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Global multifaceted biodiversity patterns, centers, and conservation needs in angiosperms

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Abstract

The Convention on Biological Diversity seeks to conserve at least 30% of global land and water areas by 2030, which is a challenge but also an opportunity to better preserve biodiversity, including flowering plants (angiosperms). Herein, we compiled a large database on distributions of over 300,000 angiosperm species and the key functional traits of 67,024 species. Using this database, we constructed biodiversity-environment models to predict global patterns of taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity in terrestrial angiosperms and provide a comprehensive mapping of the three diversity facets. We further evaluated the current protection status of the biodiversity centers of these diversity facets. Our results showed that geographical patterns of the three facets of plant diversity exhibited substantial spatial mismatches and nonoverlapping conservation priorities. Idiosyncratic centers of functional diversity, particularly of herbaceous species, were primarily distributed in temperate regions and under weaker protection compared with other biodiversity centers of taxonomic and phylogenetic facets. Our global assessment of multifaceted biodiversity patterns and centers highlights the insufficiency and unbalanced conservation among the three diversity facets and the two growth forms (woody vs. herbaceous), thus providing directions for guiding the future conservation of global plant diversity.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32125026, 31988102), the National Key Research Development Program of China (2022YFF0802300), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB31000000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Ao Luo, Yaoqi Li, Xiaoting Xu, Xiangyan Su, Yichao Li, Tong Lyu, Kilara Waris, Zhiyao Tang, Yongsheng Chen, Kuiling Zu, Wenqi Song, Shijia Peng & Zhiheng Wang

  2. Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Yaoqi Li

  3. State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Nawal Shrestha

  4. Key Laboratory of Bio-Resource and Eco-Environment of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Xiaoting Xu

  5. Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Center, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing, 100035, China

    Xiangyan Su

  6. State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China

    Xiaojuan Liu

  7. CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650201, China

    Luxiang Lin

  8. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland

    Niklaus E. Zimmermann & Loïc Pellissier

  9. Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, 8092, Switzerland

    Niklaus E. Zimmermann & Loïc Pellissier

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  1. Ao Luo
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Correspondence to Zhiheng Wang.

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Luo, A., Li, Y., Shrestha, N. et al. Global multifaceted biodiversity patterns, centers, and conservation needs in angiosperms. Sci. China Life Sci. 67, 817–828 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-023-2430-2

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