Global Patterns and Determinants of Vascular Plant Diversity

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 104; no. 14; pp. 5925 - 5930
• Main Authors: Kreft, Holger, Jetz, Walter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 03.04.2007; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Autocorrelation; Biodiversity; Biological Sciences; Climate; Computer Simulation; Cycadopsida - classification; Cycadopsida - genetics; Datasets; Ecosystem; Ecosystem structure; Environmental accounting; Environmental conservation; Environmental effects; environmental factors; Environmental impact; Environmental modeling; Evapotranspiration; Flora; Geographic regions; Geography; habitats; Heterogeneity; Historical analysis; latitude; Magnoliopsida - classification; Magnoliopsida - genetics; Modeling; Models, Biological; Models, Theoretical; phytogeography; Plant diversity; Plant ecology; Plants; Primary production; Spatial models; Species; Species diversity; Species richness; Species Specificity; Taxonomy; topography; Vascular plants; South Africa

Plants, with an estimated 300,000 species, provide crucial primary production and ecosystem structure. To date, our quantitative understanding of diversity gradients of megadiverse clades such as plants has been hampered by the paucity of distribution data. Here, we investigate the global-scale spec...