论文标题：Exploring the floristic diversity of tropical Africa

期刊：BMC Biology

作者：Marc S. M. Sosef, Gilles Dauby, […] Thomas L. P. Couvreur

发表时间：2017/03/07

DOI：10.1186/s12915-017-0356-8

微信链接： https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzI0NDEzMTAxNQ==&mid=2673539960&idx=1&sn=f367ca

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了解生物多样性的分布模式及其影响因素，是有效保护和可持续地利用生物多样性的基本前提。随着全球气候变化及人为活动对生物多样性的影响，我们越来越紧迫地需要加强对这一问题的认知。

在物种丰富的热带非洲，这种认知缺失尤为严重，我们对那里的植物多样性及其分布却知之甚少。一篇发表在BMC Biology 上的文章介绍了RAINBIO 数据库，这是最大的巨型非洲热带植物物种分布数据库之一，能帮助解决非洲热带地区植物和生长的多样性问题。

过滤后的RAINBIO数据库包含609,776个地理参考记录，代表22,577个物种，其中有97%被记录下了它们的生长形式数据。这些记录分布比较均匀，但大陆与大陆间存在异质性。总的来说，热带非洲的样本仍然很少。当使用0.5°为采样单位（sampling units, SU）时，只有21个物种达到了适宜的采集密度和采样完整性，并且每个SU每个物种的平均记录数仅为1.84。

研究团队还提供了每个国家的物种丰富度（观察值和估算值）和特有物种的数目。尽管贝宁、喀麦隆、加蓬、科特迪瓦和利比里亚似乎是植物学上探索最多的国家，并没有哪个非洲国家的植物物种被最充分地探索过。RAINBIO显示，热带非洲地区的森林包含15,387种维管植物，其中3013种是树木，占世界热带树木群的5-7％。在非洲的所有地区中，非洲中部森林的物种特有率最高，其中约有30％的物种是这一地区所特有的。

热带非洲的植物学探索之路任重而道远，需要加强详细目录和数字化。作者提出了未来采样工作的优先目标区域，主要集中在坦桑尼亚，大西洋沿岸的中非和西非。研究观察到的非洲森林树种数量小于基于全球树木数据估算得的数值，这表明还有大量物种尚未发现。这些数据为更加可持续地管理和改善热带非洲独有植物的保护提供了坚实的基础。这对于2011 - 2020年全球植物保护战略的第一个目标的实现至关重要。

摘要：

Background

Understanding the patterns of biodiversity distribution and what influences them is a fundamental pre-requisite for effective conservation and sustainable utilisation of biodiversity. Such knowledge is increasingly urgent as biodiversity responds to the ongoing effects of global climate change. Nowhere is this more acute than in species-rich tropical Africa, where so little is known about plant diversity and its distribution. In this paper, we use RAINBIO – one of the largest mega-databases of tropical African vascular plant species distributions ever compiled – to address questions about plant and growth form diversity across tropical Africa.

Results

The filtered RAINBIO dataset contains 609,776 georeferenced records representing 22,577 species. Growth form data are recorded for 97% of all species. Records are well distributed, but heterogeneous across the continent. Overall, tropical Africa remains poorly sampled. When using sampling units (SU) of 0.5°, just 21 reach appropriate collection density and sampling completeness, and the average number of records per species per SU is only 1.84. Species richness (observed and estimated) and endemism figures per country are provided. Benin, Cameroon, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Liberia appear as the botanically best-explored countries, but none are optimally explored. Forests in the region contain 15,387 vascular plant species, of which 3013 are trees, representing 5–7% of the estimated world’s tropical tree flora. The central African forests have the highest endemism rate across Africa, with approximately 30% of species being endemic.

Conclusions

The botanical exploration of tropical Africa is far from complete, underlining the need for intensified inventories and digitization. We propose priority target areas for future sampling efforts, mainly focused on Tanzania, Atlantic Central Africa and West Africa. The observed number of tree species for African forests is smaller than those estimated from global tree data, suggesting that a significant number of species are yet to be discovered. Our data provide a solid basis for a more sustainable management and improved conservation of tropical Africa’s unique flora, and is important for achieving Objective 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2011–2020.

（来源：科学网）