Occurrence-based diversity estimation reveals macroecological and conservation knowledge gaps for global woody plants

Abstract

Incomplete sampling of species geographic distributions has challenged biogeographers for many years to precisely quantify global-scale biodiversity patterns. After correcting for the spatial inequality of sample completeness, we generated a global species diversity map for woody angiosperms (82,974 species, 13,959,780 occurrence records). The estimated diversity demonstrated non-linear latitudinal and longitudinal patterns that were potentially related to region-specific biogeographic factors including current climate, paleoclimate, and topographical factors, while energy availability was the most important predictor at a global level. We identified the areas with potentially high species richness and rarity, but poorly explored, unprotected, and threatened by deforestation: they are distributed mostly at low latitudes across central South America, central Africa, subtropical China, and Indomalayan islands. These priority areas for botanical exploration would help to efficiently fill spatial knowledge gaps for better describing the status of biodiversity and improve the effectiveness of the protected area network for global woody plant conservation. TeaserBias-corrected diversity map based on occurrence records sheds new light on global macroecology and conservation of woody angiosperms.