Mining rare Earth elements: Identifying the plant species most threatened by ore extraction in an insular hotspot
Conservation efforts in global biodiversity hotspots often face a common predicament: an urgent need for conservation action hampered by a significant lack of knowledge about that biodiversity. In recent decades, the computerisation of primary biodiversity data worldwide has provided the scientific...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.952439/full |
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| author | Guillaume Lannuzel Guillaume Lannuzel Léa Pouget Léa Pouget David Bruy David Bruy Vanessa Hequet Vanessa Hequet Shankar Meyer Jérôme Munzinger Gildas Gâteblé Gildas Gâteblé |
| author_facet | Guillaume Lannuzel Guillaume Lannuzel Léa Pouget Léa Pouget David Bruy David Bruy Vanessa Hequet Vanessa Hequet Shankar Meyer Jérôme Munzinger Gildas Gâteblé Gildas Gâteblé |
| author_sort | Guillaume Lannuzel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Conservation efforts in global biodiversity hotspots often face a common predicament: an urgent need for conservation action hampered by a significant lack of knowledge about that biodiversity. In recent decades, the computerisation of primary biodiversity data worldwide has provided the scientific community with raw material to increase our understanding of the shared natural heritage. These datasets, however, suffer from a lot of geographical and taxonomic inaccuracies. Automated tools developed to enhance their reliability have shown that detailed expert examination remains the best way to achieve robust and exhaustive datasets. In New Caledonia, one of the most important biodiversity hotspots worldwide, the plant diversity inventory is still underway, and most taxa awaiting formal description are narrow endemics, hence by definition hard to discern in the datasets. In the meantime, anthropogenic pressures, such as nickel-ore mining, are threatening the unique ultramafic ecosystems at an increasing rate. The conservation challenge is therefore a race against time, as the rarest species must be identified and protected before they vanish. In this study, based on all available datasets and resources, we applied a workflow capable of highlighting the lesser known taxa. The main challenges addressed were to aggregate all data available worldwide, and tackle the geographical and taxonomic biases, avoiding the data loss resulting from automated filtering. Every doubtful specimen went through a careful taxonomic analysis by a local and international taxonomist panel. Geolocation of the whole dataset was achieved through dataset cross-checking, local botanists’ field knowledge, and historical material examination. Field studies were also conducted to clarify the most unresolved taxa. With the help of this method and by analysing over 85,000 data, we were able to double the number of known narrow endemic taxa, elucidate 68 putative new species, and update our knowledge of the rarest species’ distributions so as to promote conservation measures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T08:43:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d77b43c1326745c286732fb71c4a4c6d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-701X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T08:43:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-d77b43c1326745c286732fb71c4a4c6d2022-12-22T01:55:47ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution2296-701X2022-07-011010.3389/fevo.2022.952439952439Mining rare Earth elements: Identifying the plant species most threatened by ore extraction in an insular hotspotGuillaume Lannuzel0Guillaume Lannuzel1Léa Pouget2Léa Pouget3David Bruy4David Bruy5Vanessa Hequet6Vanessa Hequet7Shankar Meyer8Jérôme Munzinger9Gildas Gâteblé10Gildas Gâteblé11Institut Agronomique Néo-Calédonien, Équipe ARBOREAL, Nouméa, New CaledoniaEndemia, New Caledonia Plants Red List Authority, Nouméa, New CaledoniaInstitut Agronomique Néo-Calédonien, Équipe ARBOREAL, Nouméa, New CaledoniaUniversité de Montpellier, Place Eugène Bataillon, Montpellier, FranceAMAP, Université de Montpellier, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, Montpellier, FranceAMAP, IRD, Herbier de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouméa, New CaledoniaAMAP, Université de Montpellier, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, Montpellier, FranceAMAP, IRD, Herbier de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouméa, New CaledoniaEndemia, New Caledonia Plants Red List Authority, Nouméa, New CaledoniaAMAP, Université de Montpellier, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, Montpellier, FranceInstitut Agronomique Néo-Calédonien, Équipe ARBOREAL, Nouméa, New CaledoniaINRAE, UE 1353, Unité Expérimentale Villa Thuret, Antibes, FranceConservation efforts in global biodiversity hotspots often face a common predicament: an urgent need for conservation action hampered by a significant lack of knowledge about that biodiversity. In recent decades, the computerisation of primary biodiversity data worldwide has provided the scientific community with raw material to increase our understanding of the shared natural heritage. These datasets, however, suffer from a lot of geographical and taxonomic inaccuracies. Automated tools developed to enhance their reliability have shown that detailed expert examination remains the best way to achieve robust and exhaustive datasets. In New Caledonia, one of the most important biodiversity hotspots worldwide, the plant diversity inventory is still underway, and most taxa awaiting formal description are narrow endemics, hence by definition hard to discern in the datasets. In the meantime, anthropogenic pressures, such as nickel-ore mining, are threatening the unique ultramafic ecosystems at an increasing rate. The conservation challenge is therefore a race against time, as the rarest species must be identified and protected before they vanish. In this study, based on all available datasets and resources, we applied a workflow capable of highlighting the lesser known taxa. The main challenges addressed were to aggregate all data available worldwide, and tackle the geographical and taxonomic biases, avoiding the data loss resulting from automated filtering. Every doubtful specimen went through a careful taxonomic analysis by a local and international taxonomist panel. Geolocation of the whole dataset was achieved through dataset cross-checking, local botanists’ field knowledge, and historical material examination. Field studies were also conducted to clarify the most unresolved taxa. With the help of this method and by analysing over 85,000 data, we were able to double the number of known narrow endemic taxa, elucidate 68 putative new species, and update our knowledge of the rarest species’ distributions so as to promote conservation measures.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.952439/fullnickel-mining threatbiodiversity hotspotsnarrow endemic taxanew speciesultramafic substratesdata cleaning |
| spellingShingle | Guillaume Lannuzel Guillaume Lannuzel Léa Pouget Léa Pouget David Bruy David Bruy Vanessa Hequet Vanessa Hequet Shankar Meyer Jérôme Munzinger Gildas Gâteblé Gildas Gâteblé Mining rare Earth elements: Identifying the plant species most threatened by ore extraction in an insular hotspot Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution nickel-mining threat biodiversity hotspots narrow endemic taxa new species ultramafic substrates data cleaning |
| title | Mining rare Earth elements: Identifying the plant species most threatened by ore extraction in an insular hotspot |
| title_full | Mining rare Earth elements: Identifying the plant species most threatened by ore extraction in an insular hotspot |
| title_fullStr | Mining rare Earth elements: Identifying the plant species most threatened by ore extraction in an insular hotspot |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mining rare Earth elements: Identifying the plant species most threatened by ore extraction in an insular hotspot |
| title_short | Mining rare Earth elements: Identifying the plant species most threatened by ore extraction in an insular hotspot |
| title_sort | mining rare earth elements identifying the plant species most threatened by ore extraction in an insular hotspot |
| topic | nickel-mining threat biodiversity hotspots narrow endemic taxa new species ultramafic substrates data cleaning |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.952439/full |
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