Conservation and the botanist effect

Ahrends, Antje; Rahbek, Carsten; Bulling, Mark T.; Burgess, Neil D.; Platts, Philip J.; Lovett, Jon C.; Kindemba, Victoria Wilkins; Owen, Nisha; Sallu, Albert Ntemi; Marshall, Andrew R.; Mhoro, Boniface E.; Fanning, Eibleis; Marchant, Rob

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.08.008

Cited by 107 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…A long-term study of similar catchments in Sweden by the same observer found no changes in number of species over a 16-year period (Köchy and Bråkenhielm 2008). Many studies have acknowledged the importance of training of field staff and consistency between them (e.g., Ahrends et al 2011;Milberg et al 2008;Vittoz and Guisan 2007), and this study further emphasizes the need for consistency and calibration. Nilsson and Nilsson (1985) used the term ''pseudoturnover'' to describe false changes in species assemblages as an effect of species being missed during field work.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Understorey Vegetation Stability and Dynamics in Unmanaged Boreal Forests Along a Deposition Gradient in Sweden

Grandin

2011

AMBIO

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aims of this study were to investigate spatial patterns and temporal changes in understorey vegetation at four forest catchments forming a depositional gradient. Inventories of the bottom and field layers were carried out in the 1990s and repeated after 5-14 years, depending on catchment. It was hypothesized that changes and patterns in ground vegetation would be related to changes and patterns in N and S deposition. The data were analyzed using Ellenberg indices and multivariate methods. All catchments showed temporal changes in species composition. Analyses of the bottom layer were confounded by a change of field staff, but after accounting for this observer effect, differences in species composition between the catchments remained. Within catchments, the changes in species composition were unrelated to N or S deposition. Relationships between environmental factors, expressed as Ellenberg indices, and compositional patterns differed between catchments although Ellenberg indices showed small temporal changes.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Understorey Vegetation Stability and Dynamics in Unmanaged Boreal Forests Along a Deposition Gradient in Sweden

Grandin

2011

AMBIO

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“… Collected herbarium specimens themselves are not always correctly identified, and it has been shown that identification accuracy may depend on the availability of facilities (Ahrends et al, 2011). Once again, this is not a problem restricted to herbarium records only, but is a source of error that could originate in any biodiversity collecting activities.…”

Section: Challenges Of Using Herbarium Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Realising the potential of herbarium records for conservation biology

Greve

Lykke

Fagg

et al. 2016

South African Journal of Botany

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One of the major challenges in ecosystem conservation is obtaining baseline data, particularly for regions that have been poorly inventoried, such as regions of the African continent. Here we use a database of African herbarium records and examples from the literature to show that, although herbarium records have traditionally been collected to build botanical reference "libraries" for taxonomic and inventory purposes, they provide valuable and useful information regarding species, their distribution in time and space, their traits, phenological characteristics, associated species and their physical environment. These data have the potential to provide invaluable information to feed into evidence-based conservation decisions.

show abstract

“…However, even thorough post-processing cannot fully eliminate information inaccuracies such as taxonomic misidentifications or incorrectly recorded sampling locations (Soberón & Peterson 2004), as these usually cannot be detected in DAI. Sampled taxonomic re-assessments of original material (Scott & Hallam 2002;Ahrends et al 2011b) and sampled ground-truthing of occurrences (Miller et al 2007) could provide vital information on typical rates of such errors for different taxa, regions and data sources, which could additionally be accounted for in analyses.…”

Section: Prospects For Using Dai In Global Plant Research Conservatimentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidimensional biases, gaps and uncertainties in global plant occurrence information

Meyer

Weigelt

Kreft

2015

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plants are a hyperdiverse clade that plays a key role in maintaining ecological and evolutionary processes as well as human livelihoods. Glaring biases, gaps, and uncertainties in plant occurrence information remain a central problem in ecology and conservation, but these limitations have never been assessed globally. In this synthesis, we propose a conceptual framework for analyzing information biases, gaps and uncertainties along taxonomic, geographical, and temporal dimensions and apply it to all c. 370,000 species of land plants. To this end, we integrated 120 million point-occurrence records with independent databases on plant taxonomy, distributions, and conservation status. We find that different data limitations are prevalent in each dimension. Different information metrics are largely uncorrelated, and filtering out specific limitations would usually lead to extreme trade-offs for other information metrics. In light of these multidimensional data limitations, we critically discuss prospects for global plant ecological and biogeographical research, monitoring and conservation, and outline critical next steps towards more effective information usage and mobilization. We provide an empirical baseline for evaluating and improving global floristic knowledge and our conceptual framework can be applied to the study of other hyperdiverse clades. AbstractPlants are a hyperdiverse clade that plays a key role in maintaining ecological and evolutionary processes as well as human livelihoods. Glaring biases, gaps, and uncertainties in plant occurrence information remain a central problem in ecology and conservation, but these limitations have never been assessed globally. In this synthesis, we propose a conceptual framework for analyzing information biases, gaps and uncertainties along taxonomic, geographical, and temporal dimensions and apply it to all c. 370,000 species of land plants. To this end, we integrated 120 million point-occurrence records with independent databases on plant taxonomy, distributions, and conservation status. We find that different data limitations are prevalent in each dimension. Different information metrics are largely uncorrelated, and filtering out specific limitations would usually lead to extreme trade-offs for other information metrics. In light of these multidimensional data limitations, we critically discuss prospects for global plant ecological and biogeographical research, monitoring and conservation, and outline critical next steps towards more effective information usage and mobilization. We provide an empirical baseline for evaluating and improving global floristic knowledge and our conceptual framework can be applied to the study of other hyperdiverse clades.PeerJ PrePrints | https://dx.doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1326v2 | CC-BY 4.0 Open Access |

show abstract

Conservation and the botanist effect

Cited by 107 publications

References 52 publications

Understorey Vegetation Stability and Dynamics in Unmanaged Boreal Forests Along a Deposition Gradient in Sweden

Understorey Vegetation Stability and Dynamics in Unmanaged Boreal Forests Along a Deposition Gradient in Sweden

Realising the potential of herbarium records for conservation biology

Multidimensional biases, gaps and uncertainties in global plant occurrence information

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About