2018

Science Review

An annual compilation ofresearch data uses enabled by2

3

Foreword
Compared to last year, 2017 saw a 60 per cent increase in number of scientificpublications relying on GBIF-mediated data
As in previous years, this GBIF Science Review
gives an exciting overview of the breadth andimportance of research based on biodiversity
data mobilized through the GBIF network. In the2018 edition, which surveys literature publishedin 2017, we note a nearly 60 per cent growthin number of papers using GBIF-mediated datacompared to 2016. With continued increases
in data mobilization efforts across the GBIF
network, more than 280 new publishers started
sharing their data openly and freely, adding
to the more than 250 million new species
occurrences indexed by GBIF.org in 2017. Thisdevelopment has since allowed the community topass a significant milestone, as the one billionth
occurrence record was published in July 2018.
This document demonstrates why a community
and infrastructure like GBIF is necessary.
Countless people from all over the world playedsome part in making all of this research possible.
Generations of scientists and naturalists provided
the observations, collections, measurements
and identifications now brought together in the
GBIF data index. Much of this effort would be
invisible without all the associated contributions
by collection staff, database managers, software

engineers and frequently volunteers to transformall of this knowledge into standardized digitalformats. And, of course, the publications
summarized in this review are the results ofresearch funding, the outputs of research
institutions, and the work of researchers active
in areas as diverse as taxonomy and ecology,
medicine and food security, climate change andsustainability. GBIF sits at the heart of all thisactivity, a broker or catalyst that makes muchof this possible and everywhere contributes tocollaboration and reuse.
I particularly wish to acknowledge that thisreview would not exist without the efforts ofmany in the GBIF network to support researchers
and to encourage good citation of data. Above all,our Science Communications Coordinator, Daniel
Noesgaard has worked tirelessly through the year
to monitor new publications and to produce thecompact summaries that make up most of thisdocument.

About the Science Review
The GBIF Science Review provides an annual survey
drawn from the Secretariat’s ongoing literature
tracking programme, which identifies researchuses and citations of biodiversity information
accessed through GBIF’s global infrastructure. The
peer-reviewed articles summarized in the following
pages offer a partial but instructive view of research
investigations enhanced and supported by free andopen access to data that the GBIF network of members
and publishers make available.
We have labelled open-access scientific articles
using the symbol a. We feel this step serves thoseinterested in reading the research at a time ofinstitutional journal subscriptions.
The comprehensive list of the year’s uses remains
decoupled from the printed version of the Science
Review and is available exclusively through the online

literature index at https://www.gbif.org/resource/
search?contentType=literature.
As in previous years, the categories used here areintended to help readers navigate the major subject
areas of GBIF-assisted research, despite the factthat some papers may cut across multiple topics.
For clarity’s sake, articles appear under only one
category in the Review. Countries assigned to authors
are based on the location of the institutions identified
in the author information, while funding information
included for the highlighted papers draws upon thepapers’ acknowledgements.
Those interested in sharing research uses thathave escaped our attention can write to us atcommunication@gbif.org.

CONTENTSDONALD HOBERN

Uses and trends����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 4

GBIF Executive Secretary
September 2018

Biodiversity and human health��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 6
Biodiversity data��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 9
Crops and pollinators������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 13
Ecology, evolution, behaviour and systematics�������������������������������������������������������� 15

Cover photo:
Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta subsp. elegans) available at https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1269537010.
Photo taken by amalibrahim and published through GBIF.org via iNaturalist Research-grade Observations. Licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.
Rights:The GBIF Science Review is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Citation:
GBIF Secretariat. (2018). GBIF Science Review 2018. https://doi.org/10.15468/VA9B-3048

Impacts of climate change��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26
Invasive alien species����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������29
On the distribution of species���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������34
Species conservation and protected areas����������������������������������������������������������������40

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Uses and trends
These visualizations of the use of GBIF-mediated data serve to show not just the growing number ofpeer-reviewed publications appearing each year, but also the increasing number of countries, islands
and territories whose institutions host authors who apply the data in their research articles. Eachtrend highlights the GBIF network’s widening sphere of influence and impact on scientific research
related to the biological domain.

ANNUAL NUMBER OF PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES USING GBIF-MEDIATED DATA

5NUMBER OF ARTICLES WITH AUTHORS BY COUNTRY/ISLAND/TERRITORY
190
84
76
75
68
57
54
49
46
35
27
25
22
21
20
18
15
14
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3

2017

696
450 80

2016

438
438

2015

407
407

2014

350
347

2013

249
249

2012

229
229

2011

169
169

2010

148
148

2009

89
89

2

2008

52
52

1

United States
United Kingdom
countries, islands &Germany
territories with authors who
Brazilused GBIF-mediated dataSpainin peer-reviewed papers
Australia • Mexico
published in 2017
China
CanadaFranceSwitzerland
South Africa
Argentina • Colombia • Italy
Netherlands
Denmark • Norway
69
71
India
Belgium
135
Czechia • Portugal • Sweden
Proportion and number
Polandof papers by authors 557
Chile • Russia
within GBIF regions
239
New Zealand
Ecuador
Greece • Taiwan
241
Costa Rica • Iran • Japan • Turkey
Austria • Egypt • Finland
Hungary • Israel • Peru
Ireland • Kenya
Indonesia • Saudi Arabia • Benin • Cameroon • Nigeria
Bangladesh • Guatemala • Hong Kong • New Caledonia • Panama • Senegal • Serbia
Singapore • Slovenia • Ukraine • Uruguay • Venezuela • Viet Nam
Cuba • Ghana • South Korea • Kuwait • Libya • Malaysia • Morocco • Nepal • Pakistan
Romania • Slovakia • Tunisia • United Arab Emirates
Armenia • Azerbaijan • Bolivia • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Bulgaria • Burkina Faso
Chad • Estonia • Ethiopia • Falkland Islands (Malvinas) • French Guiana • Georgia
Guyana • Honduras • Iraq • Jamaica • Kyrgyzstan • Laos • Luxembourg • Malta
Mozambique • Nicaragua • Niger • Paraguay • Puerto Rico • Qatar • Tanzania
Thailand • Zimbabwe

GBIF Regions

102

42+18+106K

Asia

AfricaEuropeLatin America

North America

Oceania67

selection from a cultural perspective, while at thesame time identifying plants with potential medicinal
properties for pharmacological studies.
The researchers identify 34 different cultural groups
each with their own local names and conceived
etiologies of the disease. In one community, the glow
of a lightning bug is believed to be the cause, whileothers point to the consumption of poisonous animals.
Treatments vary but all relate to the local perceptionof the disease, which also affects the selection ofplant remedies. In one group, remedies based on fastgrowing plants are used when disease progression isquick, and vice versa.
Using GBIF-mediated occurrences, the researchersclassify the identified plant species, and find that
preferred traditional antileishmanials are native to
Amazonia, but often wild. Through phytochemicaland pharmacological review, the study surveys
the medicinal properties of the species, providing
candidates for potential therapeutic trials.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jep.2017.01.048

ARTIBEUS JAMAICENSIS BY CHERYL HARLESTON https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1291683823 CC BY-NC 4.0

BUILDING A NETWORK OF CHAGAS VECTORS ANDHOSTSDATA USED: 47,942 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Rengifo-Correa L, Stephens CR, Morrone JJ, TéllezRendón JL and González-Salazar C (2017) Understandingtransmissibility patterns of Chagas disease throughcomplex vector–host networks. Parasitology. Cambridge
University Press (CUP) 144(06): 760–772.
Author country/area: Mexico
Research funding: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología,
Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico,
Fronteras de la Ciencia

Chagas disease is a parasitical infection caused by
the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi occurring in theAmerican tropics. Typically transmitted throughinsect bites by so-called kissing bugs (subfamily
Triatominae), Chagas is usually associated with mild
symptoms, however, chronic infections can lead to
cardiac, digestive or neurological alterations.
Little is known about the transmission patterns of theparasite, and in this study, researchers used GBIFmediated occurrences of potential mammalian hostspecies combined with records of Triatominae species
to generate a complex interference network andpredict interactions from co-occurrences.
A third of the mammals occur in sites where

Triatominae species are also present, and ten hostspecies are potentially associated with three or more
Triatominae bugs. Two species, Baiomys musculus
and Liomys pictus, are highlighted as potentiallyassociated with five Triatominae species.
The researchers test the predictive power of the
network by confirming the presence of verified Chagas
hosts. The additional co-occurrences provide testable
hypotheses for new vector-host interactions to beaddressed.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1017/
S0031182016002468

USING TRADITIONAL REMEDIES TO INSPIRE
MODERN MEDICINESDATA USED: 291 SPECIES

Odonne G, Houël E, Bourdy G and Stien D (2017) Treatingleishmaniasis in Amazonia: A review of ethnomedicinal
concepts and pharmaco-chemical analysis of traditional
treatments to inspire modern phytotherapies. Journal of
Ethnopharmacology. Elsevier BV 199: 211–230.
Author country/area: France
Research funding: Agence Nationale de la Recherche

Reviewing literature on traditional remedies forleishmaniasis in Amazonia, this study attempts
to understand the mechanisms underlying plant

PREDICTING RISK OF ZIKA INFECTIONS THROUGH
CO-OCCURRENCE OF VECTOR AND HOSTDATA USED: 37,297 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

González-Salazar C, Stephens CR and Sánchez-Cordero V(2017) Predicting the Potential Role of Non-human Hosts
in Zika Virus Maintenance. EcoHealth. Springer Nature
14(1): 171–177.
Author country/area: Mexico
Research funding: Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos deInvestigación e Innovación Tecnológica

Revealing a high correlation between significant
mosquito-mammal interactions and confirmed human
Zika infections, the study provides new material for
future studies in Zika virus maintenance.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-0171206-4

THE FUTURE OF RAGWEED: MAKING MORE
EUROPEANS SNEEZEDATA USED: 10,539 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Rasmussen K, Thyrring J, Muscarella R and Borchsenius
F (2017) Climate-change-induced range shifts of threeallergenic ragweeds (Ambrosia L.) in Europe and theirpotential impact on human health. PeerJ. PeerJ 5: e3104.
Author country/area: Denmark
Research funding: National Science Foundation

Ragweed (Ambrosia sp.) is considered to be among
the most potent aeroallergens and the major causeof late summer hay fever. Medical costs exceed $18
billion per year in the US, and in Hungary, one in four
people are allergic to ragweed, making this memberof the sunflower family (Asteraceae) a major publichealth concern.
In the present study, researchers from Denmark
used GBIF-mediated occurrences of three Ambrosia
species (A. artemisiifolia, A. psilostachya and A. trifida)to create species distribution models for quantifying
the allergy risk in Europe under future climates. Theirresults showed that areas of high risk are likely to
double by the year 2100, leading to novel risk areas in
Denmark, France, Germany, Russia and the Baltics.

Vector-borne public health threats such as Zika,
Dengue and Chikungunya are caused by highly
mutable arboviruses with potential for rapid adaptivechanges in response to new hosts and host ranges.
While mosquito vectors such as Aedes aegypti havebeen identified, understanding the role of mammalianreservoir hosts in the maintenance of arboviruses
is crucial to limiting spread and emergence of these
diseases.
In this study, researchers from Mexico used GBIFmediated species occurrences to identify potential
mammalian blood-meal sources for Ae. aegypti andas such, potential arbovirus hosts. These biotic
interactions led to a ranked list of mammalian species,
including seven bat species in the top 10, of which two
species are already confirmed dengue hosts, and four
species are hosts of protozoan parasites Leishmania
mexicana and Trypanosoma cruzi.

AMBROSIA TRIFIDA BY JULIABOHEMIAN https://www.gbif.org/
occurrence/1640119729 CC BY-NC 4.0

human health

Biodiversity and human healthhuman health89Understanding the future distributions of suchallergenic plants is crucial to predicting theconsequences for human health. The authors of
this study conclude that unless strict management
strategies are enforced, restricting dispersal andestablishment of new colonies, Europe will face asubstantial increase in areas affected by severe
ragweed associated allergy problems.

research could help to target key monitoring sites,
inform vector control measures and supplement
education campaigns aimed at preventing the spreadof JEV in environmentally suitable locales.

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3104

DATA USED: 7,126 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

MAPPING MOSQUITOES TO IMPROVE PUBLICHEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORINGDATA USED: 1,172 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Longbottom J, Browne AJ, Pigott DM, Sinka ME, Golding
N, Hay SI, Moyes CL and Shearer FM (2017) Mapping the
spatial distribution of the Japanese encephalitis vector,
Culex tritaeniorhynchus Giles, 1901 (Diptera: Culicidae)
within areas of Japanese encephalitis risk. Parasites &Vectors. Springer Nature 10(1).
Author countries/areas: Australia, United Kingdom, UnitedStatesResearch funding: Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, University of Melbourne, University of Oxford

Culex tritaeniorhyncus, a mosquito native to northern
Asia, is the primary vector of Japanese encephalitis
virus (JEV). A relative of dengue, yellow fever andWest Nile, this flavivirus infects nearly 68,000
humans each year, triggering incurable brain
inflammation that causes death in up to 30 per cent of
the cases and permanent neurological or psychiatricdamage in another 30 to 50 per cent.
The World Health Organization estimates that morethan 3 billion people in 24 countries in Southeast Asiaand the Western Pacific risk exposure to JEV infection.
But as with many arboviruses, the distribution of its
arthropod vectors is poorly documented. Here theauthors combined 225 Cx. tritaeniorhyncus records
from GBIF.org along with data from VectorMap and21st-century scientific literature, in hope of improving
knowledge of where the species occurs and mapping
environmentally suitable areas for incidence of JEV.
In addition to predicting high suitability in India,
Nepal and China, the resulting models draw specificattention to highly suitable regions in northwest India,
southeast Pakistan, northern Japan and southeast
Russia where records of Cx. tritaeniorhyncus arelacking. While higher resolution occurrence data
could improve the maps’ ability to assess risks, thisBiodiversity data

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-0172086-8

MORE HUMANS–MORE VIRAL SPILLOVER EVENTSa Walsh MG, Wiethoelter A and Haseeb MA (2017) The
impact of human population pressure on flying fox niches
and the potential consequences for Hendra virus spillover.
Scientific Reports. Springer Nature 7(1).
Author countries/areas: Australia, United States
Research funding: None listed

When human activities lead to changed landscapes,
new ecosystem configurations may entail,subsequently increasing potential for unprecedented
contact between humans and wildlife, including
species carrying human pathogens.
Bats are known reservoirs of Nipah, Ebola andHendra viruses, the latter being the focus of a study
examining how human migration in Australia has
affected the range of fruit bats (Pteropus spp.)–alsoknown as flying foxes–and whether these changes
are associated with Hendra virus spillover events,
i.e when a virus passes from a reservoir to a novel
species.
Using GBIF-mediated occurrences, the authorsmodelled the distribution of four flying fox species
in mainland Australia based on climate variables
and human migration across three decades from1980. The models showed that the niches of two
species in particular have expanded southward along
the eastern coast, following increases in humanpopulation, especially in the 1990s.
Finally, the authors showed how the changing
geometry of flying fox habitat was strongly associatedwith Hendra virus spillovers, adding knowledge about
epidemiology and infection ecology of this rare, but
fatal zoonosis.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-01708065-z

See all Biodiversity and human health citations at GBIF.org

SALIX CAPREA BY MARTIN GRIMM https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1455569693 CC BY-NC 4.0

EXPANDING OBIS BEYOND SPECIES OCCURRENCES
a De Pooter D, Appeltans W, Bailly N, Bristol S, Deneudt
K, Eliezer M, Fujioka E, Giorgetti A, Goldstein P, Lewis M,
Lipizer M, Mackay K, Marin M, Moncoiffé G, Nikolopoulou
S, Provoost P, Rauch S, Roubicek A, Torres C, van dePutte A, Vandepitte L, Vanhoorne B, Vinci M, Wambiji N,
Watts D, Klein Salas E and Hernandez F (2017) Toward
a new data standard for combined marine biological andenvironmental datasets - expanding OBIS beyond species
occurrences. Biodiversity Data Journal. Pensoft Publishers
5: e10989.
Author countries/areas: Argentina, Australia, Belgium,
Greece, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, United Kingdom,
United States, Venezuela
Research funding: None listed

workshop in Oostende in 2015, at which members of
the project consortium used pilot datasets to design
DwC-based solutions to challenges of combined
oceanic data.
The workshop explored several different combinationsof DwC components and extensions, and decided thatthe most suitable solution would be based on the
Event Core combined with an Occurrence extension
and a revised MeasurementOrFact extension. The
proposed standard will allow OBIS to move beyond justoccurrence data and enable publishing of event-based
datasets combining biological, physical and chemicalmeasurements.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.5.e10989

The Ocean Biogeographic Information System(OBIS) was established in 2000 to create an online,
user-friendly system for absorbing, integrating andaccessing data about life in the oceans. In 2005,
OBIS adapted the Darwin Core (DwC) standard forbiodiversity data, which supports publishing throughGBIF.

THE GLOBAL POLLEN PROJECT: PROVIDING OPEN
AND FREE ACCESS TO POLLEN IDENTIFICATIONDATA

Following the implementation of sampling event data
in GBIF, OBIS established a pilot project to investigate
best practices for storing and sharing combined
datasets. This paper summarizes the findings of a

Author country/area: United Kingdom
Research funding: Natural Environment Research Council

DATA USED: 1,500 SPECIESa Martin AC and Harvey WJ (2017) The Global Pollen
Project: a new tool for pollen identification and thedissemination of physical reference collections. Methods
in Ecology and Evolution. Wiley-Blackwell 8(7): 892–897.

Environmental changes affect vegetation dynamics
and analyses of both fossil and modern pollen
assemblages can be an important source of evidence.
Taxonomic identification of pollen grains, however, canbe a daunting task, as existing reference collections
are kept private and inaccessible to researchers.
This paper presents a new online, open and peerreviewed database of pollen data from across theworld, allowing submission and identification of
unknown grains through crowdsourcing, as well asa repository for digitization and sharing of existingreference collections. Connected to the GBIF.org
database, The Global Pollen Project (GPP) tool
provides direct and easy linkage from pollen grains tooccurrences for more than 1,500 plant species.
Generating new opportunities for research, the
GPP tool can be a valuable resource for automaticpollen identification through machine learning. As
an alternative to physical slides that degrade overtime, the tool has already proven useful in university
teaching by being incorporated in lectures and lab
exercises.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/2041210X.12752

BIG DATA PUTTING THE ‘FUN’ BACK IN FUNGALRESEARCHDATA USED: 245,382 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Andrew C, Heegaard E, Kirk PM, Bässler C, HeilmannClausen J, Krisai-Greilhuber I, Kuyper TW, Senn-Irlet B,
Büntgen U, Diez J, Egli S, Gange AC, Halvorsen R, Høiland
K, Nordén J, Rustøen F, Boddy L and Kauserud H (2017)
Big data integration: Pan-European fungal species
observations’ assembly for addressing contemporary
questions in ecology and global change biology. Fungal
Biology Reviews. Elsevier BV 31(2): 88–98.
Author countries/areas: Austria, Czechia, Denmark,Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, United
Kingdom, United States
Research funding: Research Council of Norway

Open access to biodiversity data presents anunparalleled potential for understanding many
aspects of the ecology and biogeography oforganisms. Many national initiatives have gatheredspecies occurrence records from e.g. citizen science
projects and museums, however, to answer globalscale questions, data needs to transcend national
borders.
Striking in their absence from analyses of species’
shifts in response to climate change, fungi are thefocus of this study, in which researchers compile nine

11

national datasets from Europe into one meta-dataset,called ClimFun. Through nomenclatural harmonization,formatting and filtering, the resulting dataset spans
six million records of more than 10,000 species.
To demonstrate the value of the database, theresearchers show simple examples of climate-related
shifts in the fruiting dates for two species, Amanita
rubescens and Hypholoma fasciculare. The patterns
found rely on data spanning more than 15 degrees
of latitude and altitudes from sea level to 1700 m,
and are as such only achievable because of thecontinental scale of the data.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
fbr.2017.01.001

TRACKING FREE-ROAMING CHEETAHS OUTSIDEPROTECTED AREAS OF SOUTH AFRICATRACKING THE INVASION OF SOSNOWSKY’S
HOGWEED IN THE KOMI REPUBLICDATA PUBLISHED: 3,165 SPECIES OCCURRENCESDATA USED: 10,894 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Marnewick K, Page-Nicholson S, Roxburgh L and Somers
M (2017) Tracking data from nine free-roaming Cheetahs(Acinonyx jubatus) collared in the Thabazimbi area,
Limpopo Province, South Africa. Biodiversity Data Journal.
Pensoft Publishers 5: e11323.

a Chadin I, Dalke I, Zakhozhiy I, Malyshev R, Madi E,
Kuzivanova O, Kirillov D and Elsakov V (2017) Distributionof the invasive plant species Heracleum sosnowskyi
Manden. in the Komi Republic (Russia). PhytoKeys. Pensoft
Publishers 77: 71–80.

Author country/area: South Africa
Research funding: GBIF

Author country/area: Russia
Research funding: Russian Foundation for Basic Research,
Government of Komi Republic

Two of South Africa’s cheetah populations exist
in protected areas, while a third roams free on
privately owned ranchland outside protected areas.

DEVELOPING A COMMON STRUCTURALFRAMEWORK FOR DATA PAPERS
a Chen Y-N (2017) An analysis of characteristics andstructures embedded in data papers: a preliminary study.
Libellarium: journal for the research of writing, books, andcultural heritage institutions. University of Zadar 9(2).

This data paper represents a study of the distributionof H. sosnowskyi in the Komi Republic recorded
from moving vehicles mounted with video cameras
synched with GPS trackers. Traveling at speeds of up
to 90 km/h, the study vehicles collected data within aradius of 300 km around Syktyvkar, capital of Komi.

Author country/area: Taiwan
Research funding: None listed

Many institutions, including GBIF, encourage sharingof research data through data papers that extend
metadata in a way that mirrors the traditional
scientific publication model. Dozens of journals now
accept data papers, however, as highlighted by thisstudy, they lack a common standard.
By reviewing submission templates and guidelines
from 26 data journals, the authors describe a unifying
framework consisting mainly of three distinct
components: 1) basic information (e.g. title, abstract,author, etc.), 2) dataset descriptions (i.e. how wasdata collected, how it was formatted, what doesit cover, etc.), and 3) relationships (i.e. links andreferences).
The authors use the proposed framework to highlightthe successful case of mapping metadata directly
derived from the GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit(IPT) onto a data paper template that can be edited
and submitted to a journal for consideration.
As of September 2018, authors have contributed
to more than 75 data papers describing datasets
published in GBIF.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.15291/libellarium.
v9i2.266

The autonomous Komi Republic located in the northeast of the Russian Plain constitutes an importantbiogeographic boundary between the European andAsian continents. Sosnowsky’s hogweed (Heracleum
sosnowskyi) was introduced as a forage crop in
the second half of the 20th century, but now all
populations in the region are invasive.

ACINONYX JUBATUS BY WILLIAM_WALLDEN https://www.gbif.org/
occurrence/1315076539 CC BY-NC 4.0

The reseachers broke the recorded video feeds intoframes and sorted the images based on H. sosnowskyi
occurrences. The final dataset contains 10,894
occurrence records, all of which are available throughGBIF.org.

Under continuous threat from illegal wildlife tradeand retaliatory killings by ranch owners to protect
livestock, this population is, however, the largest inSouth Africa.

Using the recorded occurrences combined withbioclimatic variables, the researchers modeled thepotential distribution of the weed, and determined thenorthern range boundary to 67.2°.

During a tracking programme of nearly six years,
researchers trapped nine free-roaming cheetahs,
six males and three females, and fitted them withtracking collars. The cheetahs were then released andtracked for the remainder of their lives (or the life of
the collar).

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.3897/
phytokeys.77.11186

At the conclusion of the programme, four animals
had been shot and one killed on the road, while one
male, tracked for nearly six years had died of naturalcauses. The fate of the remaining three animals
was unknown. The dataset, published in entirety to
GBIF, revealed that ranges of free-roaming cheetahs
covered on average 18 ranches, and that malecheetahs had slightly larger ranges than females.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.5.e11323

SSDM: A NEW SOFTWARE PACKAGE FOR CREATINGSTACKED SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELSDATA USED: 6,641,610 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Schmitt S, Pouteau R, Justeau D, de Boissieu F and
Birnbaum P (2017) ssdm: An r package to predict
distribution of species richness and composition based onstacked species distribution models. Methods in Ecology
and Evolution. Wiley 8(12): 1795–1803.
Author country/area: New Caledonia
Research funding: Direction for Economic andEnvironmental Development (DDEE) of the North Province of
New Caledonia

In this paper, reseachers based in New Caledonia
present a new user-friendly platform for stacking
species distribution models (SSDM) implemented inbiodiversity data

biodiversity data10

biodiversity data12

the popular R software environment. Free and open
source, the “SSDM” package takes datasets of species
presence/absence records and environmental
variables, outputting maps of SSDMs based on a rangeof statistical methods. If absence records are required
and not available, the package can generate pseudoabsences or use background data.
SSDM features a user-friendly graphical interface
to accommodate loading of input data, modelling,
and displaying the resulting model maps with anindication of the accurracy and performance.
To demonstrate the functionality and ease of use,
the authors modelled the distributions of 100 of
the world’s worst invasive alien species using morethan 6 million occurrences downloaded from GBIF.
org combined with 19 WorldClim climate variables.
Stacking the models, the output map provides aview of the worldwide vulnerability to these invasive
species.
The SSDM package is available for download from
CRAN or within the R environment.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/2041210X.12841

IS TAXONOMIC BIAS IN GBIF EXPLAINED BYRESEARCH FOCUS OR SOCIETAL PREFERENCES?
DATA ANALYSED: 649,767,741 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Troudet J, Grandcolas P, Blin A, Vignes-Lebbe R andLegendre F (2017) Taxonomic bias in biodiversity data andsocietal preferences. Scientific Reports. Springer Nature
7(1).
Author country/area: France
Research funding: Ministère de la Recherche

Describing and understanding taxonomic biases andtheir causes are undeniable priorities. Attempts to
explain taxonomic bias include, apart from obvious,
intrinsic reasons (such as species in remotelocations), also extrinsic factors, such as research
focus and societal pressures.

13and Anthozoa (corals) lack species-level identification
in a third of the occurrences. Within certain insect
orders, however, taxonomic presicion is as low as 0.5
per cent.

Crops and pollinators

Further comparing number of species withoccurrences, with known species richness withineach class, the researchers found birds and insects
to be the most over- and under-represented classes,
respectively. This bias is not new, but recent growth indata also shows that this gap is not becoming smaller.
Only in three classes (birds, amphibians and rayfinned fishes) did fewer than half the species have 20
occurrences. In comparison, less than nine per cent ofarthropod species has a similar coverage.
Relating these findings to number of web results fordifferent species as a proxy for societal preferences,
their model uncovered several significant correlations
showing that a high societal preference is related
to a high number of GBIF occurrences. This was,however, not the case for taxonomic research (proxiedby number of research papers published), where
the model revealed fewer correlations that in somecases were even negative. For instance, for the class
Agaricomycetes having a large volume of research
was related to a lower number of GBIF occurrences.
The authors conclude:> Many international projects have been developedsince the Convention on Biological Diversity,
illustrating an increased awareness of the astonishingdiversity of functions and services that biodiversity
supports. Nevertheless, while biodiversity declines
at an unprecedented rate, taxonomic bias is still aburden on biodiversity studies. It is urgent that we
get rid of this burden and that we start embracing thewhole of biodiversity. (CC BY 4.0)
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-01709084-6

In this study, researchers quantify the relative impactof taxonomic research and societal preferences ontaxonomic bias in data from GBIF, the world’s largest
open access biodiversity database.

BOMBUS PENSYLVANICUS BY KATHY RICHARDSON https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1847522785 CC BY-NC 4.0

IDENTIFYING GAPS TO PRIORITIZE AREAS FORCROP WILD RELATIVE CONSERVATIONDATA USED: 39,598 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a García RM, Parra-Quijano M and Iriondo JM (2017) A
Multispecies Collecting Strategy for Crop Wild Relatives
Based on Complementary Areas with a High Density ofEcogeographical Gaps. Crop Science. Crop Science Societyof America 57(3): 1059.
Author countries/areas: Colombia, Spain
Research funding: None listed

As climates change and the global human population
keeps increasing, crop production and food security
is under threat. Current cultivars lack adaptive
mechanisms, so securing potential genetic diversity
in crop wild relatives (CWR) is crucial.
In a study published in Crop Science, researcherspresent a new approach to prioritizing areas forcollecting seeds. Based on a list of 88 mainly cereal
and legume priority taxa from the Spanish National
Inventory of CWR, the authors used occurrence datafrom GBIF to derive the most relevant bioclimatic,
edaphic and geophysic variables for the taxa inquestion. Using the most important variables foreach species, they generated land characterization
maps to identify ecogeographic and spatial gaps, i.e.
distance to location of available accessions.

Using a range of measures the researchers assessedboth bias and precision across 626 million GBIFmediated occurrences representing one million
species in 24 taxonomic classes. They find that 94 percent of occurrences are identified (at least) at species
level. Highest precision is found among plants, fungi
and birds, whereas classes Maxillopoda (crustaceans)

See all Biodiversity data citations at GBIF.org

When analysing the maps, the authors found that
Hordeum murinum (CWR of barley) and Vicia sativa(CWR of fava beans) have the largest number ofspatial gaps. They generate a ranked list of 10x10 km
cells based on gap richness and find 523 populationsin the top 10 areas across 58 taxa, of which 24 are notpresent in current germplasm collections.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.2135/
cropsci2016.10.0860

REFORESTATION THROUGH HOMEGARDEN-BASED
NATURAL REGENERATIONDATA USED: 250 SPECIES

Rooduijn B, Bongers F and van der Wal H (2018) Wild
native trees in tropical homegardens of Southeast Mexico:
Fostered by fragmentation, mediated by management.
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. Elsevier BV 254:
149–161.
Author countries/areas: Mexico, Netherlands
Research funding: PROMEP CA SEP, CONACYT

Providing ecological, economic and socio-culturalvalues to local communities, tropical home gardens(THG) are diversified agroforestry systems also
supporting important ecosystem services such aspollination and decomposition. THGs may also act
as both sinks and sources of tropical biodiversity,
however, quantitative evaluation of such dynamics

14

15

crops and pollinators

remain largely lacking.
In this study, authors examined abundance anddiversity of wild native trees in THGs in the lowlandsof Tabasco state in southeast Mexico–completely
deforested in the 1950s and onwards–whileassessing the role of tree cover fragmentation andsocio-management. They inventoried a random
selection of 59 THGs in 19 villages equally spread
across the region, using GBIF to validate the origin ofplant species observed.
Their analysis revealed that while tree coverfragmentation affects the level of self-establishedvs planted trees, socio-management–i.e. complex
gardens with species-knowledgable owners–plays abigger role also in terms of density of native trees andindividual species’ abundances.

usage of the fungicide chlorothalonil was the best
predictor of prevalence of the bumblebee pathogen
Nosema bombi in four declining species. They also
found that total fungicide usage was correlated withrange contractions in all declining species.

Ecology, evolution, behaviour and systematics

Adding to existing evidence, this study highlights
fungicide exposure–linked to pathogen prevalence–as a critical factor affecting threatened andendangered bumblebees in the US.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1098/
rspb.2017.2181

Showing that THGs are important sinks for wild
native trees, the study concludes that homegardenbased natural regeneration may be a key resource inreforestation.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
agee.2017.10.015

THE DEMISE OF BUMBLEBEES: LINKINGPESTICIDES AND PATHOGENS TO DECLINING
POPULATIONSHAKEA LAURINA BY LINGER https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1099976883 CC BY-NC 4.0

ASSESSING ENDEMICITY OF JAPANESE FUNGIDATA USED: 67,725 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

McArt SH, Urbanowicz C, McCoshum S, Irwin RE and Adler
LS (2017) Landscape predictors of pathogen prevalence
and range contractions in US bumblebees. Proceedings of
the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The Royal Society284(1867): 20172181.
Author country/area: United States
Research funding: National Institute of Food and Agriculture,
NSF

Efficient pollinators of wild flowering plants and crops,
bumblebees provide important ecosystem services,
threatened by range contractions and declining
populations. In the US, this has been linked to a variety
of factors including urbanization, pesticides andpathogens.
In a study of bumblebees in the US, authors attempt
to elucidate the relative importance of different
stressors associated with range contractions. At 284
sites, they sampled and identified Bombus species,
while screening for pathogens and quantifying
landscape and pesticide usage.
Combining the field data with GBIF-mediatedoccurrences of eight target species, the authors used
a machine learning model technique to show that the

See all Crops and pollinators citations at GBIF.org

Summary by Tsuyoshi Hosoya (GBIF Japan)

By examining two volumes of Colored Illustrations ofMushrooms of Japan (I and II) (Imazeki and Hong 1987,
1989), a masterpiece on mycobiota information,
researchers reviewed the comments of 3,928
mushrooms and found clear mention of endemicity for
182 taxa. These were selected and further assessedby referring to the GBIF-mediated records foroccurrences in other countries.

Fungi are one of the most important and highly diverse
groups of organisms. Although some attention has
been given to species with interest for conservation
biology, such as endangered or invasive alien species,
none of these have been examined systematically.

Results revealed 109 taxa already known to occur
outside Japan that should not be categorized as
endemic. However, for 71 taxa endemicity could not
be ruled out, and at present, these should be accepted
as possible endemic mushrooms.

In the present paper, the authors seek to assess
the endemicity of Japanese fungi using GBIFmediated data. Endemic species are unique to a given
geographic location, such as an island, country orother defined area. Categorizing a species as endemic
should be limited to well-known species to avoid
falsely classifying due to lack of data. Proving theendemicity of a species is difficult, if not impossible.
Primary biodiversity data, however, makes it easy toconfirm the occurrence of a species in an overseas
location and thereby rule out endemicity.

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.18962/jjom.57.2_77

DATA USED: 109 TAXA

剛細矢, 志穂美埋橋, 健太郎保坂, & 伸一工藤. (2016).
An assessment of fungi endemic to Japan. 日本菌学会会
報 [Japanese Journal of Mycology], 57(2), 77–84.
Author country/area: Japan
Research funding: None listed

UNRAVELLING THE PLANT BIODIVERSITY
HOTSPOTS OF MEDITERRANEAN-TYPE
ECOSYSTEMSDATA USED: 9,762 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Skeels A and Cardillo M (2017) Environmental niche
conservatism explains the accumulation of species
richness in Mediterranean-hotspot plant genera. Evolution.
Wiley-Blackwell 71(3): 582–594.
Author country/area: Australia
Research funding: None listed

16

In this study, researchers test the hypothesis thatprocesses similar to those driving diversity in thetropics (known as the Tropical Niche Conservatism
Hypothesis) could explain the MTE hotspots.
Focusing on four large plant genera with most of
their species found in two MTE hotspots - the floristic
regions of 1) the Greater Cape in South Africa and2) Southwest Australia - the researchers estimatedthe environmental niches of 136 species using
occurrence data from GBIF combined with climate andsoil data.

link between fire frequency and bark thickness. On
average, species found in fire-frequent savannas
have bark three times thicker than species in fireinfrequent forests.
The researchers further assessed the vulnerabilityof communities under future scenarios, and foundthat seasonal forests and savannas are robust, while
tropical rainforests may be especially vulnerable,
as wildfires are expected to increase in frequency inwarmer climates.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12725

FIRE-RESISTANCE IN A HOTTER FUTUREDATA USED: 578,071 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Pellegrini AFA, Anderegg WRL, Paine CET, Hoffmann WA,
Kartzinel T, Rabin SS, Sheil D, Franco AC and Pacala SW(2017) Convergence of bark investment according to fireand climate structures ecosystem vulnerability to futurechange. Ecology Letters. Wiley-Blackwell 20(3): 307–316.
Author countries/areas: Brazil, Norway, United Kingdom,
United States
Research funding: National Science Foundation, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, William Ebenstein
Student Research Fund

Fires are common in drier regions of the world, andplants in such ecosystems have evolved traits totolerate frequent burning and intense temperatures.
The mechanisms involved in the evolution of firetolerance through e.g. thickened bark, however, areunknown.
In this study, researchers compiled a database of barkthickness for more than 500 woody plant species,
and used GBIF-mediated occurrences combined withclimate data to establish environmental niches foreach species. By including a dataset on occurrencesof fires, the researchers describe a strong, global

The differences in phenological strategies suggestthat species’ reactions to climate warming may varydepending on continent, highlighting the importanceof considering regional climate histories in models ofglobal change.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12746

SPARKS OF CREATION: FIRE AS A PRIMARY DRIVER
OF GLOBAL PLANT DIVERSITY

Using biogeographic modelling to infer ancestral
areas, they designated species as being either
hotspot or nonhotspot in origin, and compared
the tempo and modes of niche evolution between
the groups. Their results suggest that niche
conservatism, too, is the underlying process in whichplant diversity in MTEs results from longer time for
speciation.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13179

woody plants and how they relate to spring
temperature predictability in East Asia, Europe,and North America. By combining experimental andmonitoring data for a large representative set of
species, they reveal continental-scale differences inleaf-out strategies, as plants from North America withhigh spring temperature variability have much higher
winter chilling requirements than related species in
East Asia with low spring temperature variability.

DATA USED: 109,140,607 GEOREFERENCED PLANT OCCURRENCES

Pausas JG and Ribeiro E (2017) Fire and plant diversity at
the global scale. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Wiley
26(8): 889–897.
Author countries/areas: Netherlands, Spain
Research funding: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad,
Generalitat Valenciana, Spanish National Research Council
SAMBUCUS NIGRA BY SARA RALL https://www.gbif.org/
occurrence/1453533635 CC BY-NC 4.0

CONTINENTAL-SCALE DIFFERENCES IN LEAFUNFOLDING STRATEGIESDATA USED: >1,411,996 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Zohner CM, Benito BM, Fridley JD, Svenning J-C and Renner
SS (2017) Spring predictability explains different leaf-out
strategies in the woody floras of North America, Europe andEast Asia. Ecology Letters. Wiley 20(4): 452–460.
Author countries/areas: Denmark, Germany, Norway, UnitedStatesResearch funding: Bayerisches Staatsministerium fürUmwelt und Gesundheit, European Research Council, Aarhus
University

In temperate regions with unpredictable seasonal
progression, plants rely on a combination of signals
to guide when to unfold their leaves. Relying on
temperature only and unfolding during an early warm
spell means risks of frost damage, however, waiting
too long means missing out on early carbon gain.
Integrating additional signaling from day length andwinter chilling, especially, provides a more robust
strategy.
In this study, researchers investigate differencesin leaf-out strategies among Northern Hemisphere

Why are there so many species? Ecologists persist
in efforts to refine our understanding of how factors
like climate, productivity and species interactions
contribute to the boundless variety of life on earth.
Disturbance receives its share of attention, at leastin some forms, but here the authors call attention to
one widespread disruptive force—namely, fire—that
seems to have escaped in-depth study.
This first global assessment of fire regimes examines
temporal and spatial patterns of speciation and plant
diversity across 753 terrestrial ecoregions that
account for 88 per cent of land surface. The authors
combined thermal remote-sensing and climate datawith species richness data in hope of unlocking
relationships between ecoregional environmental
variables and plant diversity. While relying on datafrom Kier et al. (2005) as their primary data source,
the authors also test their results against more than
109 million GBIF-mediated plant occurrences.
Despite known limitations to the study’s scale anddata biases, clear patterns emerged from analyses ofboth data sources, suggesting that fire activity is oneof the strongest indicators—perhaps the strongest
indicator—of coarse-scale plant diversity.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12596

IDENTIFYING AQUATIC INVERTEBRATES USING
NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCINGDATA USED: 222 FAMILIES

Carew ME, Metzeling L, St Clair R and Hoffmann AA (2017)
Detecting invertebrate species in archived collections
using next-generation sequencing. Molecular Ecology
Resources. Wiley-Blackwell.
Author country/area: Australia
Research funding: Australian Research Council, Melbourne
Water Corporation, Victorian Government, EPA Victoria

In studies of aquatic invertebrate biodiversity,
restraints on time and expenses often mean that
communities are only identified to family levels.
Archived samples stored in ethanol may, however, be
identified more specifically at a later stage.
This study uses next-generation sequencing (NGS)of DNA barcodes to systematically identify species inarchived macroinvertebrate samples from two sites
in Australia, some of which had been stored up to 12
years at room temperature. Despite anticipated DNA
degradation, the researchers were able to amplify
partial DNA barcodes from most samples, and using
these, identify the species often by more than one
amplified sequence.
Not all families had identifiable species, however,when the researchers compared the numberof identified species per family with estimatedequivalents in GBIF, they revealed potential gaps
in the barcode library that could explain the lack ofidentified species.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/17550998.12644

NEW DATA ON BRYOZOANS IN THE SOUTH
ATLANTIC OCEANDATA USED: 196 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Figuerola B, Barnes DKA, Brickle P and Brewin PE (2017)
Bryozoan diversity around the Falkland and South
Georgia Islands: Overcoming Antarctic barriers. Marine
Environmental Research. Elsevier BV 126: 81–94.
Author countries/areas: Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Spain,
United Kingdom
Research funding: Shackleton Scholarship FundThe cold, nutrient-rich waters of the South Atlantic
Ocean are biodiversity hotspots due to the Antarctic
Circumpolar Current, but also some of the fastest
warming waters in the world. This study aimed to
produce new species occurrence data on cheilostome

Ecology, evolution...

Ecology, evolution...

Although much lower in productivity than tropicalregions, some ecosystems with Mediterranean-likeclimates (MTE) are biological hotspots with species
diversity comparable to that of the tropics. The
evolutionary and ecological mechanisms behind thisphenomenon are poorly understood.

17

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bryozoans from the waters of the Falkland (Malvinas)
and South Georgia Islands, two clusters on eachside of the Polar Front, to better understand spatial
relationships within the region.

The study demonstrates that the islands of the South
Atlantic are poorly explored, and the data uncoveredsuggests that the biogeographic barrier of the Polar
Front is not as impermeable as previously thought.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
marenvres.2017.02.005

SUPERSMART: A SELF-UPDATING SOFTWAREPLATFORM FOR INFERRING PHYLOGENETIC TREESDATA USED: 724,002 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Antonelli A, Hettling H, Condamine FL, Vos K, Nilsson
RH, Sanderson MJ, Sauquet H, Scharn R, Silvestro D, Töpel
M, Bacon CD, Oxelman B and Vos RA (2016) Toward a SelfUpdating Platform for Estimating Rates of Speciation and
Migration, Ages, and Relationships of Taxa. Systematic
Biology. Oxford University Press (OUP) syw066.
Author countries/areas: France, Netherlands, Sweden,
Switzerland, United States
Research funding: Swedish Research Council, European
Research Council, Wallenberg Academy, Carl Tryggers
Stiftelse

Phylogenetic trees based on molecular and fossil data
can be powerful tools for biogeographical analyses
seeking to explain macroevolutionary processes suchas migration, speciation, diversification and niche
evolution.
In this paper, researchers present a new conceptualand bioinformatic approach to inferral of dated
phylogenies called SUPERSMART (conveniently shortfor Self-Updating Platform for Estimating Rates ofSpeciation and Migration, Ages, and Relationshipsof Taxa). The open source modular framework which
relies on GenBank sequence data can be freely
installed and run on Linux systems by anyone.
The authors demonstrate the functionality ofSUPERSMART on two distinct clades: the very-wellsequenced Primates order, and the much larger,

however, less studied family of Arecaceae (palms).
They validate the latter tree through biogeographic
analysis using GBIF-mediated occurrences by
estimating ancestral ranges and calculating dispersal
events, showing that SUPERSMART is a fully functional
tool capable of dealing with vast amounts of data for
producing time-calibrated species phylogenies.

THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF AN ICONIC
MULTISPECIES MUTUALISM

EXPLORING PATTERNS AND GAPS IN PLANT
DIVERSITY OF TROPICAL AFRICADATA USED: 23 SPECIESDATA USED: 70,220 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/
syw066

Author country/area: United States
Research funding: National Science Foundation

SEED DORMANCY DEPENDS ON SEED SIZE AND
SEASONALITY

Certain species of ants nest inside specializedcompartments of plants (domatia) and even receive
food bodies from extra-floral nectaries of the host. In
return, the ants aggressively patrol and protect thehost plant against any and all intruders, including
herbivores and competing plants.

DATA USED: 216,600 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Rubio de Casas R, Willis CG, Pearse WD, Baskin CC, Baskin
JM and Cavender-Bares J (2017) Global biogeography ofseed dormancy is determined by seasonality and seed
size: a case study in the legumes. New Phytologist. Wiley
214(4): 1527–1536.
Author countries/areas: Canada, Spain, United States
Research funding: National Science Foundation, European
Commission, Junta de Andalucia

In climates with unpredictable seasonal patterns, theability of seeds to remain dormant provides ecologicaladvantages by restricting germination to favourable
growth periods. With aseasonal climates, however,this trait may be maladaptive.
In this study, researchers used a GBIF-mediateddataset of 216,600 legume (Fabaceae) family
occurrences combined with data on climate,dormancy status and seed size to investigate
the biogeography of seed dormancy and trait
associations.

Ward PS and Branstetter MG (2017) The acacia ants
revisited: convergent evolution and biogeographic context
in an iconic ant/plant mutualism. Proceedings of theRoyal Society B: Biological Sciences. The Royal Society284(1850): 20162569.

In this study, researchers explore the evolutionary
history of an iconic multispecies mutualism- between
neotropical acacia ants (Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus
group) and swollen-thorn acacias (Vachellia spp.).
Using genetic sequencing and phylogenetic analysis
of 18 different ant species of Pseudomyrmex, theresearchers infer the phylogeny of the ant species andestimate their ancestral ranges. The group as a wholeappears to have diverged 12-14 million years ago,
and the domatium-nesting P. ferrigeneus subgroup isestimated to be about six million years old.

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14498

Author countries/areas: Belgium, Cameroon, Czechia,
Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, United
Kingdom, United States
Research funding: French Foundation for Research on
Biodiversity, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region

In this study, researchers used the RAINBIO database
to investigate the main floristic patterns and gaps fortropical Africa. RAINBIO is a compilation of 13 datasets(two of which originated in GBIF), comprising morethan 600,000 occurrences across 25,000 vascularplant species.
In their spatial analysis of the dataset they find only
21 half-degree units with more than 100 records. The
average number of records per species in a unit is lessthan two, and more than 4,000 species are only foundin a single sampling unit. This degree of endemism ishighest in the central African forests with around 30
per cent of species being endemic.
Examining collection efforts through time, theresearchers see clear patterns linked to politicalsituations, both globally (e.g. the two world wars)
and locally (e.g. Liberian civil wars). National Floraprogrammes also affect collection efforts. The
best-explored countries according to the dataset
are Cameroon and Benin, while the least exploredcountries include Angola and Somalia.

Plants exhibiting the trait are more prevalent in
temperate zones, whereas seed size is inversely
correlated with latitude. They propose a model inwhich the dormancy trait depends on seed size andseasonality, and this is supported the empiricalresults. Seed size alone, however, appears to be thebetter predictor of dormancy.
They suggest that the patterns uncovered willtranslate across ecological and phylogenetic scalesthat aseasonal climates will be dominated by plants
producing larger, nondormant seeds, while smaller,
dormant seeds will predominate in seasonal habitats.

a Sosef MSM, Dauby G, Blach-Overgaard A, van der Burgt
X, Catarino L, Damen T, Deblauwe V, Dessein S, Dransfield
J, Droissart V, Duarte MC, Engledow H, Fadeur G, Figueira
R, Gereau RE, Hardy OJ, Harris DJ, de Heij J, Janssens S,
Klomberg Y, Ley AC, Mackinder BA, Meerts P, van de Poel JL,
Sonké B, Stévart T, Stoffelen P, Svenning J-C, Sepulchre P,
Zaiss R, Wieringa JJ and Couvreur TLP (2017) Exploring thefloristic diversity of tropical Africa. BMC Biology. Springer
Nature 15(1).

WELWITSCHIA MIRABILIS SUBSP. MIRABILIS BY LUIS QUERIDO https://www.
gbif.org/occurrence/1668891775 CC BY-NC 4.0

The researchers also estimated the ancestral rangeof 23 Vachellia host species using GBIF-mediatedoccurrences. While the appearance of domatia in
the host plant seems to have a single origin, thedomatia-nesting trait unique to the P. ferrigeneus
ants developed in two clades separately, about three
million years apart.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2569

The authors point to citizen science as a possiblemeans of aiding the filling of gaps in the knowledge oftropical African plant diversity.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-0170356-8

Ecology, evolution...

Ecology, evolution...

Through scuba sampling surveys, the study recovered
351 bryozoan samples including 18 and 23 potentiallynew genera and species, respectively. Combined withexisting, mainly GBIF-mediated data, the findings
expand the known ranges of 32 species. The surveys
include the first reported occurrences of 43 species
around the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) and ten
species around the South Georgia Islands.

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MATCHING SEED TO SITEDATA USED: 82,920 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Doherty KD, Butterfield BJ and Wood TE (2017) Matchingseed to site by climate similarity: Techniques to prioritize
plant materials development and use in restoration.
Ecological Applications. Wiley 27(3): 1010–1023.

When land management agencies select plants to use
in restoration, the first choice is often locally sourced
native plants. However, propagules from such species
may not be available, and commercial availability
could end up being the deciding factor.
In this study, researchers use species distribution
models (SDM) based on GBIF-mediated occurrences
for charateristic grass and forb species of the cooldeserts of the Colorado Plateau to demonstrate
the utility of a climate similarity index developed torank sites for collecting seeds to be transferred to alocation being restored.
While the index is able to predict the relative
performance of available accessions at the target
location, it can also be used to guide seed-banking
efforts. Adoption of the described methods is likely
to increase efficiency and restoration success, andinform collection efforts for mitigating disturbances,such as climate change.

Based on these observations, the authors suggest
a new taxonomic treatment recognizing two distinct
biological species in the group, highlighting theimportance of cross-border collaboration to obtain thelevel of sampling neeeded for studies of Neotropicalbiogeography.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
ympev.2017.03.020

TRACING THE MIGRATION OF FLOWERING PLANTSFROM CONTINENTS TO ISLANDSDATA USED: 4,500,000 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1505

EXPLORING THE DIVERSIFICATION OF A
NEOTROPICAL SONGBIRD

Author country/area: Taiwan
Research funding: None listed

DATA USED: 12,209 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Islands represent unique ecological niches as they
are seperated from other land masses by water. Not
all islands are the same, however, as the distancefrom an island to continents and neighbouring islands
affects the level of endemism and relatedness withland masses in the vicinity.

Author country/area: Colombia
Research funding: Universidad de los Andes, Instituto
Alexander von Humboldt

Studies describing biogeographic patterns andevolutionary processes require thorough geographic
and taxonomic sampling, especially if drawing
conclusions that affect classification. In the
Neotropical region, answers to the most interesting
evolutionary questions involve taxa with wide
distributions reaching far beyond existing politicalboundaries.

For possible species matches, the tool also provides
direct links to maps of distributions based on GBIFmediated occurrences that may help users confirm
their identification.
The authors aim to continue developing the online key
and invite colleagues to contribute to aid identificationof these important indicators of enviromental
conditions in Amazonia.

Adding to the equation by combined mitochondrialand nuclear gene sequencing of 76 individual
birds including all named T. ignobilis subspecies,
they resconstruct a phylogeny revealing novel
biogeographic interplay between populations.

a Liao C-C and Chen C-H (2017) Investigation of floristic
similarities between Taiwan and terrestrial ecoregions in
Asia using GBIF data. Botanical Studies. Springer Nature
58(1).

Avendaño JE, Arbeláez-Cortés E and Cadena CD (2017)
On the importance of geographic and taxonomic samplingin phylogeography: A reevaluation of diversification andspecies limits in a Neotropical thrush (Aves, Turdidae).
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Elsevier BV 111:
87–97.

exemplary illustrations and photos. While the user canselect features in any order desired, they are orderedby the easiest to identify and most informative traits.

The present study explores diversification of acommon and widely distributed songbird, the blackbilled thrush (Turdus ignobilis), found in northwesternSouth America. The authors describe the distributionof the species using a combination of GBIF-mediatedoccurrences and recordings of vocalizations from
xento-canto (https://www.xeno-canto.org), showing
wider ranges than previously described across foothilland lowland areas east of the Andes.

Taiwan is a geologically active continental island
formed 2-3 million years ago on a complex convergent
boundary between four tectonic plates. In this studyof Taiwanese flora, researchers used GBIF-mediatedoccurrences of all flowering plants in East and South
Asia to categorize plants into either endemic or nonendemic, and to identify potential sources of the lattergroup.
Their work identified 847 endemic and 2,428 nonendemic angiosperm species. Analysis of the Asian

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.3897/
phytokeys.78.11370
SCHISMADERMA CARENS BY FAYNE https://www.gbif.org/
occurrence/1802758723 CC BY 4.0

distribution of non-endemics revealed 34 terrestrial
ecoregions, of which those tropical and subtropicalplay the most important role as sources of species
richness in Taiwan.
Surprisingly, closeness was not the only factor, as ahigher number of angiosperm species in Taiwan areshared with Papua New Guinea than the Philippines,
the closest tropical neighbour.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40529-0170171-0

IDENTIFYING AMAZONIAN FERNS USING A NEW
ONLINE KEY
a Zuquim G, Tuomisto H and Prado J (2017) A free-accessonline key to identify Amazonian ferns. PhytoKeys. Pensoft
Publishers 78: 1–15.
Author countries/areas: Brazil, Finland
Research funding: Academy of Finland, Brazilian National
Council for Scientific and Technological Development

Being able to easily and accurately identify species
is crucial to producing quality data on species
distributions needed for improving conservation
planning. Taxonomic identification based on printed
floras may be difficult for the untrained eye, and withnew species being described continuously, printed
keys may become outdated quickly.
In this paper, researchers from Brazil and Finlandpresent a new, free to use, online identification tool
aimed at describing Amazonian fern species. Including
data on more than 250 species, the Lucid-based tool
offers the user the ability to differentiate species
based on 54 morphological features, each describedavoiding botanical jargon and accompanied by

EVOLUTION OF TERRESTRIAL BREEDING IN
AFRICAN TOADSDATA USED: 13,828 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Liedtke HC, Müller H, Hafner J, Penner J, Gower DJ, Mazuch
T, Rödel M-O and Loader SP (2017) Terrestrial reproduction
as an adaptation to steep terrain in African toads.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
The Royal Society 284(1851): 20162598.
Author countries/areas: Czechia, Germany, Spain,
Switzerland, United Kingdom
Research funding: None listed

Among terrestrial vertebrates, amphibians are themost reproductively diverse group, with more than
40 different reproductive strategies recognizedin anurans, alone. In tropical climates especially,terrestrial breeding is common, but the factors driving
the evolution of this strategy are unknown.
In this study, researchers reconstructed themost complete phylogeny of African toads (family
Bufonidae) to date including 78 per cent of described
species. Assigning reproductive strategies to species
and examining environmental factors associated with
GBIF-mediated occurrences, the authors found thatthe most likely factors contributing to the evolutionof terrestrial reproduction were steep slopes and low
water availability.
Based on the evolutionary timing of transitioning
from the dry, flat and open habitats to steeper andwetter habitats, the authors note that the transition
coincided with or preceded evolution of terrestial
breeding, suggesting an adaptive mode of evolution,rather than exaptation that made colonization ofthese new habitats possible.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1098/
rspb.2016.2598

Ecology, evolution...

Ecology, evolution...

Author country/area: United States
Research funding: Bureau of Land Management

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NEON: 30 YEARS OF ECOLOGICAL MONITORINGACROSS THE UNITED STATESDATA USED: 56,105 OCCURRENCE RECORDS

a Hoekman D, LeVan KE, Ball GE, Browne RA, Davidson RL,
Erwin TL, Knisley CB, LaBonte JR, Lundgren J, Maddison
DR, Moore W, Niemelä J, Ober KA, Pearson DL, Spence
JR, Will K and Work T (2017) Design for ground beetle
abundance and diversity sampling within the National
Ecological Observatory Network. Ecosphere. Wiley 8(4):e01744.

Designed to improve understanding of the ecologicaleffects of climate change, land-use change andinvasive species, the National Ecological Observatory
Network (NEON) is a continental-scale sampling
platform of 47 sites across 20 ecoclimatic regions of
the United States (including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto
Rico) that will enable researchers to collect and record
samples and data for a period of 30 years.
In this paper, specialists describe efforts andrationale behind the NEON project dedicated tosampling abundance and diversity of ground beetles(Carabidae), an ideal sentinel taxon. Using a simple
but effective pitfall trapping methodology, rigorously
prototyped and tested to maximize efficiency andminimize vertebrate bycatch, the team will collectcarabids from 40 traps per site every two weeks. The
collected beetles will sorted and identified by experts
to the species level.
Using initial project findings combined with existing
GBIF-mediated data, the researchers show thepotential usefulness in modelling how phenology
might change with future climate alterations. All thedata produced by the project will be freely available
through the NEON data portal, and the team is also
working towards publishing the data as sampling
event datasets through GBIF.org.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1744

SELF-FERTILIZING PLANTS ARE MORE COMMONON ISLANDSDATA USED: 11,473,392 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Grossenbacher DL, Brandvain Y, Auld JR, Burd M, Cheptou
P-O, Conner JK, Grant AG, Hovick SM, Pannell JR, Pauw
A, Petanidou T, Randle AM, Rubio de Casas R, Vamosi J,
Winn A, Igic B, Busch JW, Kalisz S and Goldberg EE (2017)
Self-compatibility is over-represented on islands. New
Phytologist. Wiley 215(1): 469–478.
Author countries/areas: Australia, Canada, France, Greece,
South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United States
Research funding: National Science Foundation

Plants that are able to self-fertilize may have an
advantage when colonizing new habitats as they
don’t need to find a mate to reproduce. Baker’s
law describes this tendency and predicts an overrepresentation of self-compatible species among
remote island colonizers. The hypothesis has beentested numerous times since it was put forward in
1955, however, the results have been very mixed.
Assessing 100+ such studies, researchers identified
a number of weaknesses potentially responsible forthe ambiguity. The majority of studies focused only on
island species, disregarding mainland populations as
a comparison, and the scope of most studies was also
limited to a few species and islands.
To overcome this, the authors of this paper compared
the worldwide frequency of breeding systems on
mainland versus islands for three plant families ofmore than 1,500 species combined. Using GBIFmediated occurrences combined with other sources
to determine the distributions of each species, theyfound that 66 per cent of island species were selfcompatible, whereas only 41 per cent of mainlandspecies were able to self-fertilize.
This significant difference, consistent across all
three families, provides strong support for Baker’s
hypothesis.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14534

CICINDELA PUNCTULATA BY ROB VAN EPPS https://www.gbif.org/
occurrence/1584403234 CC BY-NC 4.0

SYMBIOTIC TRAIT RESTRICTS ESTABLISHMENT OF
LEGUMES OUTSIDE NATIVE RANGESDATA USED: 7,800,446 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Simonsen AK, Dinnage R, Barrett LG, Prober SM andThrall PH (2017) Symbiosis limits establishment oflegumes outside their native range at a global scale. Nature
Communications. Springer Nature 8: 14790.
Author country/area: Australia
Research funding: None listed

Many legumes (family Fabaceae) are dependent on
symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria (rhizobia) for
growth and reproduction, a trait evolved from a single
origin almost 60 million years ago. The extent to which
this microbial symbiosis either promotes or impeeds
plant distribution is unknown.
In this study, researchers investigated and compared
non-native establishment patterns of 3,500 speciesof symbiotic and non-symbiotic legumes. Relying on
GBIF-mediated occurrences, the researchers verified
legume range data from the International Legume
Database and Information Service (ILDIS). By applying
the nitrogen-fixation status of each species, their data
revealed a significantly lower probability of symbiotic
legumes occurring in non-native regions, suggesting
symbiosis as a limiting factor. The authors point tolack of compatible bacterial species or inappropriate
environmental conditions for nitrogen fixation as
likely explanations.
While other factors (e.g latitude of origin, woodinessand human uses) also appeared important, theireffects did not eliminate symbiosis as a key
determinant of establishment in novel ranges. The
study highlights the importance of mutualisms andother species interactions in predicting species
invasiveness.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14790

ESTIMATING CHANGES IN SEASONALSITE OCCUPANCY USING OPPORTUNISTICOBSERVATIONSDATA USED: 39,384 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Ruete A, Pärt T, Berg Å and Knape J (2017) Exploiting
opportunistic observations to estimate changes inseasonal site use: An example with wetland birds. Ecology
and Evolution. Wiley 7(15): 5632–5644.
Author country/area: Sweden
Research funding: Vetenskapsrådet

Species observations collected in a non-systematicmanner e.g. through citizen science programs likeiNaturalist, eBird, etc. make up a large proportion of
occurrence data in GBIF. Providing wide coverage on

spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales, opportunistic
data, however, can be biased and often lacks
information about absences of species.
Using occurrence data on 71 wetland bird species
from GBIF publisher Artportalen, a study by Alejandro
Ruete (1st prize winner of the 2016 Ebbe Nielsen
Challenge) and colleagues introduces a novel dynamic
occupancy model that attempts to cope with known
sources of bias including lack of absence data andvariation in sampling effort.
When applied to the real observations, the model
estimates daily occupancy for a given species andsite, and when summarized, provides a detailed
picture of seasonal site use including within-season
population dynamics.
Confirming the robustness of the model using
simulated data, the authors conclude that modellingusing opportunistic data with multiple replicates canprovide more biologically relevant information than
traditional annual occupancy models.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3100

EATING PLANTS–A RECIPE FOR EVOLUTIONARY
SUCCESSDATA USED: 490,319 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Poore AGB, Ahyong ST, Lowry JK and Sotka EE (2017)
Plant feeding promotes diversification in the Crustacea.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114(33):8829–8834.
Author countries/areas: Australia, United States
Research funding: None listed

Eating fruits and vegetables is second nature tohumans, however, the ability to extract sufficientnutrients from plant material is a special adaptation.
Once such an evolutionary hurdle is overcome, it
may allow a lineage access to previously unexploited
resources and thus lead the way to increased species
richness, as shown in studies of insects, mammals
and dinosaurs.
A new study published in PNAS examines the roleof herbivory–eating plants–in the diversificationof crustaceans, a diverse and important group ofarthropods dominating aquatic environments. The
authors carry out a phylogenetic analysis of the
distribution of the trait followed by an examination ofshifts in species richness within each lineage.

Ecology, evolution...

Ecology, evolution...

Author countries/areas: Canada, Finland, United States
Research funding: National Science Foundation

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The authors identify 31 independent lineages ofplant-feeding crustaceans and find that these have
21 times more species than their nearest predatory
or scavenging relatives. Using GBIF-mediatedoccurrences of all species, the authors showedthat these findings were not likely confounded by
distributional patterns, suggesting that the difficult
evolutionary path of shifting diets to plants indeed
promotes speciation among herbivorous crustaceans.

LESS IS MORE: TRIMMING DISTRIBUTIONS USING
NATURAL BARRIERS TO IMPROVE MODELSDATA USED: 144,598 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Cooper JC and Soberón J (2017) Creating individual
accessible area hypotheses improves stacked species
distribution model performance. Global Ecology and
Biogeography. Wiley 27(1): 156–165.
Author country/area: United States
Research funding: National Science Foundation

Species distributions models (SDMs) are an important
tool for predicting a species’ distributional extent
through use of e.g. climatic similarities. Stacking
models of several taxa, moreover, can predict species
richness and community composition, although theapproach often leads to overpredictions.
Exploring a novel approach for improving stacked
SDMs, this study suggests trimming the area used forcalibration to a hypothesized accessible area, before
the modelling is done. This involves visual inspectionof the species occurrences and using natural breakse.g large rivers or mountain ranges–in habitats to limit
theoretical distribution area.

The authors used GBIF-mediated occurrences ofall hummingbird species (Aves: Trochilidae) totest the performance of stacked models–with orwithout constraining accessible area. By statisticalcomparison, the constrained model had significantly
higher prediction success and also provided better
estimates of richness and community composition.
In conclusion, limiting theoretical distribution area–
effectively incorporating dispersal limitations–can
improve efficacy of stacked species distributions
models.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12678

WASTE BASKET FUNGI: REVIEW OF HELOTIACEAE
IN THE CANARY ISLANDSDATA USED: 6,780 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Quijada L, Ribes M, Negrín R and Beltrán-Tejera E (2017)
Lignicolous species of Helotiales associated with major
vegetation types in the Canary Islands. Willdenowia.
Botanic Garden & Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem BGBM
47(3): 271–291.
Author country/area: Spain
Research funding: Canarian Government, Autonomous
Agency of National Parks (Government of Spain)

The subject of contention since the 19th century,
Helotiaceae is family of fungi comprising 177 genera
and 826 species (Kirk et al. 2008). Often placed as
the last step of identification keys to members of theparent order Helotiales, Helotiaceae has become a“waste basket” family, only arrived at after discarding
all other families.
In a study of Helotiaceae species in the CanaryIslands, authors review nine genera and 12 speciesof Helotiaceae present in the Spanish archipelago.
Through field sampling and studies of literature andspecimens available through GBIF.org, the researcherspresent detailed descriptions of species morphology(including images), distribution and ecology.
Adding a new report of Cyathicula hysterioides
and three new genera (Durella, Pseudohelotium,
Velutarina), each with one species, the CanaryIsland study also corrects a previous record of
species occurrence (Ascocoryne cylichnium). Due tomorphological characteristics, the latter, however,may represent a different species, and exact
identification will require further molecular studies.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.47.47310

THE EVOLUTION OF FLOWERING PLANTS THROUGH
POLLENDATA USED: 1,896,305 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Kriebel R, Khabbazian M and Sytsma KJ (2017) A
continuous morphological approach to study the evolutionof pollen in a phylogenetic context: An example with theorder Myrtales. PLOS ONE. Public Library of Science (PLoS)
12(12): e0187228.
Author country/area: United States
Research funding: National Science Foundation

The study of flowering plant evolution throughphylogeny has often included analyses of pollen.
Mostly limited to traditional morphometric methods,
pollen studies often bin traits and treat features likeshape and size using discrete categories.
In this paper, authors present a novel approach topollen evolution study based on quantitative sizeand shape variables. They used images of Myrtales
pollen grains from two different angles to measurelength and width of the grains, while analysing
outlines of the shape and converting these into elliptictransformations used for comparisons.

WALLACE: SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELLING
MADE EASY
Kass JM, Vilela B, Aiello-Lammens ME, Muscarella R, Merow
C and Anderson RP (2018) Wallace: A flexible platform for
reproducible modeling of species niches and distributions
built for community expansion. Methods in Ecology and
Evolution. Wiley 9(4): 1151–1156.
Author countries/areas: Denmark, United States
Research funding: Global Biodiversity Information Facility,
CUNY, U.S. National Science Foundation

Increased access to open data and a rise in computing
power have enabled advanced modelling approaches
in ecology. Researchers looking to model species
distributions are often faced with either complicatedcommand line interface (CLI) programming tools withhigh flexibility, but low user-friendliness, or fancy
graphical user interfaces (GUI) that are easy to use,
but lack reproducibility and flexibility.
This paper introduces WALLACE–a new web-browser
based, flexible platform for species distribution
modelling built in R. Modular in structure, WALLACE
uses seperate components to guide the user througha series of simple steps–including obtaining species
occurrences records, e.g. from GBIF, downloading
relevant environmental layers, building the models,and finally visualizing the distributions.
The lead author of the paper originally presented
the WALLACE concept as a finalist entry in the 2015
Ebbe Nielsen Challenge. Combining the strengths of
CLI and GUI tools, the WALLACE platform provides
an innovative approach to flexible and easy-to-use
software for researchers in ecology and biodiversity
sciences.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/2041210X.12945

They analysed pollen size and shape in a phylogenetic
context and found significant differences among
Myrtales families when comparing both shape andsize. To test for linkages betwen pollen features andclimate, the authors used GBIF-mediated occurrences
and found that pollen shape was correlated with themean latitude of a species’ distribution.
The novel morphometric approaches presented in the
study prove useful for taxonomic identification andphylogenetic placement of as yet unknown pollen
fossils.
CHAETOCERCUS ASTREANS BY KEN CHAMBERLAIN https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1838320084 CC BY-NC 4.0

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0187228

See all Ecology, evolution, behavior and systematics citations at GBIF.org

Ecology, evolution...

Ecology, evolution...

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1073/
pnas.1706399114

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In a collaborative study from institutions in Beninand South Africa, researchers modelled the current
and future distributions of two candidate species
in Benin–Lonchocarpus sericeus and Anogeissus
leiocarpa–using GBIF-mediated occurrences andenvironmental data from the WorldClim and AFRICLIM
datasets.

Impacts of climate change

Models for both species performed well with the mostessential contributors being temperature seasonality
for L. sericeus and annual precipitation for A. leiocarpa.
The authors found suitable climate in 74 per cent of
Benin for L. sericeus and in 88 per cent of the country
for A. leiocarpa.

Link to paper: http://bft.cirad.fr/cd/BFT_332_43-55.pdf

WARMING CLIMATES AND THE RISK OF INVASIVEHYBRIDSDATA USED: 5,928 SPECIES OCCURRENCESBURSATELLA LEACHII BY MATT NIMBS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PORT STEPHENS, AUSTRALIA - A SEA HAREHAVEN?
DATA USED: 154 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Nimbs MJ, Willan RC and Smith SDA (2016) Is Port
Stephens, eastern Australia, a global hotspot forbiodiversity of Aplysiidae (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia)?
Molluscan Research. Informa UK Limited 37(1): 45–65.
Author country/area: Australia
Research funding: Southern Cross University, Linnean
Society of NSW, Joyce W. Vickery Research FundSea hares are heterobranch sea slugs of the Aplysiidae
family with large ear-like rhinophores, responsible forthe vernacular name of the group. Members of thisglobally distributed family usually only live up to one
year, while producing up to 180 million eggs, and somespecies grow to a size of up to two kilograms.
In a recent study, researchers investigated anddocumented aplysiid diversity in Port Stephens,
NSW, Australia, home to more species than anywhere
else in the world. With the most diverse algal flora in
the world, the waters of southern Australia provide
the ideal living conditions for sea hares whose diets
consist of marine plants- mostly algae.
While reviewing the taxonomy and nomenclatureof the group, the authors describe the morphology

and distributions of 16 species found in the region,
including the first observation of Petalifera sp. inAustralian waters. Highlighting the global significanceof Port Stephens for Aplysiidae and an obvious target
for further sea hare studies, this study forms abaseline for detecting changes to aplysiid diversity infuture, changing climates.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1080/13235818.201
6.1207280

PIONEERING BENIN FOREST RESTORATIONSUNDER FUTURE CLIMATE CONDITIONSDATA USED: 2,732 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Gbètoho AJ, Aoudji AKN, Roxburgh L, Ganglo JC (2017)
Assessing the suitability of pioneer species for secondary
forest restoration in Benin in the context of global climatechange. Bois et Forêts des Tropiques. N° 332 (2), 43-55.
Author countries/areas: Benin, South Africa
Research funding: JRS Biodiversity Foundation

Able to outcompete exotic weeds and attract
important dispersers, fast-growing pioneer species
are important for successful rehabilition of degraded
forests in areas such as West Africa. For longterm restoration projects, however, knowing thevulnerability of such species to future climates is key.

a Klonner G, Dullinger I, Wessely J, Bossdorf O, Carboni
M, Dawson W, Essl F, Gattringer A, Haeuser E, van Kleunen
M, Kreft H, Moser D, Pergl J, Pyšek P, Thuiller W, Weigelt
P, Winter M and Dullinger S (2017) Will climate change
increase hybridization risk between potential plant
invaders and their congeners in Europe? Diversity andDistributions. Wiley 23(8): 934–943.
Author countries/areas: Austria, China, Czechia, France,
Germany, United Kingdom
Research funding: ERA-Net BiodivERsA, Austrian Science
Fund, German Research Foundation, French National
Research Agency, Czech Science Foundation, Czech
Academy of Sciences

These surprising results show that while warming
climates may increase risk of naturalization of somealien ornamentals, hybridization between future
invaders and resident species appears less likely tooccur.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12578

LOSERS AND BIGGER LOSERS: IMPACT OF CLIMATECHANGE ON EUROPEAN FOREST TREESDATA USED: 1,848,587 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Dyderski MK, Paz S, Frelich LE and Jagodzinski AM (2017)
How much does climate change threaten European forest
tree species distributions? Global Change Biology. Wiley
24(3): 1150–1163.
Author countries/areas: Poland, United States
Research funding: Polish Academy of Sciences

Not just about temperature and precipitation, theeffects of climate change can also be catastrophic
storms, fires and pest outbreaks. Among European
trees, a new study suggests that warming climates
will have varying effects, effectively making somespecies “winners” and other “losers”.
Based on occurrence data from GBIF.org and othersources, researchers built species distribution models
for 12 European forest tree species using bioclimatic
variables now and in three future projections.

Certain plant traits are known to facilitate invasions,
including early reproduction and rapid growth rate,
while the general risk of invasion has been shownto increase with changing climates. Interspecies
hybridization may also pose a threat, and as 16,000
plant species- many of which alien- are cultivated forornamental purposes in Europe alone, knowing how
future climates affect this risk is crucial.
By studying a large group of alien ornamentals
not naturalized in Europe, but established outside
their native range somewhere else in the world,
researchers created species distribution models
using GBIF-mediated occurrences for both non-native
ornamentals and native/naturalized congeners (i.e.
belonging to same genus). Projecting these into futureclimates, the authors compared the distributions of

LARIX DECIDUA BY NICOLAS ZWAHLEN https://www.gbif.org/
occurrence/1850970038 CC BY-NC 4.0

The species showed quite different responses toclimate change, however, roughly dividing into twogroups according to fraction of current distribution
threatened under future climates: less than 50 per
cent–mainly mid-to-late-successional species (e.g.
beech, ash and oak)–and more than 50 per cent–climate change

The authors found little, if any, reduction in potential
distributions, suggesting that in terms of climate, both
species could be considered good pioneer candidates
for forest restorations now and in the future.

alien ornamentals and their native congeners, findingthat mean geographical overlap is likely to decrease
under future climatic conditions.

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mainly pioneer and coniferous species (e.g. larch,silver birch and Norway spruce).

Invasive alien species

Faced with changing climate conditions, moststudied species, however, are likely to experiencesignificant net losses in suitable habitat, especiallyfor the species with the northern-most distributions.
In conclusion, the future for European forest trees
appears to have no winners–only losers.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13925

COMPARING EFFECTS OF DEFORESTATION AND
CLIMATE CHANGE ON NEOTROPICAL DRY FORESTS

climate change

DATA USED: 1,140 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Manchego CE, Hildebrandt P, Cueva J, Espinosa CI,
Stimm B and Günter S (2017) Climate change versus
deforestation: Implications for tree species distribution
in the dry forests of southern Ecuador. PLOS ONE. Public
Library of Science (PLoS) 12(12): e0190092.

Some examples

Author countries/areas: Ecuador, Germany
Research funding: Katholischer Akademischer AusländerDienst

Affected by human activities as well as climatechange, neotropical dry forests are the mostthreatened tropical forest ecosystem in the world.
The effects of deforestation, land use change andwarming climates all pose serious threats to theseecosystems, however, to prioritize conservation
efforts a scientific frame for comparing threats isnecessary.
In an attempt to identify the relative important of two
evils, authors of this study examined the effects ofclimate change and deforestation on 17 tree species
in southern Ecuador. Using GBIF-mediated species
occurrences combined with WorldClim bioclimaticdata, they modelled the distribution of all species andused governmental land-use data to estimate areas
lost by deforestation.
Consistent for all but one species, the results of theiranalysis showed that losses in distribution area fromdeforestation were significantly greater than thoseresulting from climate change. While the effects of
the latter were more severe for some species, thestudy clearly suggests that deforestation is the moreimminent threat to neotropical dry forests.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0190092

VULPES VULPES BY PER HANSEN https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1824044693 CC BY 4.0

PREDICTING ANTARCTIC SUITABILITY OF THE
WORLD’S WORST TERRESTRIAL INVADERSDATA USED: 2,329,509 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Duffy GA, Coetzee BWT, Latombe G, Akerman AH, McGeoch
MA and Chown SL (2017) Barriers to globally invasive
species are weakening across the Antarctic. Diversity andDistributions. Wiley 23(9): 982–996.
Author country/area: Australia
Research funding: Australian Antarctic Division

Due to its geographic isolation and climate, theAntarctic region has been somewhat protected from
biological invasions, however, with warming climatesand increased human traffic, the protection afforded
the region may be diminishing.
In a new study, researchers used species distribution
modelling to assess the likelihood of establishmentof the world’s worst–according to IUCN–terrestrial
invaders supplemented by cold-tolerant non-native
species already known to occur in the Antarctic region.
Using ten different modelling methodologies, theauthors created robust ensemble models based on
GBIF-mediated occurrences and current climate datawith projections for 2050 and 2100. They created asummed map from which they found the Antarctic

See all Impacts of climate change citations at GBIF.org

continent unsuitable for all tested species undercurrent conditions, however, within the next century
the Antarctic peninsula may become suitable for six
species.
While the continent may still be protected, themodels showed that all but one of the Southern Ocean
islands are currently suitable to multiple species. The
islands of Auckland and Campbell, in particular, show
suitability for a high number of species, but for all
islands suitability is predicted to increase by 2100.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12593

MASSIVE DIVERSION PROJECT CREATES CONDUITFOR POTABLE WATER—AND POSSIBLE INVADERSDATA USED: 6,500 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Liu D, Wang R, Gordon DR, Sun X, Chen L and Wang Y(2017) Predicting Plant Invasions Following China’s Water
Diversion Project. Environmental Science & Technology.
American Chemical Society (ACS) 51(3): 1450–1457.
Author countries/areas: China, United States
Research funding: Shandong Science and Technology
Program, China Water Project, National Nature Science
Foundation of China, National Key Technology Research andDevelopment Program of China

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Alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides), water
hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and water lettuce(Pistia stratiotes) are aquatic plants whose ranges
have strayed far beyond their South American origins
to become notorious non-native aliens in China andelsewhere around the globe. Each produces densemats of vegetation that have the potential to impair
navigation and water flow, spawn floods, impact
water quality and quantity, and imperil native andagricultural biodiversity.
Using occurrence data from each species’ native andintroduced ranges accessed via GBIF.org and othersources, the authors constructed ecological nichemodels underlining their suitability in nearly the entire
diversion area. Alligator weed shows the greatest
potential for expansion, having already reduced yieldsof sweet potato and rice by 63 and 45 per cent in the
country’s south. So as the northerly flow of waterfrom the diversion increases, these models can help
prioritize and direct management actions toward themost vulnerable areas where early detection andrapid response could mitigate or avoid the most costly
impacts of any invasion.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.
est.6b05577

TRACKING THE SPREAD OF THE FIRSTINTRODUCED BIOLOGICAL AGENT IN EUROPE
DATA USED: 10,664 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Stojanovic DV, Vajgand D, Radovic D, Curcic N, Curcic S(2017) Expansion of the range of the introduced mothAcontia candefacta in southeastern Europe. Bulletin of
Insectology.
Author country/area: Serbia
Research funding: Ministry of Education, Science andTechnological Development of the Republic of Serbia

A natural agent against the highly allergenic common
ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), Acontia candefacta
was the first insect species intentionally introduced
to Europe for biological control of an invasive weed
species. Released in 1969 in the Krasnodar andinvasion, however, the opposite, in which invasions
are mitigated by changing climates, is also plausible
although harder to observe.
This study attacks the problem with a mechanistic
case study of establishment risk for two invasiveplants, Alliaria petiolata and Berberis thunbergii, inthe northeastern United States compared with native
analogue species.

PONOMETIA CANDEFACTA BY MARK D. READ https://www.gbif.org/
occurrence/1586107230 CC BY-NC 4.0

Stavropol regions of the former USSR, the moth
has since migrated and increased its range both ineastward and westward directions.
A recent study by researchers from Serbia
investigates the expansion of A. candefacta insoutheastern Europe. Since its introduction, it has
been recorded in Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Romania, andreported for the first time in Serbia in 2009.
Through a combination of years of intense samplingby light trapping across all of Serbia and modelling of
the host species using GBIF-mediated occurrences,
the team present results indicating the moth is likely
to spread to all areas where the weed is present.
As the radiation of ragweed is expanding withchanging climates, so may the range of A. candefacta.
Unfortunately, however, current populations appear
incapable of controlling the spread of the harmful
weed.
Link to paper: http://www.bulletinofinsectology.org/
pdfarticles/vol70-2017-111-120stojanovic.pdf

CLIMATE CHANGE–A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD FOR
INVASIVE SPECIES?
DATA USED: 66,960 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Merow C, Bois ST, Allen JM, Xie Y and Silander JA (2017)
Climate change both facilitates and inhibits invasiveplant ranges in New England. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. Proceedings of the National Academyof Sciences 114(16): E3276–E3284.
Author country/area: United States
Research funding: National Science Foundation, UnitedStates Department of Agriculture

The interaction between climate change andbiological invasions is complex. Several studies haveshown that climate change may lead to increased

By transplanting the invasive species into various
locations across the region and thus environmental
gradients, the authors created demographic models
based on vitality in the given environment, andvalidated these by comparing the output withtraditional ecological niche models based on GBIFmediated occurrences.
For mid-century climate projections, the models
predict increased suitability for B. thunbergii acrossthe region. Surprisingly, however, future warming islikely to render the region unsuitable for A. petiolata.
The study confirms how climate change may alter
invasion patterns, but highlights that mechanistic
studies are required to understand drivers andforecast potential invasions in novel environments.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1073/
pnas.1609633114

REFINING PREDICTIONS OF INVASIVE SPECIESUSING REMOTE SENSING DATADATA USED: 2,011 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Truong TTA, Hardy GESJ and Andrew ME (2017)
Contemporary Remotely Sensed Data Products Refine
Invasive Plants Risk Mapping in Data Poor Regions.
Frontiers in Plant Science. Frontiers Media SA 8.
Author countries/areas: Australia, Viet Nam
Research funding: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Given the potentially catastrophic consequencesof invasive species, prediction, early detection andprevention are priorities in conservation policies.
Relying primarily on climatic factors, species
distribution models can aid in the prediction ofinvasiveness at a regional scale, but for finer scalemodels, biotic parameters and local abiotic conditions
should be considered also.
In this study of invasive weeds in South East Asia,
researchers used remote sensing (RS) data andclimate data- separately and combined- to evaluate
the potential distribution of 14 priority species basedon occurrence data from GBIF.org. While the climate
data included temperature and precipitation metrics,
the RS data provided information on soil, elevation,
land cover and productivity.

Overall, the combined models predicted substantiallysmaller risk areas than models based on either
dataset alone. While RS-only models didn’t perform
well, the combined models showed that adding
RS-based biotic and abiotic parameters to climate
data, clearly refined the spatial patterns of predicteddistributions.
The study identified shrub species as having thehighest potential invasion risk in South East Asia,and also revealed that native invaders may pose as
serious a threat as alien invasive species.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.3389/
fpls.2017.00770

ASSESSING INVASIVE AQUATIC PLANTS OF SOUTH
AMERICADATA USED: 10,735 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Lozano V, Chapman D and Brundu G (2017) Native andnon-native aquatic plants of South America: comparing andintegrating GBIF records with literature data. Managementof Biological Invasions. Regional Euro-Asian BiologicalInvasions Centre Oy (REABIC) 8(3): 443–454.
Author countries/areas: Italy, United Kingdom
Research funding: None listed

GBIF.org is a unique source of primary distribution
data used in a multitude of studies worldwide. Derived
from museums, herbaria, field researchers and citizen
scientists, this data–as with any major source of
biodiversity information–is prone to gaps and biases
in taxonomic, geographical and temporal coverage.
In a study of invasions among South American aquaticplants, researchers assessed the state of data
availability in GBIF and in literature. Based on a listof 40 native and 40 non-native species, the authors
compile three datasets based on occurrences in GBIF.
org, data manually extracted from literature, andthe two combined, respectively. Initial comparisons
showed significant differences between the twosources, and the combined dataset was deemed mostreliable.
Based on this, the researchers generated maps ofspecies distributions across 16 South American
regions, finding the highest number of alien species
in Argentina and Brazil. Adding a Human Influence
Index layer, they further demonstrate that high risk
species appear to cluster in areas of higher levels ofanthropization, especially in coastal regions close to
main ports.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.3391/
mbi.2017.8.3.18

invasive species

invasive species

China’s South to North Water Diversion (SNWD) aims
to improve access to potable water for 110 million
people by transferring water from the Yangtze Riverin the south to regions with groundwater deficits inthe north. But despite best intentions, human-built
infrastructure like the SNWD frequently provides
highly efficient pathways for biological invasion. This
study offers the first risk assessment of the world’s
largest and longest water diversion project’s potential
to spread invasive species.

32

ILLEGAL ALIENS: PREDICTING RISK OF PET SNAKEINVASIONS IN BRAZILDATA USED: 2,723 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Fonseca É, Solé M, Rödder D and de Marco P (2017) Pet
snakes illegally marketed in Brazil: Climatic viability andestablishment risk. PLOS ONE. Public Library of Science(PLoS) 12(8): e0183143.
Author countries/areas: Brazil, Germany
Research funding: CAPES

Focusing on pet snakes in Brazil, a new study
evaluates the invasion risk of five exotic species
known to be traded illegally in the country–
Lampropeltis getula, Lampropeltis triangulum,
Pantherophis guttatus, Python regius, and Python
bivittatus–all with records of being invasive in othercountries.
Using GBIF-mediated occurrences and WorldClim
environmental variables, authors modelled thepotential distribution of each of the five species.
From a generated consensus map, the authors
identified the most suitable areas in Northern andMidwestern regions of Brazil–including the Cerrado
and the Amazon–both areas important to Brazilian
biodiversity.
Combining this with a herpetofaunal model scoring
establishment risks and specific attributes required
for successful invasion, the author point to P.
guttatus and P. bivittatus as having the highest risk ofestablishment, concluding that these should the befocus of control and monitoring.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0183143

Alien invasive species can disrupt ecosystems
directly by outcompeting native species forresources. Effects of invasions, however, can be also
indirect and less predictable. Among animals that rely
on sound for attracting mates, alien intruders may
cause noise and reduce mating success.
In a study of invasive amphibians in Brazil,
researchers used a combination of field studies,
literature and GBIF-mediated species occurrencesof six species with invasive populations to analysecurrent habitats and future distributions. The
generated models revealed large increases inpotential ranges for two species–E. johnstonei and R.
jimi.
Through spectral analysis, the researchers comparedvocalizations and found high overlaps between callsof invader P. luteolus and native Ischnocnema sp. For
domestic invader L. labyrinthicus, they found spectral
overlaps with locals L. knudseni and–even more
pronounced–L. pentadactylus.
Determining whether these overlaps cause actual
acoustic interference–or even mistaken recognitionand potential hybridization– will require further
studies, however, this paper highlights the potential
effects of invasions, which, combined with projected
range expansions, suggest a need for increased
monitoring and control.

By projecting models into future climatic scenarios,
they identified 45 species not currently naturalized inGermany but widely naturalized in other parts of theworld–and thus likely to become naturalized in the
future through increased climatic suitability.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-0171594-y

Mayer K, Haeuser E, Dawson W, Essl F, Kreft H, Pergl J,
Pyšek P, Weigelt P, Winter M, Lenzner B and van Kleunen M(2017) Naturalization of ornamental plant species in publicgreen spaces and private gardens. Biological Invasions.
Springer Nature 19(12): 3613–3627.

Not only having important aesthetic value, private
gardens and public parks also provide important
ecosystem services in urban areas. Ornamental
plants, however, are also the most important pathway
for alien plant introductions worldwide.

DATA USED: OCCURRENCES OF 14 BIRD SPECIESa Reino L, Figueira R, Beja P, Araújo MB, Capinha C andStrubbe D (2017) Networks of global bird invasion alteredby regional trade ban. Science Advances. American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 3(11):e1700783.
Author countries/areas: Belgium, Denmark, Germany,
Portugal, Spain
Research funding: H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions,
Danmarks Grundforskningsfond, Fundação para a Ciência e a
Tecnologia, Universidade do Porto

Wildlife trade can lead to species going extinct in theirnative ranges, but also to invasions in non-native
habitats. Intended to protect endangered species,
trade bans, however, may also limit the spread ofinvasive species, but the extent of this is unknown.
This study set out to assess how wildlife trade–andbanning it–affects invasion risk globally. Using trade
data from the Convention on International Trade inEndangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
database combined with avian invasion data including
GBIF-mediated occurrences, researchers analysed
the global trade network and how it relates to theestablishment of non-native species.

In the European Union, the 2005 ban on importing wild
birds reduced trade to about 10 per cent of pre-ban
levels, and global avian invasion risk decreased–
particularly in the EU. New trade routes, however,might overturn this development, suggesting a needfor global bans.

DATA USED: 1,124,139 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Author countries/areas: Brazil, United States
Research funding: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do
Estado de São Paulo, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Científico e Tecnológico, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento
de Pessoal de Nível Superior

GLOBAL BANS ON BIRD TRADE NEEDED TO STOPINVASIONS

Not surprisingly, their analysis showed that countries
that import more birds are more likely to be invaded.
In the global network, a high number of import sources
and a more central position also correlated with ahigher invasion risk.

FROM CULTIVATION TO INVASION NATURALIZATION OF GARDEN ORNAMENTALSa Forti LR, Becker CG, Tacioli L, Pereira VR, Santos ACFA,
Oliveira I, Haddad CFB and Toledo LF (2017) Perspectives
on invasive amphibians in Brazil. PLOS ONE. Public Libraryof Science (PLoS) 12(9): e0184703.

DATA USED: 33,901 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

In total, the authors identified 1,268 species ofwhich 75 per cent were alien. Using GBIF-mediatedoccurrences, the authors modelled the distributionof the alien species, not surprisingly finding that
local naturalization success was linked to climatic
suitability.

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0184703

Author countries/areas: Austria, China, Czechia, Germany,
South Africa, United Kingdom
Research funding: Landesanstalt für Umwelt, Messungen
und Naturschutz, Baden-Württemberg, German Research
Foundation, ERA-Net BiodivERsA, French National Research
Agency, DFG, Austrian Science Fund, Czech Science
Foundation, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Czech
Academy of Sciences

NOISY NEIGHBOURS: ACOUSTIC INTERFERENCE
AMONG INVASIVE AMPHIBIANS

A study from Germany investigated what factors
might lead to a successful local naturalization ofgarden plants by surveying planted flora in 111 public
and private gardens in the small city of Radolfzell insouthern Germany. The researchers recorded species,
abundance, lifeform and whether the plant was native
or not. For alien plants, the authors also assessed thecurrent naturalization status worldwide.

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1126/
sciadv.1700783

PHYLLODYTES LUTEOLUS BY OMAR ROJAS-PADILLA https://www.gbif.org/
occurrence/1883498578 CC BY-NC 4.0

See all Invasive alien species citations at GBIF.org

invasive species

invasive species

The introduction of non-native species can be
detrimental to both the environment and wildlife.
Exotic pets living far away from their natural habitats
may escape and cause havoc if allowed to naturalize.
Prevention of alien invasion requires identifying
potential invaders before it’s too late.

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35

On the distribution of species

numbers pale in comparison to the multitudes ofimages shared on generic social media platforms,
like Flickr. Although the majority of such images havelittle relevance to biodiversity, being able to extract
the few that do, could be a cheap and easy way ofcomplementing existing biodiversity information.
Following this idea, researchers searched Flickr
for geotagged images of two species of bees andflowering plants in Australia and used Google’s reverse
image search to validate the images and exclude false
positives. The locations of the images were overlaid on
a map with occurrences of the same species obtained
via GBIF and the Atlas of Living Australia.
The produced maps showed a general overlap
between Flickr-derived images and the range of the
GBIF-mediated occurrences, and if used properly, thisbig-data methodology could provide an inexpensive
and abundant source of occurrence data.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
ecoinf.2017.02.006

LAETIPORUS CINCINNATUS BY GREG LASLEY https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1453398428 CC BY-NC 4.0

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF FUNGIDATA USED: 7,067 SPECIES OCCURRENCESDel Olmo-Ruiz M, García-Sandoval R, Alcántara-Ayala O,
Véliz M and Luna-Vega I (2017) Current knowledge of fungi
from Neotropical montane cloud forests: distributional
patterns and composition. Biodiversity and Conservation.
Springer Nature 26(8): 1919–1942.
Author countries/areas: Guatemala, Mexico
Research funding: Dirección General de Asuntos delPersonal Académico

Persistently immersed in clouds, neotropical montane
cloud forests (NMCF) represent distinct biologicalcommunities, different from other tropical forests.
Exhibiting an abundance of plants and usually highendemism, NMCF are unique sites of biodiversity.
Despite ecological importance and ubiquity of fungi,
very little is known about the NMCF distribution of thismassive group of organisms.
In a comprehensive data mining exercise, researchers
set out to describe in detail the distributional patterns
and composition of microfungi, macrofungi andlichens in NMCF. Relying on published literature, GBIFmediated occurrences as well as other online sources,
the authors compile 6,349 records representing
2,962 fungal species. Based on a computed species

rarefaction curve, the authors estimate that doubling
the sampling effort would increase number of species
by 42 per cent.
Providing a thorough perpective on diversity anddistribution of fungi in NMCF, the study concludes that
Mesoamerica, particularly Mexico and Costa Rica,
has the highest species richness, and compared to
NMCF in the Caribbean and South America, the fungal
assemblages are significantly different with very little
overlap.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-0171337-5

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO COMPLEMENTTRADITIONAL SOURCES OF BIODIVERSITY DATADATA USED: 25,905 SPECIES OCCURRENCESElQadi MM, Dorin A, Dyer A, Burd M, Bukovac Z and Shrestha
M (2017) Mapping species distributions with social media
geo-tagged images: Case studies of bees and flowering
plants in Australia. Ecological Informatics. Elsevier BV 39:
23–31.
Author country/area: Australia
Research funding: Australian Research Council

While enthusiastic citizen scientists record great
numbers of observations and photographic evidenceof species in networks such as iNaturalist, their

DATA USED: 37,533 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Ashraf U, Peterson AT, Chaudhry MN, Ashraf I, Saqib Z,
Rashid Ahmad S and Ali H (2017) Ecological niche modelcomparison under different climate scenarios: a case studyof Olea spp. in Asia. Ecosphere. Wiley 8(5): e01825.
Author countries/areas: Pakistan, United States
Research funding: None listed

Modelling ecological niches and species distributions
can be useful when predicting the potential spread ofinvasive species and species’ response to changing
climates. Numerous methods for modelling are used,
but the choice of modelling approach depends on
many factors, and no single method is likely to excel inall cases.
Relying on the near-global distribution of Olea europea,
researchers used primarily GBIF-mediated occurrence
data to compare performance of seven modelling
approaches across a broad and varied landscape.
First, the authors calibrated the models using global
climate and occurrence data, and then narrowed in ona smaller study area in Asia to test the transferabilityof models into future climate scenarios.
The overall results of the comparative study showedvery different predictions in future climates dependingon the modelling approach. While six out of seventested models yielded predictions significantly better
than random, the authors concluded that models

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1825

EXPLORING UNCERTAINTIES OF MARINE SPECIESMODELLINGDATA USED: 4,877 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Chefaoui RM and Serrão EA (2017) Accounting for
uncertainty in predictions of a marine species: Integrating
population genetics to verify past distributions. EcologicalModelling. Elsevier BV 359: 229–239.
Author country/area: Portugal
Research funding: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

An efficient approach to answering ecological andbiogeographical questions, species distribution
modelling depends on reliable occurrence data andsuitable model algorithms. In models of terrestrial
species, geographical bias can be ameliorated
through filtering, however, less is known about theuncertainties affecting models of marine species,
which are also influenced by a scarcity of predictor
variables.
In a study of the common seagrass Cymodocea
nodosa, researchers used GBIF-mediated occurrences
to explore how a number of factors may affect theperformance of models. First, researchers limited
the number of predictors to only half of the available
variables, which led to an expected and significant
reduction in performance.
To alleviate effects of observed sampling bias, theauthors constructed a weighted filter taking into
account general marine sampling efforts, national
GBIF-publishing activity and level of country
development. Surprisingly, however, the filters did not
improve the performance of any model.
The authors finally verified the models by confirming
hindcasted predictions of so-called glacial refugiawith regions where the highest genetic diversity of C.
nodosa is found today.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
ecolmodel.2017.06.006

distribution of species

STUDYING GLOBAL OLIVE DISTRIBUTION TO
COMPARE ECOLOGICAL NICHE MODELS

based on Maxent and SVM (Support Vector Machines)
were best at distiguishing between suitable andunsuitable distributional potential.

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NOT JUST A NUMBERS GAME: SMALL COLLECTIONSWITH BIG IMPACTDATA USED: 15,967 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Glon HE, Heumann BW, Carter JR, Bartek JM and Monfils
AK (2017) The contribution of small collections to species
distribution modelling: A case study from Fuireneae(Cyperaceae). Ecological Informatics. Elsevier BV 42:
67–78.
Author country/area: United States
Research funding: None listed

Natural history collections of many sizes contributedata to GBIF.org–used extensively to model the
distribution of species for a variety of purposes.
Every record counts, however, small collections may
be more regional in scope with a specific taxomic or
ecological focus compared to larger collections.
RAFINESQUIA NEOMEXICANA BY DFONG16 https://www.gbif.org/
occurrence/1880487003 CC BY 4.0

Facilitation through positive interactions between
species can affect the range of a beneficiary bychanging the microclimate to match its fundamental
niche in an otherwise unsuitable and high-stressenvironment such as a desert. When modelling
ecological niches, these interactions may affectmodels.

While using high numbers of species occurrences
as input for distribution models can improve
performance and reliability, the present study
suggests that the nature of data source can beimportant too. This potentional of small, regional
collections should be considered when planning
digitization and data publication efforts.

In an attempt to quantify the effects of suchmicroclimate ameliorations, authors used GBIFmediated occurrences to model the distribution of 20
annual plant species–10 known beneficiaries and 10
unreported–in the Mojave Desert while examining theresults of including benefactor shrub species.

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
ecoinf.2017.09.009

For known beneficiary species, the performance ofmodels improved significantly when taking shrubco-occurrences into consideration, but they were
not different for unreported species. These results
highlight the importance of positive interactions andother biotic interactions in modelling, and suggestthat co-occurrence of benefactor species can be used
as a proxy for facilitation.

Troia MJ and McManamay RA (2017) Completeness andcoverage of open-access freshwater fish distribution datain the United States. Diversity and Distributions. Wiley
23(12): 1482–1498.

IMPORTANCE OF POSITIVE INTERACTIONS ON
SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELS

distribution of species

DATA USED: 4,269 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Filazzola A, Sotomayor DA and Lortie CJ (2017) Modellingthe niche space of desert annuals needs to include positive
interactions. Oikos. Wiley 127(2): 264–273.

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.04688

ASSESSING COVERAGE OF FRESHWATER FISHDATA IN THE UNITED STATESDATA USED: 557,680 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Author country/area: United States
Research funding: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The work of researchers testing ecological andevolutionary hypotheses using primary biodiversity
data, like species occurrences in GBIF.org, depend on
the even distribution of ecological surveys in both
space and time. The ecological coverage of freshwater

Through compilation of all available freshwater
fish records from GBIF, the Multi-State Aquatic
Resources Information Facility (MARIS) and federally
administered fish survey (FFS), authors of this paper
set out to assess the completeness of freshwater fishdata in the contiguous United States.
Having standardized taxonomic nomenclatureacross the entire dataset of 1.5 million occurrencesof 21 million individuals across 892 species, theiranalysis revealed spatial and temporal differences
between the three sources. FFS data was sparse but
widespread, whereas GBIF data was dense in coastal
regions, however, spanned more years than FFS or
MARIS data.
Overall, more than 95 per cent of data originated fromflowing waters such as springs and rivers, suggestingthat while data on freshwater fish is plentiful, future
surveys should focus on still waters–like lakes andreservoirs–to improve completeness.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12637

ARE SPECIES MOST ABUNDANT IN THE CENTRE OF
THEIR CLIMATIC NICHES?
DATA USED: 20,210,035 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Dallas T, Decker RR and Hastings A (2017) Species are notmost abundant in the centre of their geographic range or
climatic niche. Ecology Letters. Wiley 20(12): 1526–1533.
Author country/area: United States
Research funding: National Science Foundation

The abundant centre hypothesis represents thephenomenon that a species is most abundant at thecentre of its geographical range or climatic niche.
However intuitive this may sound, the empiricalsupport for this claim is rather weak.
In a large data analysis, researchers from UC Davis
tested the hypothesis by examining the relationships
between abundance and distance to centre of range or
niche for more than 1,600 species of birds, mammals,
fish and trees. Relying on GBIF-mediated species
occurrences to define the range and niche centroids,
the authors’ analyses found only slight correlations
for some species–both positive and negative–while
the majority of tested species showed no relationshipat all.
Contrasting previous findings, the results of thestudy, however, have since been questioned by otherresearchers, arguing that a number of methodologicalproblems in fact hinders a robust conclusion. While
the original paper represents the largest-scale
analysis of species spatial abundance patterns, thejury on abundant centres still appears hung.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12860

DISTRIBUTION AND DIVERSITY OF AMPHIBIANS INALBANIADATA USED: 8 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Szabolcs M, Mizsei E, Jablonski D, Vági B, Mester B,
Végvári Z and Lengyel S (2017) Distribution and diversityof amphibians in Albania: new data and foundations of acomprehensive database. Amphibia-Reptilia. Brill Academic
Publishers 38(4): 435–448.
Author countries/areas: Hungary, Slovakia
Research funding: None listed

Due to long political isolation, Albania and its
biodiversity–part of the Mediterranean hotspot–
is poorly explored and little is known about theamphibian fauna of the country.
A new study aimed to describe the distribution of
Albanian amphibians by combining GBIF-mediatedoccurrences with data from field studies of remoteand less known areas. Pooling a total of 1,097 recordsof 16 species, the authors analysed the amphibianrichness patterns and found 1.8 species per 10
square km cell. Almost 70 per cent of all cells had atleast one species present.
Modelling the distribution of known species revealed
that land cover and precipitation were the mostimportant predictors of diversity. The authors
identified amphibian hotspots in several regions,
including the Prokletije, Grammos, Çikës and Korab
Mountains, near lakes Ohrid and Prespa, and thecoastal regions near Vlorë.
While representing the largest study of amphibian
diversity in Albania so far, the authors acknowledge
that sampling is scarce and uneven. To evaluate
efficiency of protected areas, they call for increased
sampling and a detailed assessment of amphibian
diversity in Albania.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1163/1568538100003126

distribution of species

Author country/area: Canada
Research funding: York University, Government of Canada

To quantify the impact of small collections, authors of
this study built distribution models of five test casespecies relying on GBIF-mediated data partitioned
by size of source collection. Despite having fewer
records, the dataset based on small collections
contributed unique information that when combinedwith the data from the large collections led to morerefined and robust predictions of habitat suitability–
compared to the large collections alone–across all
test species.

habitats having a disproportionately high number of
species, is largely unexplored and thus in urgent needof assessment.

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MOTHS OF FACEBOOK: ENHANCINGPROFESSIONAL COLLECTIONS WITH OPTIMIZEDCITIZEN SCIENCE DATADATA USED: 393 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Lin Y-P, Lin W-C, Lien W-Y, Anthony J and Petway J(2017) Identifying Reliable Opportunistic Data for Species
Distribution Modeling: A Benchmark Data Optimization
Approach. Environments. MDPI AG 4(4): 81.
Author country/area: Taiwan
Research funding: None listed

In a new study, researchers in Taiwan used GBIFmediated occurrences from professionally curated
datasets to test a novel optimization procedure foropportunistic data from a citizen science project on
Facebook called EnjoyMoths. Using four different
approaches, the authors modelled the distributionsof nine moth species based on GBIF and EnjoyMoths
datasets–both raw and optimized, separate andcombined–while comparing the performance of thegenerated models.
Their results showed that the optimization proceduresignificantly improved the performance of models
based on opportunistic data. Furthermore, thehighest performing models were found among those
based on GBIF data in combination with optimized
opportunistic data. These findings suggest that the
optimization approach is able to increase quality ofsuch data, and highlights the value and potential of
citizen science in biodiversity.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.3390/
environments4040081

RAIN OR SHINE: RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OFABIOTIC FACTORS ON SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONSDATA USED: 1,045,514 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Manjarrés-Hernández AM, Guisande C, García-Roselló
E, Pelayo-Villamil P, González-Dacosta J, Heine J, González
Vilas L, Granado-Lorencio C, Duque SR and Lobo JM(2017) A procedure to assess the spatial variability in theimportance of abiotic factors affecting distributions: thecase of world freshwater fishes. Current Zoology. Oxford
University Press (OUP).

The distribution of a species is controlled by a numberof biotic and abiotic factors–but also access tosuitable areas for dispersal and/or evolutionary ability
to adapt to new conditions. The relative contributionof these vary by species, but their importance may berelated to geography.
To be able to assess the spatial variability of abiotic
factors, researchers studied the distribution of theworld’s freshwater fishes, using a novel approach–an instability index–to examine and visualize thevarying importance of different predictors. Using
GBIF-mediated occurrences combined with several
bioclimatic and topograhic variables, the authorsmodelled the distribution of each species in threeprogressively widening extents.
In their results, they find temperature and altitude to
be the most important predictors at the river basin
level. Expanding to the regional level, altitude isreplaced by precipitation, which finally becomes the
single most important predictor at the global level.
Suggesting that predictors depend on geographicalscope, this study presents an important implication to
be considered in species distribution modelling.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zox063

ATLAS OF THE REPTILES OF LIBYADATA USED: 3,350 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Bauer AM, DeBoer JC and Taylor DJ (2017) Atlas of theReptiles of Libya. Proceedings of the California Academy of
Sciences. Series 4, volume 64, no. 8, pp. 155-318.
Author country/area: United States
Research funding: National Science Foundation

Limited by authoritarian restrictions and civil war,
access to Libya has been hindered and herpetologicalresearch curbed since World War II. This combined witha perceived low reptilian diversity means that very
little is known about reptiles in Libya.
Originally intended to survey and collect reptiles in
Libya, this study was impeded by the events of the“Arab Spring” in 2011, and as a result continued asa museum-based programme. Entitled “Atlas of theReptiles of Libya”, the study gathers all available
data from museums records via GBIF, scientificpublications and other publicly available sources.
The produced atlas contains records from 2061
occurrences of 66 reptile species in 683 localities,
many of which unfortunately, are too imprecise to

See all On the distribution of species citations at GBIF.org

AGAMA AGAMA BY DAVID GUNN VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (PUBLIC DOMAIN)

georeference. Describing three marine turtles, threeterrestrial chelonians, 39 lizards and 21 snakes, theatlas provides full taxonomic details, descriptions andimages of each species with information on known
distributions including maps of occurrences in Libya.
Link to paper: http://bit.ly/2NhWhzg

THE SPECIES RICHNESS OF THE SOUTHERN SEAS
OF IRANDATA USED: 30,423 SPECIES OCCURRENCEES

Maghsoudlou A, Momtazi F, Nasiri K, Pazooki S, MolaviArabshahi M, Sepahvand V, Hekmatara M and Khaledi H(2017) A review on the state of the biodiversity knowledge
on Iran’s southern seas: introducing a methodology
to evaluate the validity of the reported cases. Marine
Biodiversity. Springer Nature.
Author country/area: Iran
Research funding: Iranian National Institute for
Oceanography and Atmospheric Science

Scattered, sparse and often only available on dusty
library shelves, information about biodiversity in
Iran–especially on marine taxa–is challenging todiscover and access. With very high maritime traffic
in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, standardized andeasy to access data about marine diversity in thesewaters is needed.

Compiling all available biodiversity data records frombooks, academic dissertations, research articles andopen databases–OBIS and GBIF–authors from Tehran
review the current knowledge of marine taxa in Iraniansouthern seas. They extract a total of almost 60,000
records, which after rigorous quality control turnout to cover more than 3,300 species–ranging fromphytoplankton to whales–more than twice previously
predicted. More than 60 per cent of the records belong
to Animalia, while Chromista and Plantae are also wellrepresented. Fungi, Protozoa and Bacteria together,
represent less than one per cent.
Concluding that long-term availability of data isimportant for conservation, the authors call forincreased training in marine research and for theestablishment of a national marine biodiversity
facility with international partnerships.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-0170835-8

distribution of species

distribution of species

Preferred for species distribution modelling,occurrence data derived from well-defined, controlled
surveys is expensive and as a consequence, often
in short supply compared to the vast amounts ofopportunistic data gathered by citizen science
initiatives. Although the latter may be more prone
to misidentification and biases, citizen sciencedata–used correctly–can be a good supplement toprofessional surveys.

Author countries/areas: Colombia, Spain
Research funding: None listed

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Species conservation and protected areas

STRATEGY FOR CONSERVATION OF CROP WILDRELATIVESDATA USED: 86 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Taylor NG, Kell SP, Holubec V, Parra-Quijano M, Chobot K
and Maxted N (2017) A systematic conservation strategy
for crop wild relatives in the Czech Republic. Diversity andDistributions. Wiley-Blackwell 23(4): 448–462.
Author countries/areas: Czechia, Italy, United Kingdom
Research funding: European Union, Crop Research InstituteEnsuring increasing crop yields is a priority as
climates change and the world’s population continues
to grow. This be achieved by using crop wild relatives(CWR) as the source of new material to the genetic
base of current crop cultivars. But as CWRs face thesame threats as other wild plants, targeted strategies
for conservation are needed.

TRACHEMYS SCRIPTA SUBSP. ELEGANS BY AMALIBRAHIM https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1269537010 CC BY-NC 4.0

DATA USED: 14,680 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Roll U, Feldman A, Novosolov M, Allison A, Bauer AM,
Bernard R, Böhm M, Castro-Herrera F, Chirio L, Collen B,
Colli GR, Dabool L, Das I, Doan TM, Grismer LL, Hoogmoed
M, Itescu Y, Kraus F, LeBreton M, Lewin A, Martins M,
Maza E, Meirte D, Nagy ZT, de C. Nogueira C, Pauwels OSG,
Pincheira-Donoso D, Powney GD, Sindaco R, Tallowin OJS,
Torres-Carvajal O, Trape J-F, Vidan E, Uetz P, Wagner P,
Wang Y, Orme CDL, Grenyer R and Meiri S (2017) The global
distribution of tetrapods reveals a need for targeted reptile
conservation. Nature Ecology & Evolution. Springer Nature
1(11): 1677–1682.
Author countries/areas: Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, China,
Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Senegal,
United Kingdom, United States
Research funding: Gerald M. Lemole, CAPES, CNPq,
FAPDF, Niche Research Grant Scheme, FAPESP, SENESCYT,
University of Oxford, BSF

Comprising about one third of terrestrial vertebrate
species, reptiles–including lizards, snakes andcrocodiles–are surprisingly poorly described interms of global distributions, and present knowledge
is scattered, at best. This gap prevents proper
incorporation into conservation planning, and as aresult, reptiles may be underrepresented.

Consisting of researchers from 13 countries, theGlobal Assesment of Reptile Distributions grouppublished a large study analysing 10,000 reptile
species, thus updating the knowledge on global
patterns. Based on literature, field studies and online
databases including GBIF.org, the authors produced
distribution maps of all species, and from thosederived important knowledge on reptile species
richness.

However, the study also identifed eight species
occurring in only one PA in which they are endemic,
making them particularly vulnerable. In addition, ex
situ analyses found huge gaps, pointing to a need fortargeted collection of germplasm for gene banks.

Their results revealed that reptile richness patterns–
largely dominated by snakes–correspond well tothose of other tetrapod vertebrates, with lizards andturtles being less congruent. The same is evident for
hotspots of richness. Analysing coverage of protectedareas, the authors show that only 3.5 per cent ofreptile species ranges are protected.

a Aguilar GD, Waqa-Sakiti H, W. L. (2017). Using predicted
locations and an ensemble approach to address sparse
data sets forspecies distribution modelling: Long-horned
beetles (Cerambycidae) of the Fiji islands.

The paper shows that reptile conservation as awhole falls behind that of other vertebrates andidentifies novel reptilian hotspots, such as the Arabianpeninsula, Lake Chad and the Brazilian Caatinga, as
future priorities for conservation efforts.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-0170332-2

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12539

MODELLING TAXON DISTRIBUTIONS TO PROTECTLONG-HORNED BEETLES IN FIJI ISLANDSDATA USED: 24 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Author country/area: New ZealandResearch funding: None listed

In biodiversity conservation, species distribution
modelling can provide initial guidance on the potential
distribution of a taxon of interest and help identify
areas worth prioritizing. A low number of species
occurrences, however, may result in inconsistentpredictions for some modelling algorithms.
In this study, researchers set out to inform
conservation planning to protect rare insect
species in Fiji. Using GBIF-mediated occurences
and five environmental variables for the region, theDespite an inherent scarcity of Cerambycidae
occurrence records, the researchers were able toproduce a predictive map based on an ensemble
model of the best-performing modelling algorithms,
including machine learning-based SVM, randomForestand MaxEnt.
The resulting distribution map pointed to highest
taxon suitability on the middle slopes of the central
mountains of the islands Viti Levu, Vanua Levu andTaveuni.
Link to paper: http://bit.ly/2NklE3I

MODELLING SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONS TO PROTECTBIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
DATA USED: 300,000 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Hughes AC (2017) Mapping priorities for conservation inSoutheast Asia. Biological Conservation. Elsevier BV 209:
395–405.
Author country/area: China
Research funding: None listed

Southeast Asia is a global biodiversity super-hub,home to four of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.
Unfortunately, the region is also a hotspot of threat
due to hunting and deforestation, and a lack ofbaseline data makes assessing efficacy of protectedareas highly challenging.
In this study, a researcher from the Xishuangbanna
Tropical Botanical Garden uses GBIF-mediatedoccurrences of birds, mammals, reptiles andamphibians in mainland Southeast Asia combined withenvironmental data to create distribution models of all
species. Based on the models, the author shows thatabout half of the most diverse areas for mammals andamphibians fall within existing protected areas. For
birds, however, the number is around only 20 per cent,and for reptiles even lower, about 10 per cent.
Comparing the models to expert-drawn IUCN range
maps, the author find large disparities, as the models
predict areas of maximum richness that are only
a fraction of those indicated by the IUCN maps,
suggesting that including modelling approaches could
improve effectiveness of conservation planning.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
biocon.2017.03.007

species conservation

ASSESSMENT OF THE GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF
REPTILESIn this study, researchers used a checklist of CWRs
in Czechia to identify priority species based on
criteria related to vulnerability and relation to cropsof high socioeconomic importance. The shortlist
contained 204 species for which the researchers didin situ conservation analyses revealing that all but
one species occurs in at least one protected area.
One hundred and sixty species occur in five or more
protected areas.

researchers employed an ensemble-based approachto predict the distribution of long-horned beetles (theCerambycidae family) in the Fiji islands.

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PICKING THE BEST SPOT FOR RELEASINGREHABILITATED PRIMATESDATA USED: 427 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Stone OML and Guy AJ (2017) Predicting Optimal Release
Sites for Rehabilitated Monkeys: a Vervet Monkey(Chlorocebus aethiops) Case Study. International Journalof Primatology. Springer Nature 38(3): 485–499.
Author country/area: Australia
Research funding: None listed

When primate rescue centres take in injured ororphaned animals of unthreatened species, themotivation is animal welfare and the goal is successful
rehabilitation and eventual release into the wild.
Choosing appropriate sites for releasing rehabilitatedanimals can be highly challenging due to limited
resources.

Covering nearly a quarter of Brazil, the Cerrado is
the largest neotropical savanna in the world, home
to more than 12,000 plant species including a large
herb-shrub flora widely neglected in scientific studies
and conservation policy.
In a recent study published in the Journal of
Vegetation Science, researchers used nearly a million
primarily GBIF-mediated occurrences combined withbioclimatic predictors and soil variables to model
distributions of more than 5,000 herb-shrub species.
By stacking the predicted distributions, the authors
derived a species richness map of the Cerrado,
revealing the highest levels of richness in the centralsouth and western parts of the region. The study
also identifies two floristically distinct clusters ofphytogeographic regions.
Plotting protected areas over the species richness
map indicated that only 18 per cent of areas withpredicted high species richness are found in priority
areas, showing that current Cerrado conservationplans do not reflect the actual biological importance ofherb-shrub flora.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12541

USING PHYLOGENETIC DIVERSITY TO ASSESSEFFICACY OF PROTECTIVE AREAS
DATA USED: 1,695,781 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Quan Q, Che X, Wu Y, Wu Y, Zhang Q, Zhang M and Zou F(2018) Effectiveness of protected areas for vertebrates
based on taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity.
Conservation Biology. Wiley 32(2): 355–365.
Author countries/areas: China, United States
Research funding: National Nature Science Foundationof China, Environment Construction & Capacity Buildingof GDAS, Nanling Wildlife Survey and Monitoring Program,
Fasheng Zou, National Natural Science Foundation of China

Initially, the authors identify 80 per cent of KwaZuluNatal to be suitable habitat, but applying refinements
reduce this to 298 areas of a combined 6,225 km2,
equivalent to about six per cent of the total area.
Unfortunately, a large proportion of these areas arefound within protected land with non-release policies.

Shielded from serious human disturbances, protectedareas play a key role in preventing irreversible
biodiversity loss in a world of increased rates ofenvironmental disruption. Often based on taxonomic
diversity, the locations of protected areas seldom
consider the unique evolutionary status andfunctional traits of species although phylogenetic
diversity may be crucial for sustaining an ecosystem.

While using modelling for choosing release sites
doesn’t guarantee success, the approach identifies
the best candidate sites for pre-release surveys, acritical aspect of successful rehabilitation in the wild.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-0179956-y

To assess the current conservation efficacy ofprotected areas in China, the authors of this paper
used IUCN range maps supplemented by GBIFmediated occurrences of terrestrial vertebrates
combined with previously published phylogenies
of clades to estimate and identify hotspotsof phylogenetic diversity and evolutionary
distinctiveness. Mapping these against existing
protected areas, the authors were able to reveal gaps
in coverage.

PROTECTING THE HERB-SHRUB FLORA OF THE
CERRADODATA USED: ~1 MILLION SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Amaral AG, Munhoz CBR, Walter BMT, Aguirre-Gutiérrez J
and Raes N (2017) Richness pattern and phytogeographyof the Cerrado herb-shrub flora and implications forconservation. Journal of Vegetation Science. Wiley 28(4):848–858.
Author countries/areas: Brazil, Netherlands
Research funding: National Council for Scientificand Technological Development, Coordination for the
Improvement of Higher Education Personnel

PANTHERA ONCA BY JONATHAN CAMPBELL https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1880558846 CC BY-NC 4.0

CHLOROCEBUS PYGERYTHRUS BY BERNARD DUPONT
https://flic.kr/p/r3z5Pt CC BY-NC 2.0

Based on their analysis, the paper concludes thatthe current network of protected areas targeting
species richness appears to protect phylogenetic
diversity fairly well. However, highlighting the lack ofprotection of severely threatened birds in the coastal
areas of eastern China, the authors suggest room for
improvement in the distribution of protected areas.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12986

ASSESSING GAPS IN PROTECTED AREAS OF
BRAZILDATA USED: 659,062 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Oliveira U, Soares-Filho BS, Paglia AP, Brescovit AD, deCarvalho CJB, Silva DP, Rezende DT, Leite FSF, Batista JAN,
Barbosa JPPP, Stehmann JR, Ascher JS, de Vasconcelos
MF, De Marco P, Löwenberg-Neto P, Ferro VG and Santos
AJ (2017) Biodiversity conservation gaps in the Brazilian
protected areas. Scientific Reports. Springer Nature 7(1).
Author countries/areas: Argentina, Brazil, Singapore
Research funding: Climate and Land Use Alliance, Conselho
Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico,Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais,
Humboldt Foundation, CNPq, FAPEMIG, Instituto Nacionalde Ciência e Tecnologia dos Hymenoptera Parasitóides daRegião Sudeste Brasileira, FAPESP

Brazil is among the countries that hold the largest
share of Earth’s species: the megadiverse countries.
Protecting ecosystems is a priority and the country
has invested significantly in expanding its network ofprotected areas. However, the extent to which theseareas help protect biodiversity is unknown.
In a study of gaps in protected areas in Brazil,
researchers built a database of vertebrate, arthropod
and angiosperm species occurrences mainly from
GBIF.org, mapping these against protected areas tospecies conservation

species conservation

In this study, focused on finding optimum releasesites for rehabilitated vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus
aethiops) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, researchers
create an environmental model based on own
sightings, literature, and GBIF-mediated occurrencesof wild monkeys. They refine the output by excluding
urban areas and roads, while ensuring proximity
to fresh water sources, considered to be the mostimportant factor for successful release.

43

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45

quantity sampling effort. They also reconstructed
phylogenetic trees of Brazilian taxa in order to identify
patterns of evolutionary lineages.

of these overlapped with areas currently protected,
the study highlights a need to consolidate protection
within centres of endemism.

countries falling behind targets, plans for expansions
based on biodiversity and conservation science areneeded.

The study found that fewer than one per cent ofprotected areas are well sampled, and as manyas 50 per cent are not sampled at all. For Brazilian
biodiversity, more than 50 per cent of species and 40
per cent of evolutionary lineages are found outside
protected areas. Modelling distributions showed thatless than 40 per cent of median species distributions
overlap with protected areas.

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12582

This study present an example of a systematic
national-scale conservation planning process inGuyana, in which only 8.5 per cent of the land area iscurrently protected. Using published range maps andGBIF-mediated occurrences for species distribution
models, the study focuses on 329 vertebrate species
as well as 17 vegetation types.
In the current Guyanan network of protectedareas, their results showed that only 48 per cent ofvertebrates and 29 per cent of vegetation types are
represented, and among threatened species eight arecompletely absent. To meet all targets, the authors
identify new priority areas for conservation, bringing
the combined protected area up to 22.5 per cent,however, 17 per cent coverage could be reached byfocusing effort on just two areas–the protection ofwhich would mean complete representation.

These findings combined suggest a need forincreased sampling and protection priorities based oninventories and biodiversity analyses.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-01708707-2

AMPHIBIAN REFUGIA IN THE COASTAL FORESTS OF
EASTERN AFRICADATA USED: 30,000 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
biocon.2017.08.024

CULTURAL HERITAGE AND TRADITIONSTHREATENED BY LAND USE CHANGESDATA USED: 161 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Semotiuk AJ, Colunga-GarcíaMarín P, Valenzuela Maldonado
D and Ezcurra E (2017) Pillar of strength: Columnar
cactus as a key factor in Yoreme heritage and wildlandpreservation. Ambio. Springer Nature 47(1): 86–96.

Author countries/areas: Australia, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands,
Switzerland, United Kingdom
Research funding: Humer Foundation,
Stipendienkommission für Nachwuchskräfte, Freiwilligen
Akademischen Gesellschaft Basel

Africa is home to more than a quarter of theworld’s biodiversity hotspots, yet knowledge andunderstanding of the factors leading to such biologicalrichness–key to prioritizing conservation efforts–isstill mostly lacking.
Working with molecular data combined with spatial
occurrence data from GBIF.org, researchers studied
the entire amphibian assemblage in a focus area
containing parts of the Coastal Forests of Eastern
Africa hotspot and the Eastern Afromontane region.
Deriving a phylogeny of the assemblage and modellingthe distribution of each species, the authors createda map of phylogenetic endemism from which they
identified environmental correlates to predict
potential refugia.
The study confirmed known centres of amphibian
endemism, but also identified new potential refugia.
In total, conservation analyses showed ten hotpots
accounting for more than 25 per cent of phylogenetic
endemism in the region. As only a very small fraction

Author countries/areas: Mexico, United States
Research funding: University of California Institute for
Mexico and the United States
PICUMNUS SPILOGASTER BY JOSH_VANDERMEULEN
https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1890708111 CC BY-NC 4.0

TRANSLATING INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATIONCOMMITMENTS INTO NATIONAL PLANNING ACTIONDATA USED: 6,402 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Bicknell JE, Collins MB, Pickles RSA, McCann NP,
Bernard CR, Fernandes DJ, Miller MGR, James SM, Williams
AU, Struebig MJ, Davies ZG and Smith RJ (2017) Designing
protected area networks that translate international
conservation commitments into national action. BiologicalConservation. Elsevier BV 214: 168–175.
Author countries/areas: Australia, Canada, Guyana, United
Kingdom
Research funding: NERC

Through Aichi Target 11, signatories to the Convention
on Biological Convention (CBD) have committed toprotection of 17 per cent of terrestial areas by 2020,
but in 2017 less than 15 per cent was protected–ashortfall of more than 3 million square km. For

Often connected with local flora and fauna, cultures
and traditions of indigenous peoples are affected byland use changes associated with rapidly altering
globalized societies. In Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico–ancestral territory of the Yoreme people–mechanized,
large-scale farming co-exists with traditional practices
and knowledge, exemplified by the organ pipe cactus–
also known as the pitaya (Stenocereus thurberi).
In this paper, authors carried out interviews withharvesters and sellers of pitaya products, showing
usage in a variety of goods from marmalade and dried
fruit rolls to flavoured water and sorbet, providing
economic benefits to community members while
preserving Yoreme heritage.
Unfortunately, based on vegetation surveys andGBIF-mediated occurrences, the authors showed thatthe distribution of pitaya–particularly in the Yoreme
territory–converged with the the highest rates ofLink to paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-0170940-8

CONSERVATION OF PLANT DIVERSITY BY BOTANICGARDENS WORLDWIDEDATA USED: 8,246,424 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Mounce R, Smith P and Brockington S (2017) Ex situ
conservation of plant diversity in the world’s botanic
gardens. Nature Plants. Springer Nature 3(10): 795–802.
Author country/area: United Kingdom
Research funding: Cambridge University Botanic Garden,
National Environmental Research Council

Plants are the foundation for life on the planet andbotanic gardens serve an important purpose inconserving plant diversity and preventing species
extinction. Widely distributed worldwide, thesegardens habour thousands of species, but combined
knowledge of their content and coverage is unclear.
In an analysis of world’s botanic gardens, UK
researchers identified 3,269 collections in 180
countries with known holdings of more than 105,000
plant species combined–corresponding to about 30
per cent of accepted species in The Plant List covering
93 per cent of all vascular plant families.
Based on GBIF-mediated occurrences, the authors
determined the latitudinal ranges of held species andfound a remarkable bias towards temperate species,
counter to the natural gradient where most diversity
is found in the tropics. Mapping combined collections
against a phylogenetic tree of all accepted land plant
genera revealed another striking bias as non-vascularlineages are almost completely undocumented.
These findings combined suggest a remarkable
degree of worldwide coverage, but also points to gaps
to be addressed for conservation in botanic garden
collections.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-0170019-3

species conservation

species conservation

Barratt CD, Bwong BA, Onstein RE, Rosauer DF, Menegon
M, Doggart N, Nagel P, Kissling WD and Loader SP (2017)
Environmental correlates of phylogenetic endemism inamphibians and the conservation of refugia in the Coastal
Forests of Eastern Africa. Diversity and Distributions.
Wiley 23(8): 875–887.

land conversion to modern agriculture, effectively
leading to wildland loss of more than two and a half percent per year. If allowed to continue at current rates,
pitaya habitat shrinking presents a major threat to thecultural practices and livelihoods of the Yoreme.

46

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PROTECTING ENDEMIC PALMS OF THE AMAZONDATA USED: 17,310 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

Alvez-Valles CM, Balslev H, Carvalho FA, Garcia-Villacorta
R, Grandez C and Menini Neto L (2017) Endemism
and conservation of Amazon palms. Biodiversity andConservation. Springer Nature 27(3): 765–784.
Author countries/areas: Brazil, Denmark, Peru, UnitedStatesResearch funding: PGECOL/UFJF, CAPES, OEA, GCUB

Widespread and abundant in the tropics andnearly absent in temperate regions, palms play
important ecological roles as a food source, butalso in supporting local communities with culturaland economic significance. The Amazon region ishome to more than 120 endemic palm species, andrecognizing the areas of palm endemism is importantfor conservation planning.

species conservation

By plotting GBIF-mediated occurrences of palm
species in the Amazon region, authors of a new study
identified one and three-degree squares containing atleast two distinct species–defining these as endemicareas–based on two different analytic approaches.
The highest level of palm endemicity appeared in the
Peruvian Amazon with seven species, followed by
the Andean sub-region with six species. Combining
the results of the two analyses revealed two main
endemic areas–a large one in Western Amazon and asmaller one in the Andean sub-region.
Among the species supporting the identified endemicareas, five species are endangered according to IUCN,
however, the known distributions of these all falloutside current protected areas in the region.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-0171463-0

CONR: LARGE-SCALE, MULTISPECIESCONSERVATION ASSESSMENTS USING SPECIESOCCURRENCE DATADATA USED: 74,352 SPECIES OCCURRENCES

a Dauby G, Stévart T, Droissart V, Cosiaux A, Deblauwe
V, Simo-Droissart M, Sosef MSM, Lowry PP, Schatz GE,
Gereau RE and Couvreur TLP (2017) ConR: An R package toassist large-scale multispecies preliminary conservationassessments using distribution data. Ecology and
Evolution. Wiley 7(24): 11292–11303.
Author countries/areas: Belgium, Cameroon, France, UnitedStatesResearch funding: Fondation pour la Recherche sur la
Biodiversite, Agropolis Fondation, Agence Nationale de laRecherche, Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRSThe IUCN Red List provides an authorative andcomprehensive methodology for assessing theconservation status of a species. As yet, only atiny fraction of known species have been assessed
according to the Red List criteria, and tools foraccelerating preliminary assessments are needed.
This paper introduces a new R package–ConR–for
conducting large-scale, preliminary multispecies
conservation assessments based on sets of species
distribution data from e.g. GBIF. Using four functions
operating on datasets of species occurrences, ConR
returns estimates for extent of occurence (EOO),
area of occupancy (AOO), number of locations–allmain parameters of Red List criterion B–as well asa preliminary threat category with details of thesubcriteria this is based on. If desired, ConR will return
images visualizing the results graphically, useful for
including in a formal submission to the IUCN.
Providing means of carrying out preliminary Red List
assessments simulatanously for hundreds or eventhousands of spieces, ConR is novel, timely tool for
conservation communities.
Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3704

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