| 1. |
- Antonelli, Alexandre, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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Madagascar's extraordinary biodiversity : Evolution, distribution, and use
- 2022
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 378:6623, s. 962-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Madagascar's biota is hyperdiverse and includes exceptional levels of endemicity. We review the current state of knowledge on Madagascar's past and current terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity by compiling and presenting comprehensive data on species diversity, endemism, and rates of species description and human uses, in addition to presenting an updated and simplified map of vegetation types. We report a substantial increase of records and species new to science in recent years; however, the diversity and evolution of many groups remain practically unknown (e.g., fungi and most invertebrates). Digitization efforts are increasing the resolution of species richness patterns and we highlight the crucial role of field- and collections-based research for advancing biodiversity knowledge and identifying gaps in our understanding, particularly as species richness corresponds closely to collection effort. Phylogenetic diversity patterns mirror that of species richness and endemism in most of the analyzed groups. We highlight humid forests as centers of diversity and endemism because of their role as refugia and centers of recent and rapid radiations. However, the distinct endemism of other areas, such as the grassland-woodland mosaic of the Central Highlands and the spiny forest of the southwest, is also biologically important despite lower species richness. The documented uses of Malagasy biodiversity are manifold, with much potential for the uncovering of new useful traits for food, medicine, and climate mitigation. The data presented here showcase Madagascar as a unique " living laboratory" for our understanding of evolution and the complex interactions between people and nature. The gathering and analysis of biodiversity data must continue and accelerate if we are to fully understand and safeguard this unique subset of Earth's biodiversity.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Kattge, Jens, et al.
(författare)
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TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
- 2020
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 26:1, s. 119-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Schmidt, M., et al.
(författare)
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Diversity, distribution and preliminary conservation status of the flora of Burkina Faso
- 2017
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Ingår i: Phytotaxa. - : Magnolia Press. - 1179-3155 .- 1179-3163. ; 304:1, s. 1-215
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- West Africa is a floristically understudied region that is facing severe environmental changes in the 21 st century. Basic distribution data and information on the conservation status for most plant species of the region are scarce, and good information only exists for small areas of interest or for key species. This lack of knowledge seriously hampers urgently needed regional conservation efforts. Here we present comprehensive distribution information and preliminary, automated species conservation assessments for the flora of Burkina Faso, a country in tropical West Africa with a flora and vegetation typical for the savanna belt of the region. We documented and analysed the distribution of 1,568 species or 80% of the flora of Burkina Faso based on an expert curated dataset comprising ca. 150,000 occurrence records from herbarium specimens and vegetation surveys. We used this dataset and environmental niche models to calculate three indicator variables for a preliminary, automated conservation assessment. We classified 350 species (18% of the flora, excluding introduced species) as potentially "Critically Endangered", "Endangered", "Vulnerable" or "Near-Threatened" on the national level. The analyses confirmed species-rich areas in the south-west and south-east of the country, and showed a particular concentration of potentially Endangered species in the south. Furthermore, the proportion of potentially Endangered species differed between plant families, growth forms and habitats. Our results set the base for further plant geographical and ecological studies and are a data-driven baseline for further conservation assessments and large scale conservation strategies of the West African flora.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Zizka, Alexander, et al.
(författare)
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CoordinateCleaner : Standardized cleaning of occurrence records from biological collection databases
- 2019
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Ingår i: Methods in Ecology and Evolution. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 2041-210X. ; 10:5, s. 744-751
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Species occurrence records from online databases are an indispensable resource in ecological, biogeographical and palaeontological research. However, issues with data quality, especially incorrect geo-referencing or dating, can diminish their usefulness. Manual cleaning is time-consuming, error prone, difficult to reproduce and limited to known geographical areas and taxonomic groups, making it impractical for datasets with thousands or millions of records.Here, we present CoordinateCleaner, an r-package to scan datasets of species occurrence records for geo-referencing and dating imprecisions and data entry errors in a standardized and reproducible way. CoordinateCleaner is tailored to problems common in biological and palaeontological databases and can handle datasets with millions of records. The software includes (a) functions to flag potentially problematic coordinate records based on geographical gazetteers, (b) a global database of 9,691 geo-referenced biodiversity institutions to identify records that are likely from horticulture or captivity, (c) novel algorithms to identify datasets with rasterized data, conversion errors and strong decimal rounding and (d) spatio-temporal tests for fossils.We describe the individual functions available in CoordinateCleaner and demonstrate them on more than 90million occurrences of flowering plants from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and 19,000 fossil occurrences from the Palaeobiology Database (PBDB). We find that in GBIF more than 3.4 million records (3.7%) are potentially problematic and that 179 of the tested contributing datasets (18.5%) might be biased by rasterized coordinates. In PBDB, 1205 records (6.3%) are potentially problematic.All cleaning functions and the biodiversity institution database are open-source and available within the CoordinateCleaner r-package.
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| 13. |
- Zizka, Alexander, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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CoordinateCleaner: Standardized cleaning of occurrence records from biological collection databases
- 2019
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Ingår i: Methods in Ecology and Evolution. - : Wiley. - 2041-210X. ; 10:5, s. 744-751
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Species occurrence records from online databases are an indispensable resource in ecological, biogeographical and palaeontological research. However, issues with data quality, especially incorrect geo-referencing or dating, can diminish their usefulness. Manual cleaning is time-consuming, error prone, difficult to reproduce and limited to known geographical areas and taxonomic groups, making it impractical for datasets with thousands or millions of records. Here, we present CoordinateCleaner, an r-package to scan datasets of species occurrence records for geo-referencing and dating imprecisions and data entry errors in a standardized and reproducible way. CoordinateCleaner is tailored to problems common in biological and palaeontological databases and can handle datasets with millions of records. The software includes (a) functions to flag potentially problematic coordinate records based on geographical gazetteers, (b) a global database of 9,691 geo-referenced biodiversity institutions to identify records that are likely from horticulture or captivity, (c) novel algorithms to identify datasets with rasterized data, conversion errors and strong decimal rounding and (d) spatio-temporal tests for fossils. We describe the individual functions available in CoordinateCleaner and demonstrate them on more than 90million occurrences of flowering plants from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and 19,000 fossil occurrences from the Palaeobiology Database (PBDB). We find that in GBIF more than 3.4 million records (3.7%) are potentially problematic and that 179 of the tested contributing datasets (18.5%) might be biased by rasterized coordinates. In PBDB, 1205 records (6.3%) are potentially problematic. All cleaning functions and the biodiversity institution database are open-source and available within the CoordinateCleaner r-package.
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| 14. |
- Zizka, Alexander, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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The vascular plant diversity of Burkina Faso (West Africa) - a quantitative analysis and implications for conservation
- 2015
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Ingår i: Candollea. - : Society of Conservatoire at Jardin Botaniques de la Ville de Geneve. - 0373-2967. ; 70:1, s. 9-20
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Based on a species inventory and the related distribution dataset, the authors present a quantitative analysis of the vascular plant diversity of Burkina Faso (BFA) and its four phytogeographic zones. We analyzed species richness, higher taxon diversity, life forms, chorological types, introduced species, habitat preferences and the number of rare species. The flora of BFA comprises 1972 non-cultivated vascular plant species in 752 genera and 145 families. Species richness and plant family richness are highest in the South Sudanian zone in the South of the country Fabaceae, Poaceae and Cyperaceae are the most species rich plant families. Only one species (Isoetes jaegeri Pitot) is endemic to the country, whereas the vast majority occurs throughout Africa. The flora is dominated by therophytes and phanerophytes. Our results show a good representation of the West African flora in BFA. The flora and vegetation of the four phytogeographic zones within BFA is determined by the latitudinal climatic gradient of the region. The relative number of phanerophytes and forest species decrease along the gradient, while the relative number of therophytes increase. Based on the specimen record we classified 38% of the plant species as "rare" to BFA. The analyses show that the south-west of BFA is a center of national biodiversity and a potential "hotspot" for conservation. In addition to its high species richness this area harbors the highest number of rare species (409 species, 29%) including the endemic species.
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| 15. |
- Zizka, Alexander, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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Traditional plant use in Burkina Faso (West Africa): a national-scale analysis with focus on traditional medicine
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1746-4269. ; 11:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The West African country of Burkina Faso (BFA) is an example for the enduring importance of traditional plant use today. A large proportion of its 17 million inhabitants lives in rural communities and strongly depends on local plant products for their livelihood. However, literature on traditional plant use is still scarce and a comprehensive analysis for the country is still missing. Methods: In this study we combine the information of a recently published plant checklist with information from ethnobotanical literature for a comprehensive, national scale analysis of plant use in Burkina Faso. We quantify the application of plant species in 10 different use categories, evaluate plant use on a plant family level and use the relative importance index to rank all species in the country according to their usefulness. We focus on traditional medicine and quantify the use of plants as remedy against 22 classes of health disorders, evaluate plant use in traditional medicine on the level of plant families and rank all species used in traditional medicine according to their respective usefulness. Results: A total of 1033 species (50%) in Burkina Faso had a documented use. Traditional medicine, human nutrition and animal fodder were the most important use categories. The 12 most common plant families in BFA differed considerably in their usefulness and application. Fabaceae, Poaceae and Malvaceae were the plant families with the most used species. In this study Khaya senegalensis, Adansonia digitata and Diospyros mespiliformis were ranked the top useful plants in BFA. Infections/Infestations, digestive system disorders and genitourinary disorders are the health problems most commonly addressed with medicinal plants. Fabaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae, Apocynaceae, Malvaceae and Rubiaceae were the most important plant families in traditional medicine. Tamarindus indica, Vitellaria paradoxa and Adansonia digitata were ranked the most important medicinal plants. Conclusions: The national-scale analysis revealed systematic patterns of traditional plant use throughout BFA. These results are of interest for applied research, as a detailed knowledge of traditional plant use can a) help to communicate conservation needs and b) facilitate future research on drug screening.
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| 16. |
- Andermann, Tobias, et al.
(författare)
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SECAPR-a bioinformatics pipeline for the rapid and user-friendly processing of targeted enriched Illumina sequences, from raw reads to alignments
- 2018
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Ingår i: Peerj. - : PeerJ. - 2167-8359. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Evolutionary biology has entered an era of unprecedented amounts of DNA sequence data, as new sequencing technologies such as Massive Parallel Sequencing (MPS) can generate billions of nucleotides within less than a day. The current bottleneck is how to efficiently handle, process, and analyze such large amounts of data in an automated and reproducible way. To tackle these challenges we introduce the Sequence Capture Processor (SECAPR) pipeline for processing raw sequencing data into multiple sequence alignments for downstream phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses. SECAPR is user-friendly and we provide an exhaustive empirical data tutorial intended for users with no prior experience with analyzing MPS output. SECAPR is particularly useful for the processing of sequence capture (synonyms: target or hybrid enrichment) datasets for non-model organisms, as we demonstrate using an empirical sequence capture dataset of the palm genus Geonoma (Arecaceae). Various quality control and plotting functions help the user to decide on the most suitable settings for even challenging datasets. SECAPR is an easy-to-use, free, and versatile pipeline, aimed to enable efficient and reproducible processing of MPS data for many samples in parallel.
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| 17. |
- Antonelli, Alexandre, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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Amazonia is the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity
- 2018
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424. ; 115:23, s. 6034-6039
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The American tropics (the Neotropics) are the most species-rich realm on Earth, and for centuries, scientists have attempted to understand the origins and evolution of their biodiversity. It is now clear that different regions and taxonomic groups have responded differently to geological and climatic changes. However, we still lack a basic understanding of how Neotropical biodiversity was assembled over evolutionary timescales. Here we infer the timing and origin of the living biota in all major Neotropical regions by performing a cross-taxonomic biogeographic analysis based on 4,450 species from six major clades across the tree of life (angiosperms, birds, ferns, frogs, mammals, and squamates), and integrate > 1.3 million species occurrences with large-scale phylogenies. We report an unprecedented level of biotic interchange among all Neotropical regions, totaling 4,525 dispersal events. About half of these events involved transitions between major environmental types, with a predominant directionality from forested to open biomes. For all taxonomic groups surveyed here, Amazonia is the primary source of Neotropical diversity, providing > 2,800 lineages to other regions. Most of these dispersal events were to Mesoamerica (similar to 1,500 lineages), followed by dispersals into open regions of northern South America and the Cerrado and Chaco biomes. Biotic interchange has taken place for > 60 million years and generally increased toward the present. The total amount of time lineages spend in a region appears to be the strongest predictor of migration events. These results demonstrate the complex origin of tropical ecosystems and the key role of biotic interchange for the assembly of regional biotas.
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| 18. |
- Antonelli, Alexandre, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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An engine for global plant diversity: Highest evolutionary turnover and emigration in the American tropics
- 2015
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Genetics. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-8021. ; 6:130
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the processes that have generated the latitudinal biodiversity gradient and the continental differences in tropical biodiversity remains a major goal of evolutionary biology. Here we estimate the timing and direction of range shifts of extant flowering plants (angiosperms) between tropical and non-tropical zones, and into and out of the major tropical regions of the world. We then calculate rates of speciation and extinction taking into account incomplete taxonomic sampling. We use a recently published fossil calibrated phylogeny and apply novel bioinformatic tools to code species into user-defined polygons. We reconstruct biogeographic history using stochastic character mapping to compute relative numbers of range shifts in proportion to the number of available lineages through time. Our results, based on the analysis of c. 22,600 species and c. 20 million geo-referenced occurrence records, show no significant differences between the speciation and extinction of tropical and non-tropical angiosperms. This suggests that at least in plants, the latitudinal biodiversity gradient primarily derives from other factors than differential rates of diversification. In contrast, the outstanding species richness found today in the American tropics (the Neotropics), as compared to tropical Africa and tropical Asia, is associated with significantly higher speciation and extinction rates. This suggests an exceedingly rapid evolutionary turnover, i.e., Neotropical species being formed and replaced by one another at unparalleled rates. In addition, tropical America stands out from other continents by having "pumped out" more species than it received through most of the last 66 million years. These results imply that the Neotropics have acted as an engine for global plant diversity. © 2015 Antonelli, Zizka, Silvestro, Scharn, Cascales-Miñana and Bacon.
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| 19. |
- Antonelli, Alexandre, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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Conceptual and empirical advances in Neotropical biodiversity research
- 2018
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Ingår i: PeerJ. - : PeerJ. - 2167-8359. ; 2018:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The unparalleled biodiversity found in the American tropics (the Neotropics) has attracted the attention of naturalists for centuries. Despite major advances in recent years in our understanding of the origin and diversification of many Neotropical taxa and biotic regions, many questions remain to be answered. Additional biological and geological data are still needed, as well as methodological advances that are capable of bridging these research fields. In this review, aimed primarily at advanced students and early-career scientists, we introduce the concept of "trans-disciplinary biogeography," which refers to the integration of data from multiple areas of research in biology (e.g., community ecology, phylogeography, systematics, historical biogeography) and Earth and the physical sciences (e.g., geology, climatology, palaeontology), as a means to reconstruct the giant puzzle of Neotropical biodiversity and evolution in space and time. We caution against extrapolating results derived from the study of one or a few taxa to convey general scenarios of Neotropical evolution and landscape formation. We urge more coordination and integration of data and ideas among disciplines, transcending their traditional boundaries, as a basis for advancing tomorrow's ground-breaking research. Our review highlights the great opportunities for studying the Neotropical biota to understand the evolution of life.
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| 20. |
- Aronsson, Heléne, 1994, et al.
(författare)
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Expert-based range maps cannot be replicated using data-driven methods but macroecological conclusions arising from them can
- 2024
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Ingår i: JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY. - 0305-0270 .- 1365-2699. ; 51:8, s. 1549-1559
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AimAnswering many fundamental and applied scientific questions relies on accurate geographic range maps for species, such as those compiled by experts working with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). However, these maps are resource demanding to produce and only available for a limited number of organisms. Here, we test to what extent standardized, data-driven methods based on publicly available occurrences can reproduce expert-based IUCN range maps and the macroecological conclusions drawn from them.LocationGlobal.Time PeriodPresent.TaxaBirds.Materials and MethodsWe estimated the geographic ranges for 7385 non-marine bird species which either were non-migratory or had spatially connected breeding and wintering ranges from publicly available, georeferenced point occurrences. We then quantified the spatial overlap between these range estimates and the IUCN expert-derived range estimates. Finally, we compared global species richness patterns and the environmental correlates that emerge from both approaches.ResultsWe find that range estimates based on point occurrence records overlap on average 52% with expert range estimates for the same species. The global species richness patterns estimated under both approaches are overall similar but show local and regional differences, for example, in the tropical Andes of northern South America and the Central Arc region of Africa. The estimated global drivers of richness are similar.Main ConclusionsExpert-derived estimates of species distributions are not reproducible by data-driven approaches relying on currently available public records, even for well-documented taxa such as birds. However, these discrepancies do not substantially change our macroecological understanding of global drivers of bird diversity.
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| 21. |
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| 22. |
- Calvente, Alice, et al.
(författare)
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Spiny but photogenic : amateur sightings complement herbarium specimens to reveal the bioregions of cacti
- 2023
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Ingår i: American Journal of Botany. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0002-9122 .- 1537-2197. ; 110:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Premise: Cacti are characteristic elements of the Neotropical flora and of major interest for biogeographic, evolutionary, and ecological studies. We tested global biogeographic boundaries for Neotropical Cactaceae using specimen-based occurrences, coupled with data from visual observations, as a means to tackle the known collection biases in the family.Methods: Species richness and record density were assessed for preserved specimens and human observations, and a bioregional scheme tailored to Cactaceae was produced using the interactive web application Infomap Bioregions, based on data from 261,272 point records cleaned through automated and manual steps.Results: We found that areas in Mexico and southwestern USA, in eastern Brazil, and along the Andean region have the greatest density of records and the highest species richness. Human observations complement information from preserved specimens substantially, especially along the Andes. We propose 24 cactus bioregions, among which the most species-rich are northern Mexico/southwestern USA, central Mexico, southern central Mexico, Central America, Mexican Pacific coast, central and southern Andes, northwestern Mexico/extreme southwestern USA, southwestern Bolivia, northeastern Brazil, and Mexico/Baja California.Conclusions: The bioregionalization proposed shows biogeographic boundaries specific to cacti and can thereby aid further evolutionary, biogeographic, and ecological studies by providing a validated framework for further analyses. This classification builds upon, and is distinctive from, other expert-derived regionalization schemes for other taxa. Our results showcase how observation data, including citizen-science records, can complement traditional specimen-based data for biogeographic research, particularly for taxa with specific specimen collection and preservation challenges and those that are threatened or internationally protected.
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| 23. |
- de Sousa, Filipe, et al.
(författare)
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Chloroplast genome and nuclear loci data for 71 Medicago species
- 2024
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Ingår i: DATA IN BRIEF. - 2352-3409. ; 54
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a dataset containing nuclear and chloroplast sequences for 71 species in genus Medicago (Fabaceae), as well as for 8 species in genera Melilotus and Trigonella . Sequence data for a total of 130 samples was obtained with high-throughput sequencing of enriched genomic DNA libraries targeting 61 single-copy nuclear genes from across the Medicago truncatula genome. Chloroplast sequence reads were also generated, allowing for the recovery of chloroplast genome sequences for all 130 samples. A fully-resolved phylogenetic tree was inferred from the chloroplast dataset using maximum-likelihoood methods. More than 80% of accepted Medicago species are represented in this dataset, including three subspecies of Medicago sativa (alfalfa). These data can be further utilised for phylogenetic analyses in Medicago and related genera, but also for probe and primer design and plant breeding studies.
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| 24. |
- Edler, Daniel, et al.
(författare)
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Infomap Bioregions : Interactive Mapping of Biogeographical Regions from Species Distributions
- 2017
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Ingår i: Systematic Biology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1063-5157 .- 1076-836X. ; 66:2, s. 197-204
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biogeographical regions (bioregions) reveal how different sets of species are spatially grouped and therefore are important units for conservation, historical biogeography, ecology, and evolution. Several methods have been developed to identify bioregions based on species distribution data rather than expert opinion. One approach successfully applies network theory to simplify and highlight the underlying structure in species distributions. However, this method lacks tools for simple and efficient analysis. Here, we present Infomap Bioregions, an interactive web application that inputs species distribution data and generates bioregion maps. Species distributions may be provided as georeferenced point occurrences or range maps, and can be of local, regional, or global scale. The application uses a novel adaptive resolution method to make best use of often incomplete species distribution data. The results can be downloaded as vector graphics, shapefiles, or in table format. We validate the tool by processing large data sets of publicly available species distribution data of the world's amphibians using species ranges, and mammals using point occurrences. We then calculate the fit between the inferred bioregions and WWF ecoregions. As examples of applications, researchers can reconstruct ancestral ranges in historical biogeography or identify indicator species for targeted conservation.
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| 25. |
- Guedes, Thaís, et al.
(författare)
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Patterns, biases and prospects in the distribution and diversity of Neotropical snakes
- 2018
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Ingår i: Global Ecology and Biogeography. - : Wiley. - 1466-822X .- 1466-8238. ; 27:1, s. 14-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Motivation: We generated a novel database of Neotropical snakes (one of the world's richest herpetofauna) combining the most comprehensive, manually compiled distribution dataset with publicly available data. We assess, for the first time, the diversity patterns for all Neotropical snakes as well as sampling density and sampling biases. Main types of variables contained: We compiled three databases of species occurrences: a dataset downloaded from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), a verified dataset built through taxonomic work and specialized literature, and a combined dataset comprising a cleaned version of the GBIF dataset merged with the verified dataset. Spatial location and grain: Neotropics, Behrmann projection equivalent to 1 degrees x 1 degrees. Results: The combined dataset provides the most comprehensive distribution database for Neotropical snakes to date. It contains 147,515 records for 886 species across 12 families, representing 74% of all species of snakes, spanning 27 countries in the Americas. Species richness and phylogenetic diversity show overall similar patterns. Amazonia is the least sampled Neotropical region, whereas most well-sampled sites are located near large universities and scientific collections. We provide a list and updated maps of geographical distribution of all snake species surveyed. Main conclusions: The biodiversity metrics of Neotropical snakes reflect patterns previously documented for other vertebrates, suggesting that similar factors may determine the diversity of both ectothermic and endothermic animals. We suggest conservation strategies for high-diversity areas and sampling efforts be directed towards Amazonia and poorly known species.
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