Biodiversity synthesis across the green branches of the tree of life.

Figure 1 from paper — Global resources can be spatially, taxonomically or temporally subset to serve focused needs, as shown. The top rows in the inset show needed data resources, and the bottom row shows synthetic products, such as regional assessments of evolutionary diversity that inform about community processes and conservation priorities.

Allen, J. M., R. A. Folk, P. S. Soltis, D. E. Soltis, and R. P. Guralnick. 2019. Biodiversity synthesis across the green branches of the tree of life. Nature Plants 5:11. [View on Publisher’s site]

Abstract

Advances in biodiversity science, coupled with new technologies and big data platforms, are expanding our ability to explore and understand the natural world. For the first time, biologists can link data from growing repositories and computational approaches to better integrate plant evolution and ecology at the broadest extents. The emerging synthesis is reshaping our views of plant diversification and guiding new approaches to conservation.