New Guinea has the world's richest island flora

Rodrigo Cámara-Leret^{1

2}, David G Frodin³, Frits Adema⁴, Christiane Anderson⁵, Marc S Appelhans⁶, George Argent⁷, Susana Arias Guerrero⁴, Peter Ashton³, William J Baker³, Anders S Barfod⁸, David Barrington⁹, Renata Borosova³, Gemma L C Bramley³, Marie Briggs³, Sven Buerki¹⁰, Daniel Cahen³, Martin W Callmander¹¹, Martin Cheek³, Cheng-Wei Chen¹², Barry J Conn¹³, Mark J E Coode³, Iain Darbyshire³, Sally Dawson³, John Dransfield³, Clare Drinkell³, Brigitta Duyfjes⁴, Atsushi Ebihara¹⁴, Zacky Ezedin^{15

16}, Long-Fei Fu¹⁷, Osia Gideon¹⁸, Deden Girmansyah¹⁹, Rafaël Govaerts³, Helen Fortune-Hopkins³, Gustavo Hassemer²⁰, Alistair Hay²¹, Charlie D Heatubun^{3

22

23}, D J Nicholas Hind³, Peter Hoch²⁴, Peter Homot²⁵, Peter Hovenkamp⁴, Mark Hughes⁷, Matthew Jebb²⁶, Laura Jennings³, Tiberius Jimbo²⁵, Michael Kessler²⁷, Ruth Kiew²⁸, Sandra Knapp²⁹, Penniel Lamei²⁵, Marcus Lehnert^{30

31}, Gwilym P Lewis³, Hans Peter Linder²⁷, Stuart Lindsay³², Yee Wen Low^{3

33

34}, Eve Lucas³, Jeffrey P Mancera³⁵, Alexandre K Monro³, Alison Moore³, David J Middleton³³, Hidetoshi Nagamasu³⁶, Mark F Newman⁷, Eimear Nic Lughadha³, Pablo H A Melo³⁷, Daniel J Ohlsen^{38

39}, Caroline M Pannell^{3

40

41}, Barbara Parris⁴², Laura Pearce³, Darin S Penneys⁴³, Leon R Perrie⁴⁴, Peter Petoe^{3

8}, Axel Dalberg Poulsen⁷, Ghillean T Prance³, J Peter Quakenbush⁴⁵, Niels Raes⁴, Michele Rodda³³, Zachary S Rogers⁴⁶, André Schuiteman³, Pedro Schwartsburd⁴⁷, Robert W Scotland⁴⁰, Mark P Simmons⁴⁸, David A Simpson^{3

49}, Peter Stevens²⁴, Michael Sundue⁹, Weston Testo⁵⁰, Anna Trias-Blasi³, Ian Turner^{3

33}, Timothy Utteridge³, Lesley Walsingham³, Bruce L Webber^{51

52}, Ran Wei⁵³, George D Weiblen^{15

54}, Maximilian Weigend³⁰, Peter Weston²¹, Willem de Wilde⁴, Peter Wilkie⁷, Christine M Wilmot-Dear³, Hannah P Wilson^{7

55}, John R I Wood^{3

40}, Li-Bing Zhang^{24

56}, Peter C van Welzen^{4

57}

Affiliations

¹ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, UK. rodrigo.camaraleret@ieu.uzh.ch.
² Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. rodrigo.camaraleret@ieu.uzh.ch.
³ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, UK.
⁴ Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁵ University of Michigan Herbarium, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁶ Department of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants, Albrecht-von-Haller Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
⁷ Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
⁸ Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁹ The Pringle Herbarium, Department of Plant Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA.
¹¹ Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, Chambésy, Switzerland.
¹² Independent consultant, Keelung, Taiwan.
¹³ School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
¹⁴ Department of Botany, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
¹⁵ Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
¹⁶ New Guinea Binatang Research Center, Madang, Papua New Guinea.
¹⁷ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin, China.
¹⁸ The Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea.
¹⁹ Herbarium Bogoriense, Bogor, Indonesia.
²⁰ Três Lagoas Campus, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Três Lagoas, Brazil.
²¹ Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
²² Fakultas Kehutanan, Universitas Papua, Manokwari, Indonesia.
²³ Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Provinsi Papua Barat, Manokwari, Indonesia.
²⁴ Missouri Botanical Garden, St Louis, MO, USA.
²⁵ Papua New Guinea Forest Research Institute, Lae, Papua New Guinea.
²⁶ The National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Glasnevin, Ireland.
²⁷ Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
²⁸ Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong, Malaysia.
²⁹ Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK.
³⁰ Nees Institute for Biodiversity of Plants, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
³¹ Institute of Biology, Herbarium, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
³² Native Plants Centre, National Parks Board, Singapore, Singapore.
³³ Singapore Botanic Gardens, National Parks Board, Singapore, Singapore.
³⁴ School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
³⁵ Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, The Philippines.
³⁶ The Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
³⁷ Institute of Biosciences, São Paulo State University, Rio Claro, Brazil.
³⁸ Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, South Yarra, Victoria, Australia.
³⁹ School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
⁴⁰ Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁴¹ Marine Laboratory, Queen's University Belfast, Portaferry, UK.
⁴² Fern Research Foundation, Kerikeri, New Zealand.
⁴³ University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC, USA.
⁴⁴ Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand.
⁴⁵ Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA.
⁴⁶ Department of Animal and Range Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA.
⁴⁷ Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil.
⁴⁸ Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
⁴⁹ Department of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁵⁰ Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
⁵¹ CSIRO Land and Water, Floreat, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵² School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵³ Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁵⁴ Bell Museum, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
⁵⁵ Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
⁵⁶ Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China.
⁵⁷ Institute of Biology Leiden, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands.

PMID: 32760001
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2549-5

New Guinea has the world's richest island flora

Rodrigo Cámara-Leret et al. Nature. 2020 Aug.

. 2020 Aug;584(7822):579-583.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2549-5. Epub 2020 Aug 5.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, UK. rodrigo.camaraleret@ieu.uzh.ch.
² Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. rodrigo.camaraleret@ieu.uzh.ch.
³ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, UK.
⁴ Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁵ University of Michigan Herbarium, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
⁶ Department of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants, Albrecht-von-Haller Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
⁷ Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
⁸ Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁹ The Pringle Herbarium, Department of Plant Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA.
¹¹ Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, Chambésy, Switzerland.
¹² Independent consultant, Keelung, Taiwan.
¹³ School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
¹⁴ Department of Botany, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
¹⁵ Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
¹⁶ New Guinea Binatang Research Center, Madang, Papua New Guinea.
¹⁷ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain, Guangxi Institute of Botany, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin, China.
¹⁸ The Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea.
¹⁹ Herbarium Bogoriense, Bogor, Indonesia.
²⁰ Três Lagoas Campus, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Três Lagoas, Brazil.
²¹ Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
²² Fakultas Kehutanan, Universitas Papua, Manokwari, Indonesia.
²³ Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Provinsi Papua Barat, Manokwari, Indonesia.
²⁴ Missouri Botanical Garden, St Louis, MO, USA.
²⁵ Papua New Guinea Forest Research Institute, Lae, Papua New Guinea.
²⁶ The National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Glasnevin, Ireland.
²⁷ Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
²⁸ Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong, Malaysia.
²⁹ Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK.
³⁰ Nees Institute for Biodiversity of Plants, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
³¹ Institute of Biology, Herbarium, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
³² Native Plants Centre, National Parks Board, Singapore, Singapore.
³³ Singapore Botanic Gardens, National Parks Board, Singapore, Singapore.
³⁴ School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
³⁵ Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, The Philippines.
³⁶ The Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
³⁷ Institute of Biosciences, São Paulo State University, Rio Claro, Brazil.
³⁸ Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, South Yarra, Victoria, Australia.
³⁹ School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
⁴⁰ Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁴¹ Marine Laboratory, Queen's University Belfast, Portaferry, UK.
⁴² Fern Research Foundation, Kerikeri, New Zealand.
⁴³ University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC, USA.
⁴⁴ Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand.
⁴⁵ Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA.
⁴⁶ Department of Animal and Range Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA.
⁴⁷ Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil.
⁴⁸ Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
⁴⁹ Department of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁵⁰ Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
⁵¹ CSIRO Land and Water, Floreat, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵² School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
⁵³ Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁵⁴ Bell Museum, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
⁵⁵ Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
⁵⁶ Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China.
⁵⁷ Institute of Biology Leiden, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands.

PMID: 32760001
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2549-5

Abstract

New Guinea is the world's largest tropical island and has fascinated naturalists for centuries^1,2. Home to some of the best-preserved ecosystems on the planet³ and to intact ecological gradients-from mangroves to tropical alpine grasslands-that are unmatched in the Asia-Pacific region^4,5, it is a globally recognized centre of biological and cultural diversity^6,7. So far, however, there has been no attempt to critically catalogue the entire vascular plant diversity of New Guinea. Here we present the first, to our knowledge, expert-verified checklist of the vascular plants of mainland New Guinea and surrounding islands. Our publicly available checklist includes 13,634 species (68% endemic), 1,742 genera and 264 families-suggesting that New Guinea is the most floristically diverse island in the world. Expert knowledge is essential for building checklists in the digital era: reliance on online taxonomic resources alone would have inflated species counts by 22%. Species discovery shows no sign of levelling off, and we discuss steps to accelerate botanical research in the 'Last Unknown'⁸.

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Comment in

An inventory of plants for the land of the unexpected.
Novotny V, Molem K. Novotny V, et al. Nature. 2020 Aug;584(7822):531-533. doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-02225-4. Nature. 2020. PMID: 32760035 No abstract available.

References

1. Frodin, D. in The Ecology of Papua, Part One (eds Marshall, A. & Beehler, B.) 87–130 (Periplus, 2007).
1. Conn, B. J. in Biodiversity and Terrestrial Ecosystems (eds Peng, C.-I. & Chou, C.-H.) 123–156 (Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, 1994).
1. Mittermeier, R. A. et al. Biodiversity hotspots and major tropical wilderness areas: approaches to setting conservation priorities. Conserv. Biol. 12, 516–520 (1998). - DOI
1. Paijmans, K. New Guinea Vegetation (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in association with the Australian National Univ. Press, 1976).
1. Roos, M. C. et al. Species diversity and endemism of five major Malesian islands: diversity–area relationships. J. Biogeogr. 31, 1893–1908 (2004). - DOI

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New Guinea has the world's richest island flora

Affiliations

New Guinea has the world's richest island flora

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