A synthesis of botanical informatics for vascular plants in Africa

Abstract

We synthesize published botanical information for the flora of Africa to address multiple questions, including the following: How many species of vascular plants are there in Africa? How are the species distributed among different phylogenetic clades or taxonomic groups of vascular plants and different geographic regions across Africa? How complete are species lists derived from open-access online sources at various spatial scales? And at what spatial scales might species lists derived from open-access online sources be used to address macroecological and biogeographic questions for the flora of Africa? We used eight open-access online botanical databases and 188 regional, national, and local floras and checklists of vascular plants to generate species lists for sampling areas at various spatial scales examined in this study. Africa harbours at least 65,414 native species of vascular plants. Using the online botanical databases examined in this study to generate country-level or larger species lists, the completeness of the resulting species lists will be typically >90%. The completeness of species lists derived from geo-referenced occurrence records available online was 36.6, 53.1 and 72.1%, respectively, at the spatial scales of 100 km × 100 km, 200 km × 200 km, and 300 km × 300 km.