Abstract
Global biodiversity hotspots are areas containing high levels of species richness, endemism and threat. Similarly, regions of agriculturally relevant diversity have been identified where many domesticated plants and animals originated, and co-occurred with their wild ancestors and relatives. The agro-biodiversity in these regions has, likewise, often been considered threatened. Biodiversity and agro-biodiversity hotspots partly overlap, but their geographic intricacies have rarely been investigated together. Here we review the history of these two concepts and explore their geographic relationship by analysing global distribution and human use data for all plants, and for major crops and associated wild relatives. We highlight a geographic continuum between agro-biodiversity hotspots that contain high richness in species that are intensively used and well known by humanity (i.e., major crops and most viewed species on Wikipedia) and biodiversity hotspots encompassing species that are less heavily used and documented (i.e., crop wild relatives and species lacking information on Wikipedia). Our contribution highlights the key considerations needed for further developing a unifying concept of agro-biodiversity hotspots that encompasses multiple facets of diversity (including genetic and phylogenetic) and the linkage with overall biodiversity. This integration will ultimately enhance our understanding of the geography of human-plant interactions and help guide the preservation of nature and its contributions to people.
Highlights
Biogeographers and conservation biologists have long been interested in identifying and characterizing geographic regions containing a higher concentration of biodiversity and derivedPlants 2020, 9, 1128; doi:10.3390/plants9091128 www.mdpi.com/journal/plantsPlants 2020, 9, 1128 natural resources than surrounding areas, ranging from within- and among-species diversity through to ecosystem services [1,2,3], at different spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales [4]
Vavilov came to propose a set of independent “centres of origin” of cultivated food plants around the world, based fundamentally on where he saw a maximum concentration of diversity of traditional varieties of a wide range of crops, along with their wild relatives
Richness generally increases towards the tropics for species that are documented in Wikipedia but fall outside of the 1000 most popular category, with high concentrations in the Mediterranean and subtropical regions that are characterized by high plant species endemism but low richness in major crops (e.g., Western North America, South Africa, Australia) [5] (Figure 2b)
Summary
Plants 2020, 9, 1128 natural resources than surrounding areas, ranging from within- and among-species diversity through to ecosystem services [1,2,3], at different spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales [4]. Mapping efforts contribute to a better fundamental understanding of both biodiversity (e.g., species extinction, diversification and co-existence) [7], and the interaction between people and nature, including the resulting socio-economic benefits and threats [8,9,10,11]. This is a urgent endeavour in the current context of a rapidly growing global human population with increasing consumer expectations, posing a serious threat for both plant diversity and its long-term contributions to people [12]. We propose a new general framework and discuss future avenues for obtaining an improved understanding and preservation of global hotspots of useful plant diversity [31,32]
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