Issues with species occurrence data and their impact on extinction risk assessments.

Species extinction risk status is critical to support conservation actions. However, full assessments published on the Red List are slow and resource intensive. To tackle assessments for mega-diverse groups, gains can be made through preliminary assessments that can help prioritize efforts toward full assessments. Here, we quantified how incomplete data collation and errors in the taxonomic, spatial, and temporal dimensions of species-occurrence data translate into misclassifications of extinction risk. Using a dataset of >30 million records of terrestrial plants occurring in Brazil compiled from nine databases we conducted preliminary risk assessments for ~94 % of the 6046 species assessed by the Brazilian Red List authority. We found that no unique database contained data sufficient to perform extinction risk assessment of all species; e.g., the risk of 78 % of species can be assessed using data from GBIF. The overall accuracy (66–75 %) and specificity (89–98 %, correct prediction of non-threatened species) were less affected by incomplete data collation and issues in species-occurrence records. Sensitivity rates (correct prediction of threatened species) were commonly low to moderate and strongly affected by incomplete data collation (13–47 %) and spatial issues (38 %). Our results demonstrate that species' preliminary risk assessments have high accuracy in identifying non-threatened species, even when data collection is low and in the presence of issues in species occurrence data highlighting that such an approach can be used to efficiently prioritize species for full Red List assessments. In addition, caution is needed before declaring a species as threatened without considering data collation intensity and quality.Fil: Ribeiro, Bruno R.. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Guidoni Martins, Karlo. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Tessarolo, Geiziane. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Velazco, Santiago José Elías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical; Argentina. University of California; Estados Unidos. Universidade Federal da Integração Latinoamericana; BrasilFil: Jardim, Lucas. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Bachman, Steven P.. Royal Botanic Gardens; Reino UnidoFil: Loyola, Rafael. Instituto Internacional Para Sustentabilidade; Brasil. Universidade Federal de Goiás; Brasi

bdc: A toolkit for standardizing, integrating and cleaning biodiversity data

The increase in online and openly accessible biodiversity databases provides a vast and invaluable resource to support research and policy. However, without scrutiny, errors in primary species occurrence data can lead to erroneous results and misleading information.Here, we introduce the Biodiversity Data Cleaning (bdc), an R package to address quality issues and improve the fitness-for-use of biodiversity datasets. The bdc package brings together several aspects of biodiversity data cleaning in one place. It is organized in thematic modules related to different biodiversity dimensions, including (a) Merge datasets: standardization and integration of different datasets; (b) Pre-filter: flagging and removal of invalid or non-interpretable information, followed by data amendments; (c) Taxonomy: cleaning, parsing and harmonization of scientific names from several taxonomic groups against taxonomic databases locally stored through the application of exact and partial matching algorithms; (d) Space: flagging of erroneous, suspect and low-precision geographic coordinates; and (e) Time: flagging and, whenever possible, correction of inconsistent collection date. In addition, the package contains features to visualize, document and report data quality?which is essential for making data quality assessment transparent and reproducible. The modules illustrated, and functions within, were linked to form a proposed reproducible workflow that can also integrate functions from other R packages.We demonstrated the bdc package´s applicability in cleaning more than 30 million occurrence records for terrestrial plant species in Brazil. We found that around one-fifth of the original datasets hold the standard quality requirements.Compared to other available R packages, the main strengths of the bdc package are that it brings together available tools?and a series of new ones?to assess the quality of different dimensions of biodiversity data into a single and flexible toolkit. The functions can be applied to many taxonomic groups, datasets (including regional or local repositories), countries, or world-wide. We hope the bdc package can facilitate the data cleaning process and catalyse improvements to allow the wise and efficient use of primary biodiversity data.Fil: Ribeiro, Bruno R.. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Velazco, Santiago José Elías. Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana; Brasil. University of California; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Guidoni Martins, Karlo. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Tessarolo, Geiziane. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Jardim, Lucas. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Bachman, Steven P.. Royal Botanic Gardens; Reino UnidoFil: Loyola, Rafael. Universidade Federal de Goiás; Brasil. International Institute for Sustainability; Brasi

AVALIAÇÃO DA ASSOCIAÇÃO ENTRE ESPÉCIES DE SUB-BOSQUE E VARIAÇÃO TOPOGRÁFICA EM UM FRAGMENTO DE FLORESTA ATLÂNTICA

Espécies de plantas subordinadas são um componente importante da diversidade e podem ter um papel de destaque no funcionamento das comunidades vegetais. Grande parte das espécies de sub-bosque estão subordinadas às espécies de dossel por apresentarem menor estatura, menor biomassa e por serem mais numerosas em relação às espécies dominantes. Neste trabalho, objetivou-se identificar e quantificar padrões de composição e de abundância da comunidade de espécies de sub-bosque subordinadas em um gradiente de variação topográfica de um remanescente de Floresta Atlântica. Foram amostradas 42 parcelas alocadas em um transecto ao longo de um gradiente topográfico. Os indivíduos com DAP entre 1 cm e 10 cm foram numerados, marcados e tiveram seus ramos coletados e herborizados para posterior identificação. Após a identificação das espécies, foram geradas duas matrizes, uma de composição e outra de abundância de espécies. Com base nessas matrizes, foram realizadas uma análise de coordenadas principais e uma análise de espécies indicadoras. A variação topográfica e a proximidade da borda da floresta são os principais fatores a explicar o padrão de composição das espécies de sub-bosque no remanescente estudado. Portanto, a heterogeneidade ambiental parece ser o principal fator responsável pela estruturação das espécies de sub-bosque neste sistema de alta diversidade

List of angiosperm species in an Atlantic Forest fragment reveals collection gaps in Espírito Santo state, Brazil

This study presents a list of angiosperm species in an Atlantic Forest fragment in the southern portion of Espírito Santo state, Brazil, a region that represents a collection gap within the Atlantic Forest. The studied site is a relatively small fragment of 144 ha located within a conservation unit, the Mata das Flores State Park. The site belongs to a conservation priority area for the Atlantic Forest in Espírito Santo, and is under strong anthropic pressure. Of the 239 species listed here, 21 are new records for the state, eight are endemic, and 20 figure either in the country's or the state's Red Lists of endangered species. Rubiaceae and Piperaceae were the families with the highest number of species. We show that small fragments that were never inventoried before can reveal a relatively large number of threatened species and that collection gaps need to be filled in order to refine our understanding about conservation priorities within the Atlantic Forest Biome

List of angiosperm species in an Atlantic Forest fragment reveals collection gaps in Espírito Santo state, Brazil

This study presents a list of angiosperm species in an Atlantic Forest fragment in the southern portion of Espírito Santo state, Brazil, a region that represents a collection gap within the Atlantic Forest. The studied site is a relatively small fragment of 144 ha located within a conservation unit, the Mata das Flores State Park. The site belongs to a conservation priority area for the Atlantic Forest in Espírito Santo, and is under strong anthropic pressure. Of the 239 species listed here, 21 are new records for the state, eight are endemic, and 20 figure either in the country’s or the state’s Red Lists of endangered species. Rubiaceae and Piperaceae were the families with the highest number of species. We show that small fragments that were never inventoried before can reveal a relatively large number of threatened species and that collection gaps need to be filled in order to refine our understanding about conservation priorities within the Atlantic Forest Biome

Topography and vegetation structure mediate drought impacts on the understory of the South American Atlantic Forest

Droughts have increased in frequency, duration, and severity across most of the tropics but their effect on forest communities remain not fully understood. Here we assessed the effects of a severe El Niño-induced drought event on dominant and low abundance understory plant species and the consequent impacts on ecosystem functions in the South American Atlantic Forest. We established 20 permanent plots with contrasting vegetation structure and topography. In each plot, we measured the stem diameter at breast height (DBH) of every understory woody plant (i.e. 1 to 10 cm stem diameter) before and after a severe 4-year drought event to calculate relative growth and mortality rates after drought. Litter biomass, litter nutrient content and soil nutrients, as well as tree canopy cover, were also quantified. High stem density reduced survival to drought for both dominant and low abundance understory woody species. The growth rate of dominant and low abundance species was lower on steeper slopes during the drought. Dominant species were the main contributor of litter biomass production whereas low abundance species were important drivers of litter quality. Overall, our findings suggest that habitats with low tree density and larger trees on flat areas, such as in valleys, can act as refuges for understory plant species during drought periods. These habitats are resource-rich, providing nutrients and water during unfavorable drought periods and might improve forest resilience to climate change in the long term.</p

Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of short-term (~1 y) drought events-the most common duration of drought-globally. Yet the impact of this intensification of drought on ecosystem functioning remains poorly resolved. This is due in part to the widely disparate approaches ecologists have employed to study drought, variation in the severity and duration of drought studied, and differences among ecosystems in vegetation, edaphic and climatic attributes that can mediate drought impacts. To overcome these problems and better identify the factors that modulate drought responses, we used a coordinated distributed experiment to quantify the impact of short-term drought on grassland and shrubland ecosystems. With a standardized approach, we imposed ~a single year of drought at 100 sites on six continents. Here we show that loss of a foundational ecosystem function-aboveground net primary production (ANPP)-was 60% greater at sites that experienced statistically extreme drought (1-in-100-y event) vs. those sites where drought was nominal (historically more common) in magnitude (35% vs. 21%, respectively). This reduction in a key carbon cycle process with a single year of extreme drought greatly exceeds previously reported losses for grasslands and shrublands. Our global experiment also revealed high variability in drought response but that relative reductions in ANPP were greater in drier ecosystems and those with fewer plant species. Overall, our results demonstrate with unprecedented rigor that the global impacts of projected increases in drought severity have been significantly underestimated and that drier and less diverse sites are likely to be most vulnerable to extreme drought

Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of short-term (~1 y) drought events-the most common duration of drought-globally. Yet the impact of this intensification of drought on ecosystem functioning remains poorly resolved. This is due in part to the widely disparate approaches ecologists have employed to study drought, variation in the severity and duration of drought studied, and differences among ecosystems in vegetation, edaphic and climatic attributes that can mediate drought impacts. To overcome these problems and better identify the factors that modulate drought responses, we used a coordinated distributed experiment to quantify the impact of short-term drought on grassland and shrubland ecosystems. With a standardized approach, we imposed ~a single year of drought at 100 sites on six continents. Here we show that loss of a foundational ecosystem function-aboveground net primary production (ANPP)-was 60% greater at sites that experienced statistically extreme drought (1-in-100-y event) vs. those sites where drought was nominal (historically more common) in magnitude (35% vs. 21%, respectively). This reduction in a key carbon cycle process with a single year of extreme drought greatly exceeds previously reported losses for grasslands and shrublands. Our global experiment also revealed high variability in drought response but that relative reductions in ANPP were greater in drier ecosystems and those with fewer plant species. Overall, our results demonstrate with unprecedented rigor that the global impacts of projected increases in drought severity have been significantly underestimated and that drier and less diverse sites are likely to be most vulnerable to extreme drought

Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally

Altres Ajuts: Fundación Ramón Areces grant CIVP20A6621Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of short-term (~1 y) drought events-the most common duration of drought-globally. Yet the impact of this intensification of drought on ecosystem functioning remains poorly resolved. This is due in part to the widely disparate approaches ecologists have employed to study drought, variation in the severity and duration of drought studied, and differences among ecosystems in vegetation, edaphic and climatic attributes that can mediate drought impacts. To overcome these problems and better identify the factors that modulate drought responses, we used a coordinated distributed experiment to quantify the impact of short-term drought on grassland and shrubland ecosystems. With a standardized approach, we imposed ~a single year of drought at 100 sites on six continents. Here we show that loss of a foundational ecosystem function-aboveground net primary production (ANPP)-was 60% greater at sites that experienced statistically extreme drought (1-in-100-y event) vs. those sites where drought was nominal (historically more common) in magnitude (35% vs. 21%, respectively). This reduction in a key carbon cycle process with a single year of extreme drought greatly exceeds previously reported losses for grasslands and shrublands. Our global experiment also revealed high variability in drought response but that relative reductions in ANPP were greater in drier ecosystems and those with fewer plant species. Overall, our results demonstrate with unprecedented rigor that the global impacts of projected increases in drought severity have been significantly underestimated and that drier and less diverse sites are likely to be most vulnerable to extreme drought