Institution
Missouri Botanical Garden
Archive•St Louis, Missouri, United States•
About: Missouri Botanical Garden is a archive organization based out in St Louis, Missouri, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Genus & Biodiversity. The organization has 597 authors who have published 2751 publications receiving 85442 citations. The organization is also known as: Shaw's Garden.
Topics: Genus, Biodiversity, Monophyly, Population, IUCN Red List
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
••
TL;DR: The biodiversity of eukaryote species and their extinction rates, distributions, and protection is reviewed, and what the future rates of species extinction will be, how well protected areas will slow extinction Rates, and how the remaining gaps in knowledge might be filled are reviewed.
Abstract: Background A principal function of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is to “perform regular and timely assessments of knowledge on biodiversity.” In December 2013, its second plenary session approved a program to begin a global assessment in 2015. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and five other biodiversity-related conventions have adopted IPBES as their science-policy interface, so these assessments will be important in evaluating progress toward the CBD’s Aichi Targets of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020. As a contribution toward such assessment, we review the biodiversity of eukaryote species and their extinction rates, distributions, and protection. We document what we know, how it likely differs from what we do not, and how these differences affect biodiversity statistics. Interestingly, several targets explicitly mention “known species”—a strong, if implicit, statement of incomplete knowledge. We start by asking how many species are known and how many remain undescribed. We then consider by how much human actions inflate extinction rates. Much depends on where species are, because different biomes contain different numbers of species of different susceptibilities. Biomes also suffer different levels of damage and have unequal levels of protection. How extinction rates will change depends on how and where threats expand and whether greater protection counters them. Different visualizations of species biodiversity. ( A ) The distributions of 9927 bird species. ( B ) The 4964 species with smaller than the median geographical range size. ( C ) The 1308 species assessed as threatened with a high risk of extinction by BirdLife International for the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. ( D ) The 1080 threatened species with less than the median range size. (D) provides a strong geographical focus on where local conservation actions can have the greatest global impact. Additional biodiversity maps are available at www.biodiversitymapping.org. Advances Recent studies have clarified where the most vulnerable species live, where and how humanity changes the planet, and how this drives extinctions. These data are increasingly accessible, bringing greater transparency to science and governance. Taxonomic catalogs of plants, terrestrial vertebrates, freshwater fish, and some marine taxa are sufficient to assess their status and the limitations of our knowledge. Most species are undescribed, however. The species we know best have large geographical ranges and are often common within them. Most known species have small ranges, however, and such species are typically newer discoveries. The numbers of known species with very small ranges are increasing quickly, even in well-known taxa. They are geographically concentrated and are disproportionately likely to be threatened or already extinct. We expect unknown species to share these characteristics. Current rates of extinction are about 1000 times the background rate of extinction. These are higher than previously estimated and likely still underestimated. Future rates will depend on many factors and are poised to increase. Finally, although there has been rapid progress in developing protected areas, such efforts are not ecologically representative, nor do they optimally protect biodiversity. Outlook Progress on assessing biodiversity will emerge from continued expansion of the many recently created online databases, combining them with new global data sources on changing land and ocean use and with increasingly crowdsourced data on species’ distributions. Examples of practical conservation that follow from using combined data in Colombia and Brazil can be found at www.savingspecies.org and www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3zjeJW2NVk.
2,360 citations
••
University of Tennessee1, Centre national de la recherche scientifique2, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources3, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences4, Missouri Botanical Garden5, University of Paris-Sud6, University of Girona7, Institut national de la recherche agronomique8, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic9, Charles University in Prague10, University of Minho11, University of Porto12, Paul Sabatier University13, Spanish National Research Council14
TL;DR: Recent progress in understanding invasion impacts and management is highlighted, and the challenges that the discipline faces in its science and interactions with society are discussed.
Abstract: Study of the impacts of biological invasions, a pervasive component of global change, has generated remarkable understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of the spread of introduced populations. The growing field of invasion science, poised at a crossroads where ecology, social sciences, resource management, and public perception meet, is increasingly exposed to critical scrutiny from several perspectives. Although the rate of biological invasions, elucidation of their consequences, and knowledge about mitigation are growing rapidly, the very need for invasion science is disputed. Here, we highlight recent progress in understanding invasion impacts and management, and discuss the challenges that the discipline faces in its science and interactions with society.
2,346 citations
••
University of Western Sydney1, University of Ulm2, University of Tasmania3, Blaise Pascal University4, Institut national de la recherche agronomique5, University of Bordeaux6, Brown University7, National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco8, James Cook University9, Macquarie University10, University of Alberta11, California State University, Bakersfield12, Leiden University13, University of Guelph14, University of Innsbruck15, University of Edinburgh16, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation17, University of Trieste18, University of California, Santa Cruz19, University of Utah20, Missouri Botanical Garden21, George Washington University22
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw together published and unpublished data on the vulnerability of the transport system to drought-induced embolism for a large number of woody species, with a view to examining the likely consequences of climate change for forest biomes.
Abstract: Shifts in rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures associated with climate change are likely to cause widespread forest decline in regions where droughts are predicted to increase in duration and severity(1). One primary cause of productivity loss and plant mortality during drought is hydraulic failure(2-4). Drought stress creates trapped gas emboli in the water transport system, which reduces the ability of plants to supply water to leaves for photosynthetic gas exchange and can ultimately result in desiccation and mortality. At present we lack a clear picture of how thresholds to hydraulic failure vary across a broad range of species and environments, despite many individual experiments. Here we draw together published and unpublished data on the vulnerability of the transport system to drought-induced embolism for a large number of woody species, with a view to examining the likely consequences of climate change for forest biomes. We show that 70% of 226 forest species from 81 sites worldwide operate with narrow (<1 megapascal) hydraulic safety margins against injurious levels of drought stress and therefore potentially face long-term reductions in productivity and survival if temperature and aridity increase as predicted for many regions across the globe(5,6). Safety margins are largely independent of mean annual precipitation, showing that there is global convergence in the vulnerability of forests to drought, with all forest biomes equally vulnerable to hydraulic failure regardless of their current rainfall environment. These findings provide insight into why drought-induced forest decline is occurring not only in arid regions but also in wet forests not normally considered at drought risk(7,8).
1,864 citations
••
National University of Cordoba1, Max Planck Society2, VU University Amsterdam3, Macquarie University4, University of Grenoble5, University of Lyon6, Industrial University of Santander7, Leipzig University8, University of Oldenburg9, Imperial College London10, University of Montpellier11, Forschungszentrum Jülich12, University of Western Sydney13, University of Minnesota14, University of New South Wales15, Royal Botanic Gardens16, Missouri Botanical Garden17, George Washington University18, Paul Sabatier University19, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute20, Komarov Botanical Institute21, University of Bordeaux22, Institut national de la recherche agronomique23, Florida International University24, University of Insubria25, University of Milan26, Université de Sherbrooke27, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza28
TL;DR: Analysis of worldwide variation in six major traits critical to growth, survival and reproduction within the largest sample of vascular plant species ever compiled found that occupancy of six-dimensional trait space is strongly concentrated, indicating coordination and trade-offs.
Abstract: The authors found that the key elements of plant form and function, analysed at global scale, are largely concentrated into a two-dimensional plane indexed by the size of whole plants and organs on the one hand, and the construction costs for photosynthetic leaf area, on the other.
1,814 citations
••
University of California, Berkeley1, Stanford University2, Spanish National Research Council3, University of New Mexico4, American Museum of Natural History5, University of California, Davis6, Simon Fraser University7, California Academy of Sciences8, University of Wisconsin-Madison9, University of California, San Francisco10, Missouri Botanical Garden11
TL;DR: Evidence that the global ecosystem as a whole is approaching a planetary-scale critical transition as a result of human influence is reviewed, highlighting the need to improve biological forecasting by detecting early warning signs of critical transitions.
Abstract: There is evidence that human influence may be forcing the global ecosystem towards a rapid, irreversible, planetary-scale shift into a state unknown in human experience. Most forecasts of how the biosphere will change in response to human activity are rooted in projecting trajectories. Such models tend not anticipate critical transitions or tipping points, although recent work indicates a high probability of those taking place. And, at a local scale, ecosystems are known to shift abruptly between states when critical thresholds are passed. These authors review the evidence from across ecology and palaeontology that such a transition is being approached on the scale of the entire biosphere. They go on to suggest how biological forecasting might be improved to allow us to detect early warning signs of critical transitions on a global, as well as local, scale. Localized ecological systems are known to shift abruptly and irreversibly from one state to another when they are forced across critical thresholds. Here we review evidence that the global ecosystem as a whole can react in the same way and is approaching a planetary-scale critical transition as a result of human influence. The plausibility of a planetary-scale ‘tipping point’ highlights the need to improve biological forecasting by detecting early warning signs of critical transitions on global as well as local scales, and by detecting feedbacks that promote such transitions. It is also necessary to address root causes of how humans are forcing biological changes.
1,571 citations
Authors
Showing all 621 results
Name | H-index | Papers | Citations |
---|---|---|---|
Oliver L. Phillips | 98 | 336 | 50569 |
Elizabeth A. Kellogg | 71 | 238 | 20249 |
Kingsley W. Dixon | 70 | 445 | 19372 |
Susanne S. Renner | 67 | 321 | 15843 |
Peter H. Raven | 66 | 340 | 27124 |
Marcus A. Koch | 57 | 207 | 12133 |
Kendric C. Smith | 54 | 202 | 8023 |
James Aronson | 54 | 166 | 16189 |
Timothy J. Killeen | 52 | 106 | 15454 |
Rainer W. Bussmann | 47 | 691 | 8245 |
Valerie Kapos | 44 | 108 | 13750 |
Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz | 44 | 305 | 8770 |
David A. Neill | 44 | 108 | 12071 |
Bonaventure Sonké | 37 | 183 | 7010 |
Amy E. Zanne | 37 | 84 | 13523 |