The era of big biodiversity data has led to rapid, exciting advances in the theoretical and applied biological, ecological and conservation sciences. While large genetic, geographic and trait databases are available, these are neither complete nor random samples of the globe. Gaps and biases in these databases reduce our inferential and predictive power, and this incompleteness is even more worrisome because we are ignorant of both its kind and magnitude. We performed a comprehensive examination of the taxonomic and spatial sampling in the most complete current databases for plant genes, locations and functional traits. To do this, we downloaded data from The Plant List (taxonomy), the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (locations), TRY (traits) and GenBank (genes). Only 17.7% of the world's described and accepted land plant species feature in all three databases, meaning that more than 82% of known plant biodiversity lacks representation in at least one database. Species coverage is highest for location data and lowest for genetic data. Bryophytes and orchids stand out taxonomically and the equatorial region stands out spatially as poorly represented in all databases. We have highlighted a number of clades and regions about which we know little functionally, spatially and genetically, on which we should set research targets. The scientific community should recognize and reward the significant value, both for biodiversity science and conservation, of filling in these gaps in our knowledge of the plant tree of life.

Aim The idea that species are generally more colourful at tropical latitudes has held great appeal among biologists since the days of exploration by early naturalists. However, advances in colour quantification and analysis only now allow an objective test of this idea. We provide the first quantitative analysis of the latitudinal gradient in colour on a broad scale using data from both animals and plants, encompassing both human‐visible and ultraviolet colours. Location Australia. Methods We collected spectral reflectance data from 570 species or subspecies of birds, adult forms of 424 species or subspecies of butterflies and the flowers of 339 species of plants, from latitudes ranging from tropical forests and savannas at 9.25° S, to temperate forests and heathlands at 43.75° S. Colour patch saturation, maximum contrast between patches, colour diversity and hue disparity between patches were calculated for all species. Latitudinal gradients in colour were analysed using both regression analyses and comparisons of categorically temperate and tropical regions. We also provide phylogenetically independent contrast analyses. Results The analyses which compared the colour traits of communities and the phylogenetically independent contrasts both show that species in the tropics are not more colourful than those at higher latitudes. Rather, the cross‐species analyses indicate that species further away from the equator possess a greater diversity of colours, and their colours are more contrasting and more saturated than those seen in tropical species. These results remain consistent regardless of whether the mean or the maximum of coloration indices are considered. Main conclusions We demonstrate that birds, butterflies and flowers display similar gradients of colourfulness across latitudes, indicating strong ecological and evolutionary cohesion. However, our data do not support the idea that tropical latitudes contain the most colourful species or house the more colourful biological communities.

Aim Plant trait databases often contain traits that are correlated, but for whom direct (undirected statistical dependency) and indirect (mediated by other traits) connections may be confounded. The confounding of correlation and connection hinders our understanding of plant strategies, and how these vary among growth forms and climate zones. We identified the direct and indirect connections across plant traits relevant to competition, resource acquisition and reproductive strategies using a global database and explored whether connections within and between traits from different tissue types vary across climates and growth forms. Location Global. Major taxa studied Plants. Time period Present. Methods We used probabilistic graphical models and a database of 10 plant traits (leaf area, specific leaf area, mass‐ and area‐based leaf nitrogen and phosphorous content, leaf life span, plant height, stem specific density and seed mass) with 16,281 records to describe direct and indirect connections across woody and non‐woody plants across tropical, temperate, arid, cold and polar regions. Results Trait networks based on direct connections are sparser than those based on correlations. Land plants had high connectivity across traits within and between tissue types; leaf life span and stem specific density shared direct connections with all other traits. For both growth forms, two groups of traits form modules of more highly connected traits; one related to resource acquisition, the other to plant architecture and reproduction. Woody species had higher trait network modularity in polar compared to temperate and tropical climates, while non‐woody species did not show significant differences in modularity across climate regions. Main conclusions Plant traits are highly connected both within and across tissue types, yet traits segregate into persistent modules of traits. Variation in the modularity of trait networks suggests that trait connectivity is shaped by prevailing environmental conditions and demonstrates that plants of different growth forms use alternative strategies to cope with local conditions.

There is a wealth of research on the way interactions with pollinators shape flower traits. However, we have much more to learn about influences of the abiotic environment on flower colour. We combine quantitative flower colour data for 339 species from a broad spatial range covering tropical, temperate, arid, montane and coastal environments from 9.25°S to 43.75°S with 11 environmental variables to test hypotheses about how macroecological patterns in flower colouration relate to biotic and abiotic conditions. Both biotic community and abiotic conditions are important in explaining variation of flower colour traits on a broad scale. The diversity of pollinating insects and the plant community have the highest predictive power for flower colouration, followed by mean annual precipitation and solar radiation. On average, flower colours are more chromatic where there are fewer pollinators, solar radiation is high, precipitation and net primary production are low, and growing seasons are short, providing support for the hypothesis that higher chromatic contrast of flower colours may be related to stressful conditions. To fully understand the ecology and evolution of flower colour, we should incorporate the broad selective context that plants experience into research, rather than focusing primarily on effects of plant-pollinator interactions.

Animal color phenotypes are invariably influenced by both their biotic community and the abiotic environments. A host of hypotheses have been proposed for how variables such as solar radiation, habitat shadiness, primary productivity, temperature, rainfall, and community diversity might affect animal color traits. However, while individual factors have been linked to coloration in specific contexts, little is known about which factors are most important across broad taxonomic and geographic scales. Using data collected from 570 species of birds and 424 species of butterflies from Australia, which inhabit an area spanning a latitudinal range of 35° and covering deserts, tropical and temperate forests, savannas, and heathlands, we test multiple hypotheses from the coloration literature and assess their relative importance. We show that bird and butterfly species exhibit more reflective and less saturated colors in better‐lit environments, a pattern that is robust across an array of variables expected to influence the intensity or quality of ambient light in an environment. Both taxa display more diverse colors in regions with greater net primary production and longer growing seasons. Models that included variables related to energy inputs and resources in ecosystems have better explanatory power for bird and butterfly coloration overall than do models that included community diversity metrics. However, the diversity of the bird community in an environment was the single most powerful predictor of color pattern variation in both birds and butterflies. We observed strong similarities across taxa in the covariance between color and environmental factors, suggesting the presence of fundamental macroecological drivers of visual appearance across disparate taxa.

No abstract

No abstract

For the majority of plant species in the world, we know little about their functional ecology, and not even one of the most basic traits—the species’ growth habit. To fill the gap in availability of compiled plant growth‐form data, we have assembled what is, to our knowledge, the largest global database on growth‐form as a plant trait. We have, with extensive error checking and data synthesis, assembled a growth‐form database from 163 data sources for 143,616 vascular plant species from 445 different plant families. This is 38.6% of the currently accepted vascular plant diversity. For our database, we have chosen seven categories to cover the majority of the diversity in plant growth forms: aquatic plants, epiphytes, hemiepiphytes, climbing plants, parasitic plants, holo‐mycoheterotrophs, and freestanding plants. These categories were used because we were able to reconcile the wealth of existing definitions and types of growth‐form information available globally to them clearly and unequivocally, and because they are complementary with existing databases. Plants in the database were designated into a category if their adult growth form fit the criterion. We make available two databases: first, the complete data set, including species for which there is currently conflicting information, and second, a consensus data set, where all available information supports one categorization. Of the plant species for which we found information, 103,138 (72%) are freestanding, 21,110 (15%) are epiphytes, and 4,046 (3%) are parasites. Our growth‐form data can be used to produce useful summary statistics by clade. For example, current data suggests that half of pteridophytes are epiphytic, that all hemiepiphytes are eudicots, and that there are no parasitic monocots, gymnosperms, or pteridophytes. Growth form is a crucial piece of fundamental plant‐trait data with implications for each species’ ecology, evolution, and conservation, and thus this data set will be useful for a range of basic and applied questions across these areas of research. No copyright or proprietary restrictions are associated with the use of this data set, other than citation of the present Data Paper. A static version of this dataset is provided as Supporting Information, and a living and updating version of the dataset is available in a GitHub repository.