Where are the tropical plants? A call for better inclusion of tropical plants in studies investigating and predicting the effects of climate change

Abstract

Tropical plant species are systematically underrepresented in large-scale analyses or synthesis looking at the potential effects of global climate change. The reason being that we simply don’t know enough about the distributions and ecologies of most tropical plant species to predict their fate under climate change. This gaping hole in our knowledge is extremely worrisome given the high diversity of tropical plants, the crucial roles that they play in supporting global diversity and ecosystem function, and the elevated threats that climate change may pose to tropical species in general.

Keywords

• Extinction, global climate change, tropical plant species, collections