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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
New Guinea has the world’s richest island flora
Nature, Volume 584, No. 7822, Year 2020
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Description
New Guinea is the world’s largest tropical island and has fascinated naturalists for centuries1,2. Home to some of the best-preserved ecosystems on the planet3 and to intact ecological gradients—from mangroves to tropical alpine grasslands—that are unmatched in the Asia-Pacific region4,5, it is a globally recognized centre of biological and cultural diversity6,7. So far, however, there has been no attempt to critically catalogue the entire vascular plant diversity of New Guinea. Here we present the first, to our knowledge, expert-verified checklist of the vascular plants of mainland New Guinea and surrounding islands. Our publicly available checklist includes 13,634 species (68% endemic), 1,742 genera and 264 families—suggesting that New Guinea is the most floristically diverse island in the world. Expert knowledge is essential for building checklists in the digital era: reliance on online taxonomic resources alone would have inflated species counts by 22%. Species discovery shows no sign of levelling off, and we discuss steps to accelerate botanical research in the ‘Last Unknown’8. © 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
Authors & Co-Authors
Frodin, David G.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Appelhans, Marc S.
Germany, Gottingen
Georg-august-universität Göttingen
Ashton, Peter Shaw
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Baker, William J.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Barfod, Anders S.
Denmark, Aarhus
Aarhus Universitet
Borosova, Renata
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Briggs, Marie
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Buerki, Sven
United States, Boise
Boise State University
Callmander, Martin W.
Unknown Affiliation
Cheek, Martin R.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Chen, Chengwei
Unknown Affiliation
Conn, Barry J.
Australia, Sydney
The University of Sydney
Darbyshire, Iain A.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Dawson, Sally E.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Dransfield, John
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Duyfjes, Brigitta E.E.
Netherlands, Leiden
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Ebihara, Atsushi
Japan, Tokyo
National Museum of Nature and Science
Ezedin, Zacky
United States, Minneapolis
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Papua new Guinea, Madang Province
New Guinea Binatang Research Center
Govaerts, Rafaël H.A.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Hassemer, Gustavo
Brazil, Campo Grande
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul
Hovenkamp, Peter H.
Netherlands, Leiden
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Hughes, Mark
United Kingdom, Edinburgh
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Jebb, Matthew H.P.
Unknown Affiliation
Jennings, Laura V.S.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Kessler, Michael
Switzerland, Zurich
Universität Zürich
Knapp, Sandra
United Kingdom, London
The Natural History Museum, London
Lehnert, Marcus
Germany, Bonn
Universität Bonn
Germany, Halle
Martin-luther-universität Halle-wittenberg
Lewis, Gwilym Peter
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Linder, H. Peter Peter
Switzerland, Zurich
Universität Zürich
Monro, Alexandre K.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Middleton, David J.
Singapore, Singapore City
Singapore Botanic Gardens
Nagamasu, Hidetoshi
Japan, Kyoto
Kyoto University
Newman, Mark Fleming
United Kingdom, Edinburgh
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Nic Lughadha, Eimear M.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Ohlsen, Daniel J.
Australia, Melbourne
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
Australia, Melbourne
University of Melbourne
Parris, Barbara S.
New Zealand, Kerikeri
Fern Research Foundation
Penneys, Darin S.
United States, Wilmington
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Perrie, Leon R.
New Zealand, Wellington
Museum of new Zealand- te Papa Tongarewa
Poulsen, Axel Dalberg
United Kingdom, Edinburgh
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Raes, Niels
Netherlands, Leiden
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Rogers, Zachary S.
United States, Las Cruces
New Mexico State University
Schwartsburd, Pedro Bond
Brazil, Vicosa
Universidade Federal de Vicosa
Simmons, Mark P.
United States, Fort Collins
Colorado State University
Simpson, David A.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Ireland, Dublin
Trinity College Dublin
Stevens, Peter F.
United States, St. Louis
Missouri Botanical Garden
Sundue, Michael A.
United States, Burlington
The University of Vermont
Testo, Weston L.
United States, Gainesville
University of Florida
Turner, Ian M.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Singapore, Singapore City
Singapore Botanic Gardens
Utteridge, Timothy Michael Arthur
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Webber, Bruce Lloyd
Australia, Canberra
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Australia, Perth
The University of Western Australia
Wei, Ran
China, Beijing
Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Weiblen, George D.
United States, Minneapolis
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Weigend, Maximilian
Germany, Bonn
Universität Bonn
Weston, Peter H.
Unknown Affiliation
de Wilde, Willem J.J.O.
Netherlands, Leiden
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Wilkie, Peter
United Kingdom, Edinburgh
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Wilmot-Dear, Christine Melanie
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Wood, John R.I.
United Kingdom, Richmond
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
United Kingdom, Oxford
University of Oxford
Zhang, Libing
United States, St. Louis
Missouri Botanical Garden
China, Beijing
Chinese Academy of Sciences
van Welzen, Peter C.
Netherlands, Leiden
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Netherlands, Leiden
Universiteit Leiden
Statistics
Citations: 102
Authors: 60
Affiliations: 45
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/s41586-020-2549-5
ISSN:
00280836
Study Locations
Guinea