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 standardized diversity estimated more pronounced latitudinal and longitudinal diversity gradients than the raw data and improved the spatial prediction of diversity based on environmental factors. We identified areas with potentially high species richness and rarity that are poorly explored, unprotected, and threatened by increasing human pressure: They are distributed mostly at low latitudes across central South America, Central Africa, subtropical China, and Indomalayan islands. These priority areas for botanical exploration can 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.