Taxonomic and biogeographic biases in global plant demography studies

Abstract:

Taxonomic and biogeographic biases in global plant demography studies

Ecologists have characterised plant species demography for over a century. The abundance of information and its systematic inclusion in databases allows investigations of factors influencing demographic patterns but bias may hamper these efforts. Most plant demography studies use matrix population models (MPMs). These have been systematically archived in the COMPADRE Plant Matrix Database, which contains ~700 species. We compared database-representation with global diversity patterns. We found that some growth forms and ecoregions are under-represented and a positive correlation between research intensity and country-level GDP which partially explains this pattern. With few exceptions, we observe a tendency towards low-replication, short-term studies. This limited spatiotemporal coverage means that the data might not encompass a representative range of environmental conditions a species experiences over its geographic range, and taxonomic bias may limit our ability to make generalisations. These knowledge gaps and biases are challenging and highlight areas ripe for novel data collection.