Stellenbosch University
Welcome to Stellenbosch University
Bio-informatics key to conservation
Author: Media & Communication, Faculty of Science
Published: 16/08/2022

A range of high-resolution maps depicting the local diversity of tree species across the globe, as well as the environmental drivers of this diversity, will serve as a benchmark for the future management of forest ecosystems under a changing climate.

The maps, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution recently (read it here), is based on 1.3 million sample plots and 55 million trees archived in the Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative database. It took 249 researchers from 50 countries two years to compile and standardise the database, with one-third of them based in traditionally underrepresented regions such as Africa and South America.

The main findings from the study are:

  • There are on average 98 species per hectare at the equator. The number of species then decline until it becomes stable at about four species per hectare at both 50 degrees north and south of the equator.
  • Temperature and precipitation are, however, not the only drivers behind local species richness and biodiversity patterns across latitudes. In tropical regions, factors such as landforms, soil and human impact also control species richness. In Africa, human influences such as selective timber extraction and fuelwood collection, together with large-scale degradation, are affecting local tree species richness.
  • The most diverse tropical forests on Earth are in Amazonia, with more than 200 tree species per hectare.
  • The most diverse temperate forests are in south-central Chile with up to 50 species per hectare.

Prof Cang Hui, a biomathematician from Stellenbosch University (SU) and senior author on the paper, says biodiversity databases such as forest inventories will continue to expand, as sample coverage in developing countries improve rapidly with integrated informatics platforms.

“Although modelling can help address this gap, there needs to be a shared responsibility among conservation stakeholders at various levels of government, scientists, indigenous communities and other biodiversity monitoring groups to improve sample coverage of forest inventories in developing countries," he said.

“This should include the education and training of a new generation of biodiversity data scientists, ecologists and taxonomists to address this gap in the Global South and simultaneously create employment opportunities," he added.

In this regard, Prof Hui and his team are working with key local and international partners to host the Stellenbosch Symposium on Biodiversity Informatics in South Africa at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) in November 2022.

“The aim of the symposium will be to demonstrate the importance of building meaningful data partnerships and developing a culture of cooperation and interoperability among custodians and users of biodiversity data to establish operational workflows for data synthesis," Prof Hui said. The symposium will be supported by the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS).