritime Antarctic distribution, are described using molecular and morphological tools. Lecidella ayazii is a species growing on soil and also on mosses and has so far been found on the Antarctic Peninsula, as well as in the alpine areas of the La Sal Mountains, Utah, USA and in the Kivalliq Region (Nunavut) in the north of Canada, whereas L. drakensis occurs mainly on siliceous rocks, rarely on mosses, and has been recorded on both sides of the Drake Passage in southern Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula. Phylogenetic analysis of the nrITS sequence data shows that both species belong in the L. elaeochroma clade, each forming a highly supported and distinct group. Furthermore, they also differ in morphological and chemical characters from the species described so far in this clade. In addition, five further accessions were recorded from the maritime Antarctic, which were placed in the cosmopolitan and heterogeneous L. stigmatea clade, of which one could be assigned to the bipolar species L. siplei.
... The terrestrial regions are based on the TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WSRPD -level 1) (Brummit 2001 ...
This paper describes the design and build of a pilot Natural Sciences Collections Digitisation Dashboard (CDD). The CDD will become a key service for the Distributed System of Scientific Collections Research Infrastructure (DiSSCo) and aims to improve the discoverability of natural science collections (NSCs) held in European institutions, both digitised and undigitised. Furthermore, it will serve as a dynamic visual assessment tool for strategic decision-making, including the prioritisation of digitisation. The CDD pilot included high-level information from nine European NSCs, covering the number of objects, taxonomic scope, storage type, chronostratigraphy (Earth Science Collections), geographical region and level of detail in digitisation. This information is structured through a standard Collection Classification Scheme, which uses high-level categorisation to describe physical natural science collections.
... To assess source regions we recorded the native range of alien species to the continents (Africa, Australia, Europe, North America and South America; following Brummitt, 2001). Tropical Asia and Temperate Asia were not separated because the Himalaya acts as a boundary between these two regions and species distributions have been assigned too crudely to classify them unambiguously. ...
Differences in the number of alien plant species in different locations may reflect climatic and other controls that similarly affect native species and/or propagule pressure accompanied with delayed spread from the point of introduction. We set out to examine these alternatives for Himalayan plants, in a phylogenetic framework. We build a database of alien plant distributions for the Himalaya. Focusing on the well-documented regions of Jammu & Kashmir (west) and Bhutan (east) we compare alien and native species for (1) richness patterns, (2) degree of phylogenetic clustering, (3) the extent to which species-poor regions are subsets of species-rich regions and (4) continental and climatic affinities/source. We document 1470 alien species (at least 600 naturalised), which comprise ~14% of the vascular plants known from the Himalaya. Alien plant species with tropical affinities decline in richness with elevation and species at high elevations form a subset of those at lower elevations, supporting location of introduction as an important driver of alien plant richness patterns. Separately, elevations which are especially rich in native plant species are also rich in alien plant species, suggesting an important role for climate (high productivity) in determining both native and alien richness. We find no support for the proposition that variance in human disturbance or numbers of native species correlate with alien distributions. Results imply an ongoing expansion of alien species from low elevation sources, some of which are highly invasive.
... gis/tdwg/index.html). The aim of WGSRPD is to provide a standard database of geographic names so that the data could be exchanged efficiently across databases without any loss of information 76 . Currently, WGSPRD were widely used to record species distribution, e.g. ...
The rapid diversification and high species richness of flowering plants is regarded as ‘Darwin’s second abominable mystery’. Today the global spatiotemporal pattern of plant diversification remains elusive. Using a newly generated genus-level phylogeny and global distribution data for 14,244 flowering plant genera, we describe the diversification dynamics of angiosperms through space and time. Our analyses show that diversification rates increased throughout the early Cretaceous and then slightly decreased or remained mostly stable until the end of the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event 66 million years ago. After that, diversification rates increased again towards the present. Younger genera with high diversification rates dominate temperate and dryland regions, whereas old genera with low diversification dominate the tropics. This leads to a negative correlation between spatial patterns of diversification and genus diversity. Our findings suggest that global changes since the Cenozoic shaped the patterns of flowering plant diversity and support an emerging consensus that diversification rates are higher outside the tropics.
... We used two sets of species lists of angiosperm assemblages. One set of species lists was obtained from "botanical countries" defined by the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (55), as shown in fig. S2 for the botanical countries in Africa and South America. ...
Although originating from a common Gondwanan flora, the diversity and composition of the floras of Africa and South America have greatly diverged since continental breakup of Africa from South America now having much higher plant species richness. However, the phylogenetic diversity of the floras and what this tells us about their evolution remained unexplored. We show that for a given species richness and considering land surface area, topography, and present-day climate, angiosperm phylogenetic diversity in South America is higher than in Africa. This relationship holds regardless of whether all climatically matched areas or only matched areas in tropical climates are considered. Phylogenetic diversity is high relative to species richness in refugial areas in Africa and in northwestern South America, once the gateway for immigration from the north. While species richness is strongly influenced by massive plant radiations in South America, we detect a pervasive influence of historical processes on the phylogenetic diversity of both the South American and African floras.
... Alnus Mill. is a genus of the Betulaceae family which includes 41 species distributed throughout the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere and only in the Andes in the Southern Hemisphere (POWO 2023). Currently, six native Alnus accepted species are present in European territories sensu Brummit (2001): Alnus cordata (Loisel.) Duby, present in the SE; Alnus viridis (Chaix) DC., which occurs in C and NE Europe; Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn., which is present in almost the whole of Europe and N of Africa (except SW of the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco); Alnus incana (L.) Moench, native to N and C Europe; Alnus lusitanica Vít, Douda & MandáK, which occurs in Spain, Portugal and Morocco; and Alnus rohlenae Vít, Douda & Mandák, found in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula (Eu-ro+Med 2006-2022Vít et al. 2017). ...
In the Iberian Peninsula occur two species previously systematized such as Alnus glutinosa: Alnus glutinosa s.s. (diploid) in the NorthEast and A. lusitanica (tetraploid) in the West. Other studies based on the analysis of cpDNA, reveal haplotypes characteristic of diploids and tetraploids species, turning these markers into a good tool for discriminating Alnus species. However, neither all the northern territories of the Iberian Peninsula, where A. glutinosa s.s. or A. lusitanica grow, nor the Alnus populations of Sardinia Island (Italy), were considered in these studies. Our aims are a first genetic characterization of Sardinian alders and a detailed overview of the Iberian Alnus species distribution using the nd-hf-rpl32 plastid region. The Alnus lusitanica holotype from Tormes River, (Salamanca, Spain) shared the same haplotype detected in all the Western Iberian samples until Asturias, Cantabria and the Ebro River. Between Asturias and Cantabria regions, into the distribution area of A. lusitanica were found samples with the characteristic haplotype of Alnus gluti-nosa from Central and North Europe. The Sardinian black alder sample exhibited a variation of A. glutinosa haplotype, previously detected in North Central Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and Corsica island (France), suggesting some genetic relationships throughout these populations.
... For endemic species that is sister to a lineage, the ancestral ranges were reconstructed. Species distributions were defined based on the following 10 biogeographical regions (Brummitt, 2001 Ancestral areas were reconstructed using 'BioGeoBears' (Matzke, 2013) in R for pruned dated phylogenies, including the endemic species and at least two deeper nodes. Six models (DEC, DEC + j, DIVALIKE, DIVALIKE+j, BAYAREALIKE, and BAYAREA-LIKE+j) were generated and compared based on the AICc weights. ...
Aim: In Taiwan island, recent land-bridge and oversea dispersal after the appearance of proto-Taiwan (<6.5 Ma) is responsible for its biodiversity assembly. Radiations have also been widely reported in mountain systems. The tempo-spatial route to the floral hotspot was determined through a meta-analysis of the evolution of endemic plants.
Location: Taiwan island and its adjacent regions.
Taxon: Seed plants.
Methods: Published dated phylogenies were compiled to infer the origin times represented by the stem ages. To determine the speciation mode, either in situ origin or dispersal origin, the ancestral range shift pattern and/or current distribution range of the sister taxa were used with 10 different biogeographical regions classified. Histograms quantifying the numbers of different origin modes within bins of 0.5 Ma were constructed. Probabilities of long-distance dispersal (LDD) were evaluated.
Results: The 125 sampled species originate between the late Eocene and late Pleistocene, of which 14 (11.2%) and 111 (88.8%) were derived before and after the emergence of proto-Taiwan, respectively. Spatially, in situ speciation would have a bigger contribution to the formation of endemism than dispersal events (56.8% vs. 43.2%). The species with in situ origin (mean = 1.83 Ma) were significantly younger than those with dispersal origin (mean = 6.34 Ma). The main regions where dispersal occurred were South-Central China (n= 29) and Southeast China (n= 28), followed by Japan (n= 14). High probabilities (60.8%) of LDD were found.
Main Conclusions: Spatially, recent land-bridge and oversea dispersal from the adjacent Asian flora is supported and the southern part of China was found to be the most important source. In situ speciation that may have correlated with mountain uplift, monsoon intensification and Pleistocene climatic fluctuations exerted greater contributions to the biodiversity there. Temporally, floral endemism predominantly occurred after the emergence of proto-Taiwan. Additional investigations with more sophisticated sampling and genetic data are needed in the future.
... For each species, we recorded the family and region of origin using the classification of Brummit (2001). Where known, we included the date of the first introduction/observation, and where unknown, we included the date of publication in which the taxon was first reported (Supplementary Table 1). ...
Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa, covers an area of 20,000 km² and is one of the world’s most widely known protected areas. Like many protected areas, KNP is facing an increasing problem with the introduction and spread of alien plants. However, species prioritization using poor baseline data remains a key challenge for managers globally. Publications, expert opinion, and field observations indicate that 407 alien plant taxa have been recorded in the KNP; this list also included hybrids, ornamentals, records that could only be identified to the genus level, and extralimitals (i.e., species native elsewhere in South Africa; 22 species in total); in addition, two species are considered eradicated, and three potentially eradicated. Such extensive lists of poorly defined species’ statuses accumulated over long periods of time poses challenges to current decision-making processes. This is especially important for the management of naturalized (maintaining self-sustaining populations) and invasive species (subset of naturalized species that have spreading populations), because management needs to identify and target high-priority species and vulnerable sites. Here, we provide an up-to-date inventory of alien plant species that occur in natural areas in KNP (i.e., beyond tourist camps and other infrastructure) and thus represent a potential threat to the native species diversity in the park. We identified 146 such alien taxa, of which 30 are casuals, 58 are naturalized, 21 have become invasive, and for 37 species, the status remains to be determined. Twelve of the invasive species in KNP are globally widespread, occurring in more than 100 regions, and five (i.e., Pontederia crassipes, Lantana camara, Opuntia stricta, Chromolaena odorata and Mimosa pigra) are listed among 100 of the world’s worst invasive alien species. The alien flora in KNP comprises 41 families. Solanaceae (45.5%) and Asteraceae (26.1%) are over-represented among invasive species compared to non-invasive species. The alien flora of KNP mostly originates from North America and South America, and largely consists of perennials and herbaceous species. We found no significant results regarding the effect of origin and life span on invasion status. Despite a steady increase in the numbers of alien and naturalized plants since the 1980s, species we classified as invasive generally represent earlier introductions and have not increased substantially since the beginning of this century. Our paper highlights that carefully revised naturalized and invasive species lists reflecting the current situation in protected areas present a strong knowledge base for effective management strategies. In addition to addressing data gaps related to the distribution of alien species on a global scale, knowledge from large protected areas such as KNP contributes to understanding invasions in landscapes with varying and unique habitat types.
... plantsoftheworldonline.org/) and extracting records that fell within the boundaries of POWO. The POWO is a comprehensive database of native distribution maps for all plants of the world within biogeographic units defined by the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions 114 . In the case of butterflies, native occurrences were determined using range map overlays from a dataset of country-level species occurrences 105 which includes country-level species range maps from literature and publicly available occurrence records from GBIF 105 . ...
The ever-increasing human footprint even in very remote places on Earth has inspired efforts to document biodiversity vigorously in case organisms go extinct. However, the data commonly gathered come from either primary voucher specimens in a natural history collection or from direct field observations that are not traceable to tangible material in a museum or herbarium. Although both datasets are crucial for assessing how anthropogenic drivers affect biodiversity, they have widespread coverage gaps and biases that may render them inefficient in representing patterns of biodiversity. Using a large global dataset of around 1.9 billion occurrence records of terrestrial plants, butterflies, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals, we quantify coverage and biases of expected biodiversity patterns by voucher and observation records. We show that the mass production of observation records does not lead to higher coverage of expected biodiversity patterns but is disproportionately biased toward certain regions, clades, functional traits and time periods. Such coverage patterns are driven by the ease of accessibility to air and ground transportation, level of security and extent of human modification at each sampling site. Conversely, voucher records are vastly infrequent in occurrence data but in the few places where they are sampled, showed relative congruence with expected biodiversity patterns for all dimensions. The differences in coverage and bias by voucher and observation records have important implications on the utility of these records for research in ecology, evolution and conservation research.
... Chen et al. (2015) was the first to show a morphological similarity and a close phylogenetic affinity between A. subfalcatum and A. smithii. Most previous studies distinguished these two species by frond shape (Brownlie, 1977;National Museum of Nature and Science (NMNS), 2008;Chen et al., 2017). This is true when comparing only their type collections. ...
Antrophyum is one of the largest genera of vittarioid ferns (Pteridaceae) and is most diverse in tropical Asia and the Pacific Islands, but also occurs in temperate Asia, Australia, tropical Africa and the Malagasy region. The only monographic study of Antrophyum was published more than a century ago and a modern assessment of its diversity is lacking. Here, we reconstructed a comprehensively sampled and robustly supported phylogeny for the genus based on four chloroplast markers using Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony analyses. We then explored the evolution of the genus from the perspectives of morphology, systematics and historical biogeography. We investigated nine critical morphological characters using a morphometric approach and reconstructed their evolution on the phylogeny. We describe four new species and provide new insight into species delimitation. We currently recognize 34 species for the genus and provide a key to identify them. The results of biogeographical analysis suggest that the distribution of extant species is largely shaped by both ancient and recent dispersal events.
... The latest versions of these databases document 303 ant, 361 bird, 239 mammal, 207 spider, and 15,111 vascular plant species naturalised as non-native in regions stated in the databases, respectively (details on the data sources are provided in Supplementary Table 2). Species distributions in the databases were assigned to the Biodiversity Information standards (TDWG level 4), which includes 609 terrestrial regions (186 islands or archipelagos, and 423 mainland regions, mostly countries, states and provinces of larger countries) 58 . ...
While the regional distribution of non-native species is increasingly well documented for some taxa, global analyses of non-native species in local assemblages are still missing. Here, we use a worldwide collection of assemblages from five taxa - ants, birds, mammals, spiders and vascular plants - to assess whether the incidence, frequency and proportions of naturalised non-native species depend on type and intensity of land use. In plants, assemblages of primary vegetation are least invaded. In the other taxa, primary vegetation is among the least invaded land-use types, but one or several other types have equally low levels of occurrence, frequency and proportions of non-native species. High land use intensity is associated with higher non-native incidence and frequency in primary vegetation, while intensity effects are inconsistent for other land-use types. These findings highlight the potential dual role of unused primary vegetation in preserving native biodiversity and in conferring resistance against biological invasions.
... Geographical regions were defined by the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions(Brummitt, 2001), and habitat and habit were modified according toCarter et al. (2011), for subsequent analyses. As an example of how information has been recorded, this is the description of Aloe dorothea Berger: This species is stemless and occurs around Kideliko Rock, Tanzania. ...
Societal Impact Statement
Aloes are iconic succulent plants native to Africa, Madagascar and the Arabian Peninsula. The succulent leaf mesophyll of aloes has been used extensively as a herbal product for centuries, contributing to their overexploitation. Health benefits are attributed to their polysaccharide content. We present a comprehensive comparison of the polysaccharide composition of succulent tissues from 93 Aloe species. We found polysaccharide composition primarily related to leaf morphology in alignment with the broad range of Aloe species used medicinally. All aloes except Aloe ferox and Aloe vera are endangered raising concern about over‐harvesting of wild species.
Summary
Aloes are iconic succulent plants native to Africa, Madagascar and the Arabian Peninsula. All aloes except the commercially grown Aloe ferox and Aloe vera are protected according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Major factors contributing to their over‐exploitation are their ornamental value and medicinal use with more than 25% of Aloe species being utilised. The succulent inner leaf mesophyll of aloes is used in traditional medicine, with the healing effect ascribed to the properties of their structural polysaccharides.
To explore the correlation between Aloe polysaccharide profiles and other biologically relevant traits across the genus, we (1) extracted polysaccharides and created profiles for nearly 100 representative species using carbohydrate microarrays and molecular probes. We targeted six major plant cell wall polysaccharide groups using 27 different molecular probes. We (2) tested for phylogenetic signal in the polysaccharide profiles and (3) assembled an exhaustive database from literature on the geographic region, level of endemism, altitude, habitat, habit, medicinal use and leaf morphology of the individual species of Aloe.
In the absence of phylogenetic signal of polysaccharide profiles, multivariate linear modelling without phylogenetic correction was used and showed that polysaccharide composition primarily correlated with leaf morphology, highlighting the fundamental role of polysaccharides as the building blocks of plants. No correlations between polysaccharide composition of commercial and non‐commercial species were found.
We found polysaccharide composition to primarily relate to leaf morphology emphasising the fundamental and structural role of polysaccharides.
... Coarse-scale distribution data have also been shown to be useful predictors of extinction risk for plants 21 , we therefore also included the number of level-3 botanical countries occupied. Level-3 botanical countries are biogeographical units defined by the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions 84 to reflect political country boundaries while taking into account botanical tradition and botanical heterogeneity within and between political countries 85 . For simplicity, we refer to them as 'regions' hereafter and in the main text. ...
Protecting nature’s contributions to people requires accelerating extinction risk assessment and better integrating evolutionary, functional and used diversity with conservation planning. Here, we report machine learning extinction risk predictions for 1,381 palm species (Arecaceae), a plant family of high socio-economic and ecological importance. We integrate these predictions with published assessments for 508 species (covering 75% of all palm species) and we identify top-priority regions for palm conservation on the basis of their proportion of threatened evolutionarily distinct, functionally distinct and used species. Finally, we explore palm use resilience to identify non-threatened species that could potentially serve as substitutes for threatened used species by providing similar products. We estimate that over a thousand palms (56%) are probably threatened, including 185 species with documented uses. Some regions (New Guinea, Vanuatu and Vietnam) emerge as top ten priorities for conservation only after incorporating machine learning extinction risk predictions. Potential substitutes are identified for 91% of the threatened used species and regional use resilience increases with total palm richness. However, 16 threatened used species lack potential substitutes and 30 regions lack substitutes for at least one of their threatened used palm species. Overall, we show that hundreds of species of this keystone family face extinction, some of them probably irreplaceable, at least locally. This highlights the need for urgent actions to avoid major repercussions on palm-associated ecosystem processes and human livelihoods in the coming decades.
... Each of the records identified as cultivated was manually checked before removal to ensure that native stands (e.g., from National Parks) were not erroneously deleted. To remove non-native records, we first created a vector to represent the natural range of each genus using the botanical countries of the TDWG geographical standard (Brummitt, 2001) as the spatial unit. To do so, we used the third level of TDWG code of the botanical countries of the genus native range as in the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP, Govaerts et al., 2008). ...
Premise:
There has been a great increase in using climatic data in phylogenetic studies over the past decades. However, compiling the high-quality spatial data needed to perform accurate climatic reconstructions is time-consuming and can result in poor geographical coverage. Therefore, researchers often resort to qualitative approximations. Our aim is to evaluate the climatic characterization of the genera of the Asian Palmate Group (AsPG) of Araliaceae as an exemplar lineage of plants showing the tropical-temperate transitions.
Methods:
We compiled a curated worldwide spatial database of the AsPG genera and created five raster layers representing bioclimatic regionalizations of the world. Then, we crossed the database with the layers to climatically characterize the AsPG genera.
Results:
We found large disagreement in the climatic characterization of genera among regionalizations and little support for the climatic nature of the tropical-temperate distribution of the AsPG. Both results are attributed to the complexity of delimiting tropical, subtropical and temperate climates in the world and to the distribution of the study group in regions with transitional climatic conditions.
Conclusions:
The complexity in the climatic classification of this example of the tropical-temperate transitions, calls for a general climatic revision of other tropical-temperate lineages. In fact, we argue that to properly evaluate tropical-temperate transitions across the Tree of Life we cannot ignore the complexity of distribution ranges. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... Cycnogeton procerum (R.Br.) Buchenau (von Mering and Kadereit 2015) (previously Triglochin procerum R.Br), is a fleshy leaved, rhizomatous and endemic semi-emergent perennial (Rea 1992) which is morphologically variable and widespread across Australia and Malesia (Harden 1993;Brummitt et al. 2001). It is a dominant macrophyte in the Mulwaree chain-of-ponds, occupying the greatest width and depth in the pond margins. ...
Ponds and wetlands around the world face anthropogenic pressures that threaten key ecosystem processes such as nutrient and organic matter cycling. Wetlands in arid and semi-arid regions are particularly at risk from uncertainty of water availability and competing pressures for use. Such threats are most acute for non-perennial systems that rely on occasional surface water flows to maintain important ecological functions.
This study investigates the decomposition of an endemic macrophyte Cycnogeton procerum (R.Br.) Buchenau as a key ecosystem process in a chain-of-ponds wetland system, located in the intermittently flowing Mulwaree River, New South Wales, Australia. The aims of this study were to identify spatial and temporal patterns and the relative importance of microbial activity in macrophyte decomposition to improve our understanding of ecological processes in these intermittent systems.
Exponential decomposition rates (proportional mass loss (g)) were highest during spring and summer (0.07-0.10 kd ⁻¹ ) and slower during autumn and winter (0.03-0.04 kd ⁻¹ ), reflecting seasonal drivers. Decomposition was significantly different in 9 mm and 150 μm mesh bags only during spring, suggesting decomposition was mostly performed by microbes, with invertebrate herbivores possibly only a factor during spring lotic conditions.
Mesotrophic conditions, regulated by flow and internal macrophyte and algal dynamics appear to maintain a highly productive, macrophyte-dominated aquatic wetland system. Temperature was a major factor in decomposition rates and expected increases due to climate change will accentuate pressure on the resilience of the macrophyte community. Alterations caused by changing climate and anthropogenic land use place the ponds at high risk.
... General purpose approaches include administrative units 1 , watersheds or river basins 2 , landforms 3 , ecoregions 4 , terrestrial habitats 5 , or the GEO, IPBES or IPCC (sub-) regions and units of analysis. Examples of more specific partitioning schemes include the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions 6 . Any layer that shows the location and extent of geographical features allows the detailed spatial localization of field data 7 and their analysis at different resolutions. ...
A standardized delineation of the world’s mountains has many applications in research, education, and the science-policy interface. Here we provide a new inventory of 8616 mountain ranges developed under the auspices of the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA). Building on an earlier compilation, the presented geospatial database uses a further advanced and generalized mountain definition and a semi-automated method to enable globally standardized, transparent delineations of mountain ranges worldwide. The inventory is presented on EarthEnv at various hierarchical levels and allows users to select their preferred level of regional aggregation from continents to small subranges according to their needs and the scale of their analyses. The clearly defined, globally consistent and hierarchical nature of the presented mountain inventory offers a standardized resource for referencing and addressing mountains across basic and applied natural as well as social sciences and a range of other uses in science communication and education.
... The climatic space occupied by H. contortus and T. triandra was compared. Occurrence records of each species were divided into continents according to The World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) (Brummit, 2001). The Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer (between 23.44 and −23.44 latitude) were used to separate tropical and temperate regions. ...
Species of the Heteropogon‐Themeda clade are ecologically important grasses distributed across the tropics, including widespread species, such as the pantropical H. contortus and T. triandra, and range‐restricted species such as H. ritchiei and T. anathera. Here, we examine habitat preferences of the grassland/savanna and wetland species by describing bioclimatic niche characteristics, characterizing functional traits, and investigating the evolution of functional traits of 31 species in the Heteropogon‐Themeda clade in relation to precipitation and temperature. The climatic limits of the clade are linked to mean annual precipitation and seasonality that also distinguish seven wetland species from 24 grassland/savanna species. Tests of niche equivalency highlighted the unique bioclimatic niche of the wetland species. However, climatic factors do not fully explain species geographic range, and other factors are likely to contribute to their distribution ranges. Trait analyses demonstrated that the wetland and grassland/savanna species were separated by culm height, leaf length, leaf area, awn length, and awn types. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the wetland species evolved tall stature with long and large leaves and lack of hygroscopic awns that suggest selective pressures in the shift between savanna/grassland and wetland. The two most widespread species, Heteropogon contortus and Themeda triandra have significantly different bioclimatic niches, but we also found that climatic niche alone does not explain the current geographic distributions of H. contortus and T. triandra. Our study provides a new understanding of the biogeography and evolutionary history of an ecologically important clade of C4 tropical grasses. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... Geographic range maps of birds were extracted from the BirdLife International database (Birdlife International & NatureServe, 2015) and palm distribution data from the PalmTraits database . As with other plant clades, detailed range maps for many palm species are not yet available, thus species distributions in the PalmTraits database are specified as presences or absences within botanical countries, which are standardized regions defined by the International Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG, Brummitt et al., 2001). To match the scale of palm distribution data, assemblages of bird species were defined by overlapping bird ranges with botanical country polygons, thus creating species lists for each botanical country. ...
Species interactions are influenced by the trait structure of local multi‐trophic communities. However, it remains unclear whether mutualistic interactions in particular can drive trait patterns at the global scale, where climatic constraints and biogeographic processes gain importance. Here we evaluate global relationships between traits of frugivorous birds and palms (Arecaceae), and how these relationships are affected, directly or indirectly, by assemblage richness, climate and biogeographic history. We leverage a new and expanded gape size dataset for nearly all avian frugivores, and find a positive relationship between gape size and fruit size, that is, trait matching, which is influenced indirectly by palm richness and climate. We also uncover a latitudinal gradient in trait matching strength, which increases towards the tropics and varies among zoogeographic realms. Taken together, our results suggest trophic interactions have consistent influences on trait structure, but that abiotic, biogeographic and richness effects also play important, though sometimes indirect, roles in shaping the functional biogeography of mutualisms. We quantified global patterns and drivers of the functional biogeography of mutualistic trait matching using a unique gape size dataset for nearly all avian frugivores, paired with data on palm fruit size. We find bird gape size and palm fruit size are globally coupled, and that this coupling is stronger in the tropics. In addition, climatic constraints, biogeographic history and richness effects all have important, though sometimes indirect, influences on trait matching patterns.
... Do the codes given for geographical areas all match the standard used (e.g. ISO country code or TDWG code (Brummitt 2001))? On such large databases, these checks cannot be done visually. ...
... Combien de données sont manquantes pour chaque information nécessaire ? Est-ce que les codes indiqués pour les zones géographiques correspondent tous au standard utilisé (par exemple, le code ISO des pays ou le code TDWG (Brummitt 2001)) ? Sur des bases de données de si grande taille, ces vérifications ne peuvent se faire visuellement. ...
... Do the codes given for geographical areas all match the standard used (e.g. ISO country code or TDWG code (Brummitt 2001))? On such large databases, these checks cannot be done visually. ...
The study of ocean sediment cores has made it possible to document past climate variability beyond the instrumental period, that is, since direct measurements of climate variables such as water or atmospheric temperature are available. In paleoclimatology, or the study of past climates, scientists use indirect methods, called “proxies”, to reconstruct past climate conditions. This chapter attempts to cover first a brief history of the MNHN oceanic collection, second, the development of coring techniques and, finally, the types of proxies currently used to reconstruct sea temperature, salinity and CO 2 concentration, three parameters that are very sensitive to climate change. There are several coring techniques, but most of the cores in the oceanic collection are from “calypso” type piston corers, derived from the Kullenberg corer, invented in 1947. Although knowledge of foraminiferal biology and geochemistry has made significant progress in recent years, much work remains to be done to make these new proxies more robust.
... Do the codes given for geographical areas all match the standard used (e.g. ISO country code or TDWG code (Brummitt 2001))? On such large databases, these checks cannot be done visually. ...
This chapter assesses the feasibility of using natural history collections to trace temporal changes in species distribution and community composition using the example of macroalgae that are preserved as herbaria. The preservation of plants in herbaria began during the Renaissance. This technique required paper and became widespread in the 18th century thanks to technical advances in paper production. Plant classifications have been developed on the basis of the diversity of forms of reproductive organs. The algal herbarium of the Dinard maritime laboratory has been recently transferred to the Herbier national du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle de Paris in the cryptogamy section. It is possible to explore temporal changes in species distribution from collections under certain conditions, either by using only the observations or by using those observations to model species distribution. Algal community composition and species distribution are being impacted by global change and in particular by increasing seawater temperatures and heat waves.
... To obtain a continuous global scheme of regional epiphyte compositions, we aggregated the number of epiphyte species following the Taxonomic Database Working Group (TDWG) classification of botanical countries. The TDWG scheme defines botanical countries as standardized geographical boundaries independent of political configurations (Brummit, 2001 Figure S1). ...
Aim
Vascular epiphytes are ubiquitous components of wet tropical forests where they contribute substantially to local and regional plant diversity. While some basic epiphyte distribution patterns are relatively well studied, little effort has been made to understand the drivers responsible for constraining their global distribution. This study quantifies the substantial contribution of epiphytes to global gradients and centres of vascular plant diversity and explores whether epiphytes vary from terrestrial plants in relation to contemporary and historical environmental variables.
Location
Global.
Time period
Present.
Major taxa studied
Tracheophyta.
Methods
Using a comprehensive epiphyte species list (EpiList 1.0), and distribution information for 27,850 epiphyte species derived from numerous literature sources, we describe the global biogeography of epiphytes. We use generalized linear mixed effects models to assess the relationship between epiphytic and terrestrial plant diversity, and contemporary and historical environmental predictors.
Results
Epiphytes substantially contribute to global centres of vascular plant diversity, accounting for up to 39% of the vascular flora in Neotropical regions. Epiphytes decrease in species numbers with increasing latitude at a rate three times faster than terrestrial plants, a trend that is driven mainly by the distribution of tropical forests and precipitation. Further, large regional differences emerge that are explained by several large endemic angiosperm families (e.g., Neotropical Bromeliaceae) that are absent in other tropical regions.
Main conclusions
Our results show that epiphytes are disproportionately diverse in most global centres of plant diversity and play an important role in driving the global latitudinal diversity gradient for plants. The distribution of precipitation and tropical forest area emerge as major drivers of the latitudinal diversity gradient in epiphyte species richness. Finally, our findings demonstrate how epiphyte floras in different biogeographical realms are composed of different families and higher taxa, revealing an important signature of historical biogeography.
... Jäger et al., 2008). The following traits were considered: maximum height (m), region of origin (following the TDWG (= Taxonomic Databases Working group) level 1 continent classification (Brummitt, 2001); species that originated under human influence were classified as anecophytes), dispersal mechanisms; the latter were further grouped into number of long-distance dispersal mechanisms (anemochory, zoochory), and number of short-distance dispersal mechanisms (all other dispersal mechanisms). Other traits that were initially considered such as mean specific leaf area (SLA) and seed mass were missing for several species and were thus excluded from the analyses. ...
Recent studies have shown that temperate forests are susceptible to the invasion of alien species. However, it is less known how species attributes such as functional traits, invasion success on large scales (e.g. globally or in Europe), residence time and pathways of introduction interact in shaping the distribution of alien species in forests. Here, we analyse the distribution of alien species species introduced long ago (i.e. archaeophytes, introduced before 1492) and of more recently introduced aliens (i.e. neophytes, i.e. introduced after 1492) in 43 study sites (5 ha size) in forest remnants in a cultural landscape in eastern Austria.
We recorded 167 alien species (112 neophytes, 55 archaeophytes). There was a significant, yet moderate correlation between number of neophyte and archaeophyte species per site. Life form composition of archaeophytes differed substantially from that of neophytes: archaeophytes mostly were short-lived (76%) and long-lived (22%) herbs. For neophytes, life-form composition was much more even, with long-lived herbs being most abundant (36%), and all other life forms being similarly represented (21-23%). While the dominant pathway for archaeophytes was unintentional introduction (51 species), neophytes were mostly introduced by horticulture (90 species).
Year of first record in Austria, and the number of European regions a species has invaded highly significantly explain local invasion success, i.e. the number of invaded study sites. Further, the number of short-distance dispersal mechanisms highly significantly explained the number of invaded sites, while the number of long-distance dispersal mechanisms was insignificant. The maximum height of a species had also a significant positive influence on the number of invaded sites. Our results show that the composition of old and more recently introduced alien species in forests differs substantially in terms of regions of origin, life-form and pathways, and that basic species attributes contribute to local invasion success.
... To better depict the geographical origins of species, and to tackle the different spatial resolutions of the geographical origin data for the domestic and alien species, we harmonized the geographical origin datasets of species to fit within the biodiversity information standards geographic system (TDWG level-4 regions) (Dawson et al., 2017). The TDWG level-4 regions include 609 regions, mostly comprised of countries, states, and provinces of larger countries and major island groups (Brummit, 2001). China's territory was presented as a province-level map in the TDWG level-4 regions. ...
Cities have become the main abodes for people, and landscape plants with their notable influence on quality of life, are important components of the urban ecosystem. The need to explore the climatic suitability and sustainability of landscape plants is especially relevant due to globalization and climate change. Nevertheless, this research area is constrained by the limited understanding of the biogeographical origin of landscape plants. We have compiled data on species lists, taxonomic information, and geographical and climatic origins for woody landscape plants in 36 major cities across China. We used climatic niche breadth (CNB) and climatic mismatched ratio (CMR) to assess the climatic suitability and sustainability of landscape plants. We found that 412 alien species had several hotspots of origin, mainly tropical regions in the Americas, Asia, and Australia. The 1,258 domestic species mainly originated from temperate southern China. Tropical species had a conspicuous geographical clustering in coastal cities of southern China, while the temperate species were abundant in all cities. The CNBs of domestic species were wider than those of alien species, and arid cities with harsher environmental stresses (mainly due to the limited precipitation) registered higher CMRs. In terms of sustainability, the response of landscape plants to climate change varied across climate zones, being influenced by a rich presence of temperate species. Overall, our findings emphasized that landscape plant selections should not only pay attention to the existing landscape needs, but also consider the climatic sustainability of landscape plant species to climate change, especially for long lifespan woody plants.
Urban protected biodiversity areas conserve some of the world’s critically endangered and isolated biodiversity while providing essential ecosystem services. However, these urban habitats are threatened by the presence of alien and invasive plants. We studied alien plant species richness and identified the potential predictors in urban protected biodiversity areas in Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa. Data on alien plant species were collected through surveys and consultations with protected area managers. We determined the relationship between the observed species richness and potential alien plant species predictors, such as area size, number of visitors, proximity to residential areas, and the year the reserve was proclaimed. We documented 574 records of 189 alien plant species from 60 families across 14 protected areas. Phanerophytes were the most common (46.5%), with many species native to South America, North America, and Africa. Most species have formed naturalised populations (67.7%), followed by invasive populations (20.6%) and casual populations (12%), posing future invasion threats. Most species (55.5%) were introduced as ornamental plants, with many of these species forming invasive populations. Half the recorded species were listed under the NEM:BA A&IS regulations, mostly categorized as 1b. Our findings indicate that the annual number of visitors strongly predicted alien plant species richness in urban protected areas. Additionally, a significant negative correlation was observed between species richness and the proximity to residential areas and years since the proclamation. Understanding the distribution patterns and predictors of species richness is crucial in monitoring invasive alien species and conserving biodiversity in urban environments.
Genista etnensis (Raf.) DC. subsp. etnensis found in Isparta Province, is confirmed as a new record for Turkey based on morphological and nrDNA ITS sequence data. Based on historical records, we also discuss the introduction and naturalization of the species through human activities linked to afforestation in the past 70 years. This study provides the first detailed description of G. etnensis subsp. etnensis in Turkey. Additionally, the taxonomy and nomenclature of G. etnensis are reviewed and clarified. Lectotype of Drymospartum sardum C.Presl, Spartium aetnense Biv. and S. trispermum Sm. are designated here.
Alien species can have massive impacts on native biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and human livelihoods. Assessing which species from currently cultivated alien floras may escape into the wild and naturalize is essential for efficient and proactive ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation. Climate change has already promoted the naturalization of many alien plants in temperate regions, but whether it is similar in (sub)tropical areas is insufficiently known. In this study, we used species distribution models for 1527 cultivated alien plants to evaluate current and future invasion risks across different biomes and 10 countries in southern Africa. Our results confirm that the area of suitable climate is a strong predictor of naturalization success among the cultivated alien flora. In contrast to previous findings from temperate regions, however, climatic suitability is generally predicted to decrease for potential aliens across our (sub)tropical study region. While increasingly hotter and drier conditions are likely to drive declines in suitability for potential aliens across most biomes of southern Africa, in some the number of potential invaders is predicted to increase under moderate climate change scenarios (e.g. in dry broadleaf forests and flooded grasslands). We found that climatic suitability is expected to decline less for aliens originating from continents with the tropical biome or from the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, we found that the climatically suitable area will decline less for aliens that have already naturalized in the region. While the number of potential invaders may decrease across southern Africa under future climate change, our results suggest that already naturalized aliens will continue to threaten native species and ecosystems.
Despite its millennial existence and empirical documentation, the ethnological knowledge of herbs is a more recent phenomenon. The knowledge of their historical uses as food, medicine, source of income and small-scale businesses, and the sociological impacts are threatened due to the slow ethnobotanical research drive. Species of the genus Solanum have long been extensively used in folk medicine to treat various illnesses of humans since the dawn of civilization. All data were systematically obtained from papers, monographs, and books written in Uzbek, Russian, and English through various scientific online databases, including Google, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Semantic Scholar, Science Direct, and Web of Science using specific keywords focused on eight Solanum species. Eight native and non-native Solanum species as S. dulcamara L., S. lycopersicum L., S. melongena L., S. nigrum L., S. rostratum Dunal., S. sisymbriifolium Lam., S. tuberosum L., and S. villosum Mill. have been recorded in Uzbekistan of Central Asia. In this article we presented recently obtained data on the diversity, morphological characteristics, global distribution, habitat, population status, phenology, reproduction, pharmacology and phytochemistry of these Solanum species in Uzbekistan. Furthermore, relying on a combination of literature reviews and analyses from various scientific papers, we focus on food consumption coupled with global ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological uses in human diseases of the Solanum species growing in Uzbekistan. Since the dawn of civilization, these eight cultivated and non-cultivated species of Solanum have provided sustainable resources of medicinal plants in Uzbekistan to prevent and treat various human diseases. Based on the collected data, it was shown that Solanum species have not been studied ethnobotanically and ethnomedicinally in Uzbekistan and it is necessary to conduct phytochemical and biotechnological research on them in the future. Traditional uses and scientific evaluation of Solanum indicate that S. nigrum, S. sisymbriifolium and S. tuberosum are one of the most widely used species in some parts of the world. Although considerable progress has been made to comprehend the chemical and biological properties of S. nigrum and S. tuberosum species, more research on the pharmacology and toxicology of these species is needed to ensure the safety, efficacy, and quality of their biologically active extracts and isolated bioactive compounds. Additionally, conducting additional research on the structure-activity relationship of certain isolated phytochemicals has the potential to enhance their biological efficacy and advance the scientific utilization of traditional applications of Solanum taxa.
Plants sustain human life. Understanding geographic patterns of the diversity of species used by people is thus essential for the sustainable management of plant resources. Here, we investigate the global distribution of 35,687 utilized plant species spanning 10 use categories (e.g., food, medicine, material). Our findings indicate general concordance between utilized and total plant diversity, supporting the potential for simultaneously conserving species diversity and its contributions to people. Although Indigenous lands across Mesoamerica, the Horn of Africa, and Southern Asia harbor a disproportionate diversity of utilized plants, the incidence of protected areas is negatively correlated with utilized species richness. Finding mechanisms to preserve areas containing concentrations of utilized plants and traditional knowledge must become a priority for the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Aim
Spreading infectious diseases associated with introduced pathogens can have devastating effects on native biota and human livelihoods. We analyse the global distribution of 100 major alien fungal and oomycete pathogens with substantial socio‐economic and environmental impacts and examine their taxonomy, ecological characteristics, temporal accumulation trajectories, regional hot‐ and coldspots of taxon richness and taxon flows between continents.
Location
Global.
Taxon
Alien/cryptogenic fungi and fungus‐like oomycetes, pathogenic to plants or animals.
Methods
To identify over/underrepresented classes and phyla, we performed Chi ² tests of independence. To describe spatial patterns, we calculated the region‐wise richness and identified hot‐ and coldspots, defined as residuals after correcting taxon richness for region area and sampling effort via a quasi‐Poisson regression. We examined the relationship with environmental and socio‐economic drivers with a multiple linear regression and evaluated a potential island effect. Regional first records were pooled over 20‐year periods, and for global flows the links between the native range to the alien regions were mapped.
Results
Peronosporomycetes (Oomycota) were overrepresented among taxa and regional taxon richness was positively correlated with area and sampling effort. While no island effect was found, likely due to host limitations, hotspots were correlated with human modification of terrestrial land, per capita gross domestic product, temperate and tropical forest biomes, and orobiomes. Regional first records have increased steeply in recent decades. While Europe and Northern America were major recipients, about half of the taxa originate from Asia.
Main Conclusions
We highlight the putative importance of anthropogenic drivers, such as land use providing a conducive environment, contact opportunities and susceptible hosts, as well as economic wealth likely increasing colonisation pressure. While most taxa were associated with socio‐economic impacts, possibly partly due to a bias in research focus, about a third show substantial impacts to both socio‐economy and the environment, underscoring the importance of maintaining a wholescale perspective across natural and managed systems.
During a study of the incompletely known lichen flora of the Caucasus, we analyzed 237 specimens of corticolous Bacidia s. str. collected in the Northern and Southern Caucasus, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia. Of these, 54 specimens belonging to 11 species of Bacidia s. str. were selected for molecular studies, representing the observed morphological variability of the genus. We obtained 142 sequences from three RNA-coding genes (nrITS, nrLSU, and mtSSU) and two protein-coding genes ( RPB 1 and RPB 2). The single and concatenated datasets were complemented with Bacidia s. str. sequences from GenBank and subjected to Bayesian inference and two maximum likelihood analyses (RAxML and IQ-TREE). The resulting trees yielded highly concordant topologies of the groups and corresponded with previous results, supporting two main clades correlating with apothecia pigmentation. Our analyses are the first to reveal the presence of Bacidia heterochroa in the Caucasus. An exceptionally high degree of morphological plasticity was found in the Rubella and Suffusa groups. As a result of morphological examination and phylogenetic results, B. caucasica (Suffusa group) was described as new to science. Furthermore, two putative taxa in the Rubella group, Bacidia inconspicua ined. and B. maritima ined., were introduced. This study furthers our understanding and documentation of the understudied lichen flora of the Caucasus, bringing the total number of Bacidia species for the region to 13.
Worldwide, invasive alien species (IAS) cause significant ecological and economic impacts. To meet the Target-6 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework that deals with IAS, it is crucial to fill the geographical knowledge gaps in invasion research. Towards this end, making available inventories of IAS from data-deficient regions of the world merits urgent research attention. Here we present an integrated inventory of invasive alien flora of South Asia—the most populous region of the world. We assembled the inventory by reviewing 236 studies published from 1890 to 2022, supplemented with expert validation. The inventory comprises 241 invasive alien plant species (IAPS) with perennial lifespan (65%) and herbaceous life form (61%) as the dominant life history traits. The number of IAPS varies considerably across the seven countries in the region with the highest in India (185) followed by Bhutan (53), Sri Lanka (45), Bangladesh (39), Nepal (30), Pakistan (29) and the lowest in Maldives (15). We found the highest species’ similarity between India and Bhutan and the lowest between India and Maldives, thus highlighting the role of geographical proximity and connectivity in shaping a similar species pool. Southern America was the major contributor both at country level and across the region, thereby indicating that the tropical climate matching aids in the establishment and spread of alien species. Our study will fill existing data gaps in the global reports, foster further research on biological invasions in South Asia, and guide invasion policy formulation and management strategies within each country and much beyond the political boundaries across the region.
This article is part of the Special Collection ‘Global plant diversity and distribution’. See https://www.newphytologist.org/global-plant-diversity for more details.
Tree planting has the potential to improve the livelihoods of millions of people as well as to support environmental services such as biodiversity conservation. Planting however needs to be executed wisely if benefits are to be achieved. We have developed the GlobalUsefulNativeTrees (GlobUNT) database to directly support the principles advocated by the ‘golden rules for reforestation’, including planting tree mixtures that maximize the benefits to local livelihoods and the diversity of native trees. Developed primarily by combining data from GlobalTreeSearch with the World Checklist of Useful Plant Species (WCUPS), GlobUNT includes 14,014 tree species that can be filtered for ten major use categories, across 242 countries and territories. The 14,014 species represent roughly a quarter of the tree species from GlobalTreeSearch and a third of the plant species from WCUPS. GlobUNT includes over 8000 species used as materials (9261 species; 68.4% of the total in WCUPS for that use category) or medicines (8283; 31.1%), over 2000 species with environmental uses (3317; 36.9%), used as human food (3310; 47.0%) or fuel (2162; 85.5%), over 1000 species used as gene sources (1552; 29.8%), animal food (1494; 33.7%), social uses (1396; 53.8%) or poisons (1109; 36.8%), and 712 species (68.4%) as insect food.
Alien species can have massive impacts on native biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Assessing which species from currently cultivated alien floras may escape into the wild and naturalize is hence essential for ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation. Climate change has promoted the naturalization of many alien plants in temperate regions, but whether outcomes are similar in (sub)tropical areas is insufficiently known. In this study, we used species distribution models to evaluate the current naturalization risk of 1,527 cultivated alien plants in 10 countries of Southern Africa and how their invasion risk might change due to climate change. We assessed changes in climatic suitability across the different biomes of Southern Africa. Moreover, we assessed whether climatic suitability for cultivated alien plants varied with their naturalization status and native origin. The results of our study indicate that a significant proportion (53.9%) of the species are projected to lack suitable climatic conditions in Southern Africa, both currently and in the future. Based on the current climate conditions, 10.0% of Southern Africa is identified as an invasion hotspot (here defined as the top 10% of grid cells that provide suitable climatic conditions to the highest numbers of species). This percentage is expected to decrease slightly to 7.1% under moderate future climate change and shrink considerably to 2.0% under the worst-case scenario. This decline in climatic suitability is observed across most native origins, particularly under the worst-case climate change scenario. Our findings indicate that climate change is likely to have an opposing effect on the naturalization of currently cultivated average plants in (sub)tropical Southern Africa compared to colder regions. Specifically, the risk of these plants’ naturalizing is expected to decrease due to the region’s increasingly hot and dry climate, which will be challenging for the persistence of both native and alien plant species.
Major regional gaps exist in the reporting and accessibility of naturalized plant species distribution data, especially within Asia. Here, we present the Malesian Naturalized Alien Flora database (MalNAF), the first standardized island-group level checklist of naturalized vascular plant species for the Malesian phytogeographical region. We used MalNAF to investigate the composition, origins, and habitat preferences of the naturalized flora, as well as potential drivers of taxonomic species richness across the archipelago. The naturalized vascular flora of Malesia consists of at least 1,345 species. Richness is highest in Singapore (569 spp.) and lowest in the Maluku Islands (87 spp.). Across the archipelago, 32 species are widespread, occurring in every island group, but the majority have a limited distribution of 2.3 ± 2.2 island groups per naturalized species. The naturalized plant species are representatives of 163 families, twenty of which are newly introduced to the region. Families richest in naturalized plant species in Malesia were Fabaceae (= Leguminosae) (171 spp.), Poaceae (= Gramineae) (160 spp.), and Asteraceae (= Compositae) (103 spp.). Overall, most of these have a native range that includes tropical Asia, closely followed by those with a range in Southern America, although at the island-group level, most have a higher proportion with a Southern American native range. Most naturalized species occur in anthropogenic habitats, but a few occur in specialised habitats. Human population density was the most significant driver of naturalized richness in Malesia. MalNAF provides a baseline for future studies of naturalized plant species distributions in the region.
Major regional gaps exist in the reporting and accessibility of naturalized plant species distribution data, especially within Southeast Asia. Here, we present the Malesian Naturalized Alien Flora database (MalNAF), the first standardized island-group level checklist of naturalized vascular plant species for the Malesian phytogeographical region. We used MalNAF to investigate the composition, origins, and habitat preferences of the naturalized flora. The naturalized vascular flora of Malesia consists of at least 1177 species. Richness is highest in the Philippines (539 spp.) and lowest in the Maluku Islands (87 spp.). But, the Lesser Sunda Islands had the highest naturalized species richness relative to native richness and Singapore has a higher naturalized plant species richness than would be expected given its size. When comparing the data for Malesia with a global dataset, we found that naturalized richness increased with area for islands but not for continental regions. Across the archipelago, 31 species are widespread, occurring in every island group, but the majority have a limited distribution of 2.4 ± 2.3 (mean ± SD) island groups per naturalized species. The naturalized plant species are representatives of 150 families, twenty of which are newly introduced to the region. Families richest in naturalized plant species in Malesia were Fabaceae (= Leguminosae) (160 spp.), Poaceae (= Gramineae) (138 spp.), and Asteraceae (= Compositae) (96 spp.). Most of these have a native range that includes tropical Asia, closely followed by those from Southern America (inclusive of the Caribbean, Central and South America), although at the island-group level, most have a higher proportion with a Southern American native range. Most naturalized species occur in anthropogenic habitats, but many are present in “natural” habitats with fewer species, such as Leucaena leucocephala, reported from specialized habitats like drylands. MalNAF provides a baseline for future studies of naturalized plant species distributions in the region.
Homalomena aromatica is a highly demanded medicinal plant used in the name of Sugandhmantri for the cure of Rheumatoid Arthritis, ulcer and related disorders as well as in perfumeries for the preparation of oriental perfumes. It is widely distributed in Northeastern India i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and is widely traded from Manipur to the markets of Kanpur, Kannauj etc. in Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata in West Bengal and other parts of the country. Thus to fulfill the requirement of pharmaceuticals there will be need for cultivation and conservation of this plant. Accordingly, study has been aimed to develop easily accessible agro-technique for cultivation by the farmers at an easily accessible manner. H. aromatica, The native of Northeast India is a highly demanded medicinal plant. In Northeast India the plants of H. aromatica is distributed in Mizoram in Serchip and
Mamit forest divisions, Senapati, Ukhrul, East Imphal and West Imphal and
different foot hill areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and several part
of Meghalaya. It is also distributed in Bangladesh and China. Its cultivation is
through rhizome with bulbils initiating from the mature rhizome. Authors had
developed various cultivation parameters in Moonbul Nursery, Tinali bazar,
Longding road, Hozai (Assam) and Regional Ayurveda Research Institute,
Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) through rhizome bulbils. Since traded drug is
the rhizome of the plants there is an urgent need of cultivation through the
techniques described in the present communication cultivation, of H. aromatica
can be made by establishing plant nurseries.
Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) is the most serious invasive pest of ash trees (Fraxinus spp., Oleaceae) in the world. It has not yet reached the range of olive tree plantations, however it has been shown to complete its life cycle in this host tree. This pest is native to East Asia was first found in Europe in Moscow in 2003 and has been spreading ever since. The aims of this study were to determine if the southern border of the range has already reached the Caucasus and to assess the potential range in this region based on host availability and heat availability. In 2021, we surveyed ash trees south to the known range in Russia. We did not find the pest in six cities in the North Caucasus region but found it in the city of Azov close to the Caucasus. Analysis of information about 550 localities of ash trees in the Caucasus showed that Fraxinus spp. is common throughout the region. The calculation of annual growing degree days base 10 °C indicated that the places where Fraxinus spp. grow above 1500 m are too cold for A. planipennis and therefore could potentially become a refuge for ash trees. The spread of A. planipennis to the Caucasus is of concern. First, the forest ecosystems of this region are endangered, since European ash Fraxinus excelsior is much more common there than in the currently infested regions in Russia. Second, the Russian Caucasus can become the gateway to Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and other countries of the Middle East and Southern Europe. We propose using Fraxinus angustifolia, F. ornus and Olea europaea growing in the Caucasus and adjacent regions as sentinel trees for the monitoring and pest risk assessment of these tree species.
The vascular flora of Britain and Ireland is among the most extensively studied in the world, but the current knowledge base is fragmentary, with taxonomic, ecological and genetic information scattered across different resources. Here we present the first comprehensive data repository of native and alien species optimized for fast and easy online access for ecological, evolutionary and conservation analyses. The inventory is based on the most recent reference flora of Britain and Ireland, with taxon names linked to unique Kew taxon identifiers and DNA barcode data. Our data resource for 3,227 species and 26 traits includes existing and unpublished genome sizes, chromosome numbers and life strategy and life-form assessments, along with existing data on functional traits, species distribution metrics, hybrid propensity, associated biomes, realized niche description, native status and geographic origin of alien species. This resource will facilitate both fundamental and applied research and enhance our understanding of the flora’s composition and temporal changes to inform conservation efforts in the face of ongoing climate change and biodiversity loss.
The “cyanobacteria and microalgae” collection of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle includes, respectively, 870 and 890 living strains maintained in the laboratory. This collection supports fundamental research, particularly in taxonomy and ecophysiology, but also numerous activities for the development of bioactive molecules and expertise in environmental diagnosis. These different activities benefit from the emergence of high‐throughput “‐omics” approaches, which now offer new possibilities to enable such a collection to respond to the current challenges of both fundamental and targeted research, and of the conservation of biological resources. The conservation of organisms in living collections allows us to explore their biological properties. Among these, the production of bioactive metabolites is a rapidly developing theme. The “cyanobacteria and microalgae” collection is a reference collection for environmental diagnosis.
Natural history collections represent extraordinarily rich and diverse sets of objects. These collections also correspond to colossal datasets that allow us to respond to extremely varied scientific and societal issues. This chapter presents facets of data reuse from natural history collections. It presents some suggestions to optimize the uses of past data and ensure that data from contemporary studies can be reused in the future. Data are often made available through data access portals such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), consortia of specialists in different taxonomic groups or the publication of data papers, articles that enable the description and publication of data from a study or a natural history collection. The different data publishing institutions share their different local databases via data access portals, such as GBIF. The role of these portals is to allow the user to retrieve and download all the data needed for their work from a single access point.
Les collections naturalistes ont désormais acquis une place inédite dans la recherche scientifique. Constituées à l’origine par la systématique et la taxonomie, elles se révèlent aujourd’hui fondamentales pour répondre à diverses questions scientifiques et sociétales, aussi importantes qu’actuelles.Les collections naturalistes dans la science du XXIe siècle présente un vaste échantillon de questions et de réponses suscitées par l’étude des différentes collections. Les milliards de spécimens récoltés pendant plus de deux siècles sur l’ensemble de la planète nous offrent des informations capitales pour notre quête de connaissances sur la Terre, l’Univers, la diversité du vivant et l’histoire de l’humanité.Les collections apportent également de précieux points de référence dans le passé pour comprendre la nature et la dynamique des changements globaux d’aujourd’hui. Leur permanence matérielle est la meilleure garantie de retour aux données et aux sources des informations dans le cadre de la science ouverte.
Ile des < NEW CALEDONIA 60 NWC-OO
- Pins
Pins, Ile des < NEW CALEDONIA 60 NWC-OO [NC]
Peñon de Alhucemas and Peñon de Velez de la Gomera
- Spanish North
- Territories
SPANISH NORTH AFRICAN TERRITORIES [Ceuta,
Islas Chafarinas, Melilla, Peñon de Alhucemas and
Peñon de Velez de la Gomera] < MOROCCO 20
MOR-SP [ES]
Matthias Is. < BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO 43 BIS-OO
- St
St. Matthias Is. < BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO 43
BIS-OO [PG]
Australian Antarctic Territory < ANTARCTICA 91 ANT-OO
- Wilkes Land
Wilkes Land < Australian Antarctic Territory <
ANTARCTICA 91 ANT-OO [AQ]
Caribbean] 81 WIN Windward Is
- Windward Is
WINDWARD IS. [Caribbean] 81 WIN
Windward Is. [New Zealand] < ANTIPODEAN IS. 51
ATP-OO [NZ]
People's Democratic Republic of = SOUTH YEMEN < YEMEN 35 YEM-SY
- Yemen
Yemen, People's Democratic Republic of = SOUTH
YEMEN < YEMEN 35 YEM-SY [YE]
Grande do Sul BZS-SC Santa Catarina 132 WORLD GEOGRAPHICAL SCHEME FOR RECORDING PLANT DISTRIBUTIONS Map 15
- Brazil South
- Bzs-Pr Paraná
- Bzs-Rs Rio
Brazil South
BZS-PR Paraná
BZS-RS Rio Grande do Sul
BZS-SC Santa Catarina
132
WORLD GEOGRAPHICAL SCHEME FOR RECORDING PLANT DISTRIBUTIONS
Map 15. Brazil: Level 3 (named) and Level 4 (codes only)
133
MAPS 1-17