The Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot: A Comprehensive Dataset for the Mira-Mataje Binational Basins

Abstract

We present a flora and fauna dataset for the Mira-Mataje binational basins. This is an area shared between southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador, where both the Chocó and Tropical Andes biodiversity hotspots converge. We systematized data from 120 sources in the Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) standard and geospatial vector data format for geographic information systems (GIS) (shapefiles). Sources included natural history museums, published literature, and citizen science repositories across 13 countries. The resulting database has 33,460 records from 6,821 species, of which 540 have been recorded as endemic, and 612 as threatened. The diversity represented in the dataset is equivalent to 10% of the total plant species and 26% of the total terrestrial vertebrate species in both hotspots. The dataset can be used to estimate and compare biodiversity patterns with environmental parameters and provide value to ecosystems, ecoregions, and protected areas. The dataset is a baseline for future assessments of biodiversity in the face of environmental degradation, climate change, and accelerated extinction processes.

Fig. 1

Study area: the Mira-Mataje binational basin. (a) Shaded relief map with contrasting colors showing a cutoff at mean elevation = 2072 m (green < 2072 m, red > 2072 m). (b) Georeferenced flora and fauna records that are included in the presented dataset. (c) Political boundaries, roads, rivers, and watershed boundaries. (d) Protected areas.

Fig. 2

Proportions of contribution by data repositories in different countries for the fauna and flora datasets. Country names follow the ISO 3166 country codes, except for the United Kingdom (UK). Literature sources are also included. Proportions have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

Fig. 3

Distribution of flora records (a) and flora species (b) by repository. The corresponding names for the acronyms are in Supplementary Table S1.

Fig. 4

Distribution of fauna records (a) and fauna species (b) by repository. The corresponding names for the acronyms are in Supplementary Table S2.

Fig. 5

Distribution of records and species in the 15 ecosystems of the Mira-Mataje binational basins. The ecosystems are ordered according to a west-east sequence. MAN= Mangrove, WFLF= Western Flooded forest, CLOF= Chocó Lowland forest, WFOF= Western Foothill forest, WLMF= Western Low montane forest, WMF= Western montane forest, WHMF= Western high montane forest, SAS= Semi-deciduous Andean shrubland, AES= Andean evergreen shrubland, PAG= Páramo grassland, PAGR= Páramo grassland and rose forest, PEF= Páramo evergreen forest, FLS= Flooded shrubland, EHMF= Eastern high montane forest, EMF= Eastern montane forest. Numbers are reported within each ecosystem; thus, totals represent repeated species observations.

Fig. 6

Distribution of endemic and endangered species in the 15 ecosystems of the Mira-Mataje binational basins. The ecosystems are ordered according to a west-east sequence. MAN= Mangrove, WFLF= Western Flooded forest, CLOF= Chocó Lowland forest, WFOF= Western Foothill forest, WLMF= Western Low montane forest, WMF= Western montane forest, WHMF= Western high montane forest, SAS= Semi-deciduous Andean shrubland, AES= Andean evergreen shrubland, PAG= Páramo grassland, PAGR= Páramo grassland and rose forest, PEF= Páramo evergreen forest, FLS= Flooded shrubland, EHMF= Eastern high montane forest, EMF= Eastern montane forest. Numbers are reported within each ecosystem; thus, totals represent repeated species observations.

Fig. 7

Proportions of the diversity of plants and fauna according to the number of species, endemic species, and threatened species. Proportions have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

Fig. 8

Flora and fauna richness distribution in the Mira-Mataje binational basin. (a) Plant ecosystems, (b) remnant plant ecosystems, (c) number of records by ecosystem, (d) number of species, (e) number of endemic species, (f), number of species. Numbers are reported within each ecosystem; thus, totals represent repeated species observations.

Fig. 9

Technical validation process of the presented dataset.