The likely extinction of hundreds of palm species threatens their contributions to people and ecosystems.

Protecting nature's contributions to people requires accelerating extinction risk assessment and better integrating evolutionary, functional and used diversity with conservation planning. Here, we report machine learning extinction risk predictions for 1,381 palm species (Arecaceae), a plant family of high socio-economic and ecological importance. We integrate these predictions with published assessments for 508 species (covering 75% of all palm species) and we identify top-priority regions for palm conservation on the basis of their proportion of threatened evolutionarily distinct, functionally distinct and used species.

A robust phylogenomic framework for the calamoid palms.

Well-supported phylogenies are a prerequisite for the study of the evolution and diversity of life on earth. The subfamily Calamoideae accounts for more than one fifth of the palm family (Arecaceae), occurs in tropical rainforests across the world, and supports a billion-dollar industry in rattan products. It contains ca.

New Guinea has the world's richest island flora.

New Guinea is the world's largest tropical island and has fascinated naturalists for centuries. Home to some of the best-preserved ecosystems on the planet and to intact ecological gradients-from mangroves to tropical alpine grasslands-that are unmatched in the Asia-Pacific region, it is a globally recognized centre of biological and cultural diversity. So far, however, there has been no attempt to critically catalogue the entire vascular plant diversity of New Guinea.

Population modelling and genetics of a critically endangered Madagascan palm .

Madagascar is home to 208 indigenous palm species, almost all of them endemic and >80% of which are endangered. We undertook complete population census and sampling for genetic analysis of a relatively recently discovered giant fan palm, the Critically Endangered in 2008 and 2016. Our 2016 study included newly discovered populations and added to our genetic study.

PalmTraits 1.0, a species-level functional trait database of palms worldwide.

Plant traits are critical to plant form and function -including growth, survival and reproduction- and therefore shape fundamental aspects of population and ecosystem dynamics as well as ecosystem services. Here, we present a global species-level compilation of key functional traits for palms (Arecaceae), a plant family with keystone importance in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. We derived measurements of essential functional traits for all (>2500) palm species from key sources such as monographs, books, other scientific publications, as well as herbarium collections.

Utility of ctDNA to support patient selection for early phase clinical trials: the TARGET study.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) supports blood-based genomic profiling but is not yet routinely implemented in the setting of a phase I trials clinic. TARGET is a molecular profiling program with the primary aim to match patients with a broad range of advanced cancers to early phase clinical trials on the basis of analysis of both somatic mutations and copy number alterations (CNA) across a 641 cancer-associated-gene panel in a single ctDNA assay. For the first 100 TARGET patients, ctDNA data showed good concordance with matched tumor and results were turned round within a clinically acceptable timeframe for Molecular Tumor Board (MTB) review.

Exploring the floristic diversity of tropical Africa.

Background: Understanding the patterns of biodiversity distribution and what influences them is a fundamental pre-requisite for effective conservation and sustainable utilisation of biodiversity. Such knowledge is increasingly urgent as biodiversity responds to the ongoing effects of global climate change. Nowhere is this more acute than in species-rich tropical Africa, where so little is known about plant diversity and its distribution.

RAINBIO: a mega-database of tropical African vascular plants distributions.

The tropical vegetation of Africa is characterized by high levels of species diversity but is undergoing important shifts in response to ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Although our knowledge of plant species distribution patterns in the African tropics has been improving over the years, it remains limited. Here we present RAINBIO, a unique comprehensive mega-database of georeferenced records for vascular plants in continental tropical Africa.

Global-change vulnerability of a key plant resource, the African palms.

Palms are keystone species in tropical ecosystems and provide essential ecosystem services to rural people worldwide. However, many palm species are threatened by habitat loss and over-exploitation. Furthermore, palms are sensitive to climate and thus vulnerable to future climate changes.

Comprehensive Red List assessment reveals exceptionally high extinction risk to Madagascar palms.

The establishment of baseline IUCN Red List assessments for plants is a crucial step in conservation planning. Nowhere is this more important than in biodiversity hotspots that are subject to significant anthropogenic pressures, such as Madagascar. Here, all Madagascar palm species are assessed using the IUCN Red List categories and criteria, version 3.

Multimillion-year climatic effects on palm species diversity in Africa.

Past climatic changes have caused extinction, speciation, and range dynamics, but assessing the influence of past multimillion-year climatic imprints on present-day biodiversity patterns remains challenging. We analyzed a new continental-scale data set to examine the importance of paleoclimatic effects on current gradients in African palm richness patterns. Using climate reconstructions from the late Miocene (-10 mya), the Pliocene (-3 mya), and the Last Glacial Maximum (0.

Palaeo-precipitation is a major determinant of palm species richness patterns across Madagascar: a tropical biodiversity hotspot.

The distribution of rainforest in many regions across the Earth was strongly affected by Pleistocene ice ages. However, the extent to which these dynamics are still important for modern-day biodiversity patterns within tropical biodiversity hotspots has not been assessed. We employ a comprehensive dataset of Madagascan palms (Arecaceae) and climate reconstructions from the last glacial maximum (LGM; 21 000 years ago) to assess the relative role of modern environment and LGM climate in explaining geographical species richness patterns in this major tropical biodiversity hotspot.

Complete generic-level phylogenetic analyses of palms (Arecaceae) with comparisons of supertree and supermatrix approaches.

Supertree and supermatrix methods have great potential in the quest to build the tree of life and yet they remain controversial, with most workers opting for one approach or the other, but rarely both. Here, we employed both methods to construct phylogenetic trees of all genera of palms (Arecaceae/Palmae), an iconic angiosperm family of great economic importance. We assembled a supermatrix consisting of 16 partitions, comprising DNA sequence data, plastid restriction fragment length polymorphism data, and morphological data for all genera, from which a highly resolved and well-supported phylogenetic tree was built despite abundant missing data.

Aligning conservation priorities across taxa in Madagascar with high-resolution planning tools.

Globally, priority areas for biodiversity are relatively well known, yet few detailed plans exist to direct conservation action within them, despite urgent need. Madagascar, like other globally recognized biodiversity hot spots, has complex spatial patterns of endemism that differ among taxonomic groups, creating challenges for the selection of within-country priorities. We show, in an analysis of wide taxonomic and geographic breadth and high spatial resolution, that multitaxonomic rather than single-taxon approaches are critical for identifying areas likely to promote the persistence of most species.

Mid-Tertiary dispersal, not Gondwanan vicariance explains distribution patterns in the wax palm subfamily (Ceroxyloideae: Arecaceae).

The Ceroxyloideae is a small but heterogeneous subfamily of palms (Arecaceae, Palmae). It includes a Caribbean lineage (tribe Cyclospathae), a southern hemisphere disjunction (tribe Ceroxyleae), and an amphi-Andean element (tribe Phytelepheae), until recently considered a distinct subfamily (Phytelephantoideae) due to its highly derived morphology. A variety of hypotheses have been proposed to account for the biogeography of the subfamily, involving Gondwanan vicariance, austral interplate dispersal from South America to Australia via Antarctica, Andean orogeny, and Pleistocene refuges.

Homoplasious character combinations and generic delimitation: a case study from the Indo-Pacific arecoid palms (Arecaceae: Areceae).

The complex distributions of morphological character states in the Indo-Pacific palm tribe Areceae (Arecaceae; Arecoideae) are potentially challenging for the delimitation of its genera. In the first exhaustive sampling of all 65 genera of the Areceae, we examined relationships of two of the tribe's most problematic genera, Heterospathe and Rhopaloblaste, using portions of the low-copy nuclear genes phosphoribulokinase (PRK) and RNA-polymerase II subunit B (RPB2). Both genera fell within a highly supported clade comprising all Areceae genera, but are clearly unrelated.

Low-copy nuclear DNA, phylogeny and the evolution of dichogamy in the betel nut palms and their relatives (Arecinae; Arecaceae).

For the betel nut palm genus Areca and the other seven genera in subtribe Arecinae (Areceae; Arecoideae; Arecaceae) we collected DNA sequences from two low-copy nuclear genes, phosphoribulokinase (PRK) and the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB2). The data were used to evaluate monophyly of the subtribe and its component genera, explore the radiation of the group across its range, and examine evolution of protandry and protogyny, which is particularly diverse in Arecinae. The subtribe and some genera are not monophyletic.

Molecular phylogenetics of Calamus (Palmae) and related rattan genera based on 5S nrDNA spacer sequence data.

Phylogenetic relationships among the rattan palm genera Calamus, Daemonorops, Ceratolobus, Calospatha, Pogonotium, and Retispatha were investigated using DNA sequences from the nontranscribed spacer of 5S nrDNA. Moderate levels of intragenome polymorphism were identified, indicating that concerted evolution is not completely homogenizing the multiple copies of the 5S nrDNA repeat present in the nuclear genome. The existence of intragenome polymorphism did not excessively interfere with phylogeny reconstruction because, in the majority of cases, multiple clones obtained from individual species were resolved as monophyletic groups.

Molecular phylogenetics of subfamily Calamoideae (Palmae) based on nrDNA ITS and cpDNA rps16 intron sequence data.

Phylogenetic relationships among the 22 genera of the palm subfamily Calamoideae were investigated using DNA sequence data from the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and the chloroplast rps16 intron. The rps16 intron displayed low levels of variation, corroborating previous reports that the chloroplast genome of palms is highly conserved. High levels of within-individual polymorphism were identified in the ITS region, indicating that concerted evolution is not effectively homogenizing the ITS repeats.

The preparation and introduction of nursing auxiliaries: the MidCentral Health experience.

This paper outlines how nursing auxiliaries (known as care assistants) were successfully introduced into MidCentral Health. The professional issues this introduction created are discussed, and the measures taken to maintain standards of care described.