Counting complete? Finalising the plant inventory of a global biodiversity hotspot
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Biodiversity, Conservation Biology, Plant Science
- Keywords
- plant species, species inventory, species discovery, taxonomic effort, taxonomic maximum
- Copyright
- © 2016 Treurnicht et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2016. Counting complete? Finalising the plant inventory of a global biodiversity hotspot. PeerJ Preprints 4:e2573v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.2573v1
Abstract
The Cape Floristic Region – the world’s smallest, but third richest hotspot – experienced sustained levels of taxonomic effort and exploration for almost three centuries resulting in a near-complete plant species inventory. Here we analyse, for a core component of this flora, trends over a 250 year period in taxonomic effort and species discovery linked to ecological and conservation attributes. We show that >40% of species were described within the initial 100 years, followed by a steady rate of description, culminating in <1% of the flora estimated still to be described. A relatively constant cohort of taxonomists working at their ‘taxonomic maximum’ was seen across 250 years, while rates of description remained independent of plant growth-form. Since 1950, narrow-range taxa constituted significantly greater proportions of species discoveries, highlighting the fraction of undiscovered species which exist as localised endemics and thus of high conservation value. In the context of initiated global strategic plans for biodiversity, our dataset provides real world insights for other hotspots to consider the effort required for attaining set targets of comprehensive plant inventories.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.