Abstract Detail

Biodiversity Informatics & Herbarium Digitization

Garrett, Stephen [1], Ahrends, Antje [2], Harris, David [3].

Herbs vs trees – species richness and sample completeness in a tropical African forest.

This study aimed to assess collecting completeness, measure species diversity, and explore collecting bias between different habit-types within the flora of a forested area extending across Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Central African Republic. Rarefied and extrapolated species accumulation curves, as well as asymptotic species diversity models were used. The study benefited from an unusually complete dataset representing all plant collections from a hyper-diverse tropical forest site. The results indicated that herbarium specimen data are a robust tool for exploring species diversity for well-collected areas when appropriate methods are applied. The bias-corrected form of the Chao1 model was seen to adequately account for different sampling intensities across and under-collecting within habit groups. This study reached the conclusion that collecting completeness has not been reached for the entire flora of the study area, but for trees it is already >96%. Herbs have the lowest proportion of species already collected, and yet they were estimated to have the highest level of species richness. Shrubs appeared to be the least species rich group.

1 - Natural History Museum Denmark, EvoGenomics, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 7, 1 floor right., Copenhagen, 1353, Denmark
2 - Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Conservation and Genetics, 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR, UK
3 - Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Herbarium, 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR, UK

Keywords:
species inventories
herbarium specimens
collecting bias
habit groups
collecting completeness
species richness
rarefaction
extrapolation
species accumulation curves
asymptotic species diversity
Chao 1.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Biodiversity Informatics & Herbarium Digitization
Location: Grand Ballroom - Exhibit Hall/Mayo Civic Center
Date: Monday, July 23rd, 2018
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PBI003
Abstract ID:237
Candidate for Awards:None