An expert curated global legume checklist improves the accuracy of occurrence, biodiversity and taxonomic data

Abstract

The Legume Phylogeny Working Group’s Taxonomy Working Group was tasked to create a community endorsed global legume checklist that will serve as a primary source of taxa for biodiversity data platforms and legume-related research. The checklist was published in June 2021, recognising 772 genera and 22,360 species. It is disseminated through the new Legume Data Portal as part of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) hosted portal initiative. The process that was followed to publish and disseminate the checklist and its content is described here. The impact of the work by the Taxonomy Working Group are quantified by comparing the published checklist with the GBIF taxonomic backbone. A total of 44,157 names overlapped with the GBIF taxonomic backbone while 30,456 names were added, which enabled more accurate name matching of 61,235 legume occurrences. Continuous improvement to the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): Fabaceae checklist will allow the GBIF taxonomic backbone and other checklist managers to converge to a consistent and comprehensive list of legume taxa globally over time.