Colonization influences worldwide distribution of plant specimens

Date:
July 14, 2023
Source:
Florida State University
Summary:
Plant diversity in nature is generally highest in tropical
regions around the equator, with decreasing diversity closer to
the poles. Researchers now show that the plant specimens housed in
herbaria in Europe and North America are more comprehensive and
diverse than the collections housed in the countries with more
natural plant diversity.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A study led by a Florida State University researcher that was published
in Nature Human Behavior shows how colonization has contributed to the distribution of plants specimens stored in herbaria collections around
the world.

Plant diversity in nature is generally highest in tropical regions around
the equator, with decreasing diversity closer to the poles. FSU Department
of Geography Assistant Professor Xiao Feng and Purdue University Assistant Professor Daniel Park showed that the plant specimens housed in herbaria
in Europe and North America are more comprehensive and diverse than the collections housed in the countries with more natural plant diversity.

By comparing modern finds with collection specimens, researchers can
examine how a species has changed over time.

"People can't travel back in time to observe what plants look like 100
years ago, but herbaria collections give us a way to examine the past,"
Feng said.

"If you're a researcher from Brazil, for example, and you want to study
what native plants were like a century ago, you may have to travel to
another country to examine certain species." The researchers analyzed
more than 85 million records from the Global Biodiversity Information
Facility (GBIF) and surveyed herbaria collections from around the world
to document the origins and destinations of specimens collected between
1600 and 2021.

Their data suggest that between 1600 to 1945, Europe and North America
were responsible for the majority of intercontinental collecting
activities, amassing large amounts of specimens from Africa, Asia and
South America.

The trend mostly persisted in the era after World War II, when
decolonization efforts increased and more countries in Africa and Asia
gained autonomy.

Despite the growth of collections in South America, Oceania and Asia,
the discrepancy of biodiversity collections persists. The international collections by Europe and North America continued to expand, and today
they remain larger than those on other continents.

The discrepancy between where plant diversity exists in nature and where
it is preserved and catalogued by scientists is a legacy of colonialism,
the researchers said. The movement of plant specimens from the biodiverse tropics to temperate regions runs counter to the natural gradient of biodiversity, in which biodiversity increases as we move from polar to equatorial regions.

"Biodiversity is probably best studied where it occurs, and that's
not what has happened historically," Park said. "A lot of the science
that happens with these specimens is very globally relevant; however,
as we note in our paper, the means of contributing to this science is
not distributed globally, at least not yet." Some efforts are underway
to address the disparities in access. One way collections have become
more accessible is through digitization -- gathering data and images
from specimens for storage and sharing in a digital format.

Regional, national and international groups are improving databases and increasing the amount of digitized specimens shared online. One example
is iDigBio, a project organized by FSU, University of Florida and other institutions.

But digitization is still in its infancy, and there are many cases where
access to physical specimens is necessary for the work researchers want
to complete.

Investments in infrastructure and training in previously colonized
countries would also help to address disparities.

Park said acknowledging the role Indigenous people played in the
collection and study of specimens and improving the information herbaria
have about their plants is a good starting place. In many cases, herbaria
don't have a full accounting of their collections. Understanding exactly
how many items exist and their origin is key, he said.

This paper was an effort to better understand the scope of the issue
and to involve researchers from places where herbaria collections
are lacking. Feng and Park led a team of more than 50 authors from 39
countries for this work.

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Story Source: Materials provided by Florida_State_University. Original
written by Bill Wellock. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Daniel S. Park, Xiao Feng, Shinobu Akiyama, Marlina Ardiyani, Neida
Avendan~o, Zoltan Barina, Blandine Ba"rtschi, Manuel Belgrano,
Julio Betancur, Roxali Bijmoer, Ann Bogaerts, Asuncio'n Cano,
Jiři' Danihelka, Arti Garg, David E. Giblin, Rajib Gogoi,
Alessia Guggisberg, Marko Hyva"rinen, Shelley A. James, Ramagwai
J. Sebola, Tomoyuki Katagiri, Jonathan A. Kennedy, Tojibaev
Sh. Komil, Byoungyoon Lee, Serena M. L. Lee, Donatella Magri,
Rossella Marcucci, Siro Masinde, Denis Melnikov, Patrik Mra'z,
Wieslaw Mulenko, Paul Musili, Geoffrey Mwachala, Burrell E. Nelson,
Christine Niezgoda, Carla Novoa Sepu'lveda, Sylvia Orli, Alan
Paton, Serge Payette, Kent D. Perkins, Maria Jimena Ponce,
Heimo Rainer, L. Rasingam, Himmah Rustiami, Natalia M. Shiyan,
Charlotte Sletten Bjoraa, James Solomon, Fred Stauffer, Alex
Sumadijaya, Me'lanie Thie'baut, Barbara M. Thiers, Hiromi
Tsubota, Alison Vaughan, Risto Virtanen, Timothy J. S. Whitfeld,
Dianxiang Zhang, Fernando O. Zuloaga, Charles C. Davis. The
colonial legacy of herbaria. Nature Human Behaviour, 2023; DOI:
10.1038/s41562-023-01616-7 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230714131131.htm

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