Investigation of floristic similarities between Taiwan and terrestrial ecoregions in Asia using GBIF data

Abstract

BackgroundFloristic compositions of non-endemic plants of continental islands were related to the neighboring continents because non-endemic plant species had historically migrated to continental islands from source areas. This study attempts to identify source areas of a continental island by means of floristic analysis and to assess possible migration routes on the basis of geographical distribution ranges of plants. Large quantities of angiosperm data records were downloaded from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Similarity index and cluster analysis were used to identify the floristic similarities among 22 geographical localities of Taiwan (GLTs) and 34 terrestrial ecoregions in Asia. Geographical distribution ranges of non-endemic angiosperm species in Taiwan (NEASTs) were evaluated to mirror the possible migration routes from different source areas to Taiwan.ResultsThere are 3275 angiosperm species in Taiwan derived from the dataset of GBIF. Among them, 847 are endemic and 2428 are NEASTs. Geographical distribution ranges of the 2428 NEASTs were categorized into 7 distribution groups. They were widely distribution from equator to Siberia (27 species), tropical ecoregions (345 species), tropical and subtropical ecoregions (663 species), tropical to temperate ecoregions (591 species), subtropical ecoregions (265 species), subtropical to temperate ecoregions (387 species), and temperate ecoregions (150 species). Results of similarity indices and cluster analysis demonstrated that high floristic similarities were observed among GLTs at lowland and southern Taiwan and tropical and subtropical ecoregions in Asia. GLTs at high mountains were assumed to have floristic similarity with temperate ecoregions in Asia, whereas the assumption was not supported by our analysis. It is partly because of that angiosperms with tropical and subtropical distributions extend their ranges from low to high elevations in Taiwan.ConclusionsSubtropical ecoregions at southern China and tropical ecoregions at Indochina were more important than temperate ecoregions on playing source areas of NEASTs. Geographical distribution ranges of NEASTs implied that most of the NEASTs were probably migrated from topical or subtropical ecoregions of Asian continent to Taiwan.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40529-017-0171-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Geographical and temporal origins of terrestrial vertebrates endemic to Taiwan

“…Once the glaciations ended, the rising sea levels resulted in vicariant isolation, and the relict populations might have retreated to the montane habitat of Taiwan and the Eastern Himalayas and caused disjunctive distributions (Päckert et al., ; Wang et al., ). Similarly, high floristic similarity between Taiwan and the Eastern Himalayas has been reported before (Liao & Chen, ), and disjunctive distributions between these two regions have also been recently noted in multiple plants (e.g. Matuszak, Muellner‐Riehl, Sun, & Favre, ; Niu et al., ), supporting the Eastern Himalayas as an important source of endemic Taiwanese species.…”

“…Once the glaciations ended, the rising sea levels resulted in vicariant isolation, and the relict populations might have retreated to the montane habitat of Taiwan and the Eastern Himalayas and caused disjunctive distributions (Päckert et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2013). Similarly, high floristic similarity between Taiwan and the Eastern Himalayas has been reported before (Liao & Chen, 2017), and disjunctive Figure 2). Sea level fluctuations are redrawn from Miller et al (2005), with the solid blue line indicating the mean sea level and dotted lines (from 9.5 Ma onwards) indicating the maximum and minimum sea level within 0.1 Myr time bins.…”

Incomplete species lists derived from global and regional specimen‐record databases affect macroecological analyses: A case study on the vascular plants of China

“…Such studies ideally rely on data derived from complete species lists of different biotas across broad spatial scales. Because for most taxa and regions of the world no such inventories are available from comprehensive field studies (Beck et al., ), researchers are increasingly using global or regional online databases of georeferenced occurrence records to generate species lists (e.g., Clarke, Lord, Hua, & Ohlemüller, ; Liao & Chen, ).…”

“…Data derived from GBIF are used in taxonomic revisions, environmental niche modelling, species checklist compilations, and biodiversity assessments. In particular, species lists derived from GBIF have frequently been used to explore patterns of species richness and turnover (Clarke et al., ; García‐Roselló et al., ; Liao & Chen, ; Londono, Cleef, & Madrinan, ; Sofaer & Jarnevich, ; Willis, Franzone, Xi, & Davis, ).…”

“…Similarly, quantifying relationships in species composition between localities and species turnover (i.e., β‐diversity) along geographic or environmental gradients is commonly based on species lists (e.g., Buckley & Jetz, ; Qian, ; Qian & Ricklefs, ). Species lists derived from GBIF have been used, for example, in quantifying the relationship in plant species composition between regions (e.g., Clarke et al., ; Liao & Chen, ). The incompleteness of species lists might substantially affect the assessment of relationships of species turnover and geographic and environmental distances.…”