par Parmentier, Ingrid 
;Pautasso, Marco
Référence Kew bulletin, 65, 4, page (519-524)
Publication Publié, 2010-12
;Pautasso, MarcoRéférence Kew bulletin, 65, 4, page (519-524)
Publication Publié, 2010-12
Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | Summary: The broad aims of most botanic gardens are to promote the knowledge, conservation and use of plant biodiversity. The living collections of all but the most recently founded botanical gardens are the outcome of the work of generations of botanists. However, there has been little historical co-ordination between different gardens in assembling these collections. It is thus fascinating that these mostly artificial ecosystems follow two of the major biogeographical patterns observed in nature (a significant positive species-area and species-age relationship) when pooling data from all over the world. An open question is whether such patterns are confirmed when analysing the available data for the various landmasses. We found that the positive species-area and species-age relationships of the living collections of botanic gardens are confirmed when analysing data for (1) the Americas, (2) Africa and Europe, and (3) Asia and Australia. When controlling for spatial autocorrelation these groups of botanic gardens differ from the worldwide analysis in showing no significant positive latitudinal gradient in species richness. This result is still a discrepancy from the negative latitudinal gradient commonly observed in nature and confirms the necessity to better sustain botanic gardens in the tropics. Also when subdividing the analysis within continents, it is possible to describe a substantial amount of variation in the living collections of the world's botanic gardens with a relatively small number of broad-scale patterns. This study supports the view that there is a need for an increased co-ordination in the conservation activities of the various botanical gardens. © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. |
