How to fill the biodiversity data gap: Is it better to invest in fieldwork or curation?

Data gaps and biases are two important issues that affect the quality of biodiversity information and downstream results. Understanding how best to fill existing gaps and account for biases is necessary to improve our current information most effectively. Two current main approaches for obtaining and improving data include (1) curation of biological collections, and (2) fieldwork.

A new species of Benth. (Solanaceae) from the eastern Andes of Colombia.

A.Orejuela & S.D.

Monograph of (Solanaceae), a new hemiepiphytic genus endemic to the northern Andes.

A new genus, A.Orejuela & Särkinen, , is described in the tribe Solandreae (Solanaceae) consisting of four species of hemiepiphytic lianas endemic to the premontane forests of the Colombian and Ecuadorian Andes. The genus is distinguished based on the membranous leaves, usually sparsely pubescent with eglandular simple trichomes, pseudo-verticillate leaf arrangement, and elongated, pendulous, and few-flowered inflorescences with showy flowers and conical fruits.

Specific gravity of woody tissue from lowland Neotropical plants: differences among forest types.

Wood density, or more precisely, wood specific gravity, is an important parameter when estimating aboveground biomass, which has become a central tool for the management and conservation of forests around the world. When using biomass allometric equations for tropical forests, researchers are often required to assume phylogenetic trait conservatism, which allows us to assign genus- and family-level wood specific gravity mean values, to many woody species. The lack of information on this trait for many Neotropical plant species has led to an imprecise estimation of the biomass stored in Neotropical forests.

Plant diversity patterns in neotropical dry forests and their conservation implications.

Seasonally dry tropical forests are distributed across Latin America and the Caribbean and are highly threatened, with less than 10% of their original extent remaining in many countries. Using 835 inventories covering 4660 species of woody plants, we show marked floristic turnover among inventories and regions, which may be higher than in other neotropical biomes, such as savanna. Such high floristic turnover indicates that numerous conservation areas across many countries will be needed to protect the full diversity of tropical dry forests.