Guwahati: Assam has been identified as one of 33 “darkspots” in the world brimming with plant diversity, according to a global survey.
An ambitious project led by scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in collaboration with global partners, aims to illuminate the planet’s “plant diversity darkspots”—regions rich in biodiversity where geographic and taxonomic data remain incomplete, leaving scientists in the dark about the vast plant diversity they hold.
The study, published in the journal New Phytologist, identified 33 global plant diversity darkspots, with at least 14 (44%) of these in tropical Asia. With 3 in 4 of the planet’s undescribed plant species already threatened with extinction (State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2023), these new findings provide scientists with a crucial tool to prioritize plant collection and conservation efforts during this decade, which is key to halting and reversing biodiversity loss.
“Our analysis was conducted not quite at a country scale. In fact, some large countries, such as India, were divided into smaller regions (called ‘botanical countries’ according to botanical standards), including Assam (but this is the case for other parts of the world too; e.g., Brazil is split into North, Northeast, Southeast…),” said Samuel Pironon, Lecturer in Conservation Biology at Queen Mary University of London, and one of the corresponding authors of the study, to EastMojo.
“Assam is considered a global priority in many of the analyses that we have run. More generally, India is largely underrepresented in global plant diversity assessments, unfortunately,” Pironon added.
Assam, located within a biodiversity hotspot, boasts majestic diversity in both flora and fauna. Its floristic richness has prompted many scholars to describe the region as the “Biological Gateway” of Northeast India.
Eminent plant taxonomist and geographer Armen Takhtajan, in his book Flowering Plants, Origin and Dispersal, suggests that the “cradle of flowering plants” may lie between Assam and Fiji. He proposed that in this area, not only isolated primitive types but entire groups of closely interrelated genera and even families grow.
Assam is home to approximately 4,300 vascular plants (3,900 Angiosperms, 23 Gymnosperms, 315 Ferns, and 40 Fern allies), but scientists state that many remain scientifically unnamed and unmapped.
The study focused on predicting the number of plant species per “botanical country” (countries or close equivalents) that remain unnamed and unmapped. Researchers also examined where these darkspots coincide with the 36 recognized biodiversity hotspots—regions with rich and unique flora under threat—and how socio-political and environmental factors may impact botanical expeditions, guiding future taxonomic efforts.
More than 15% of all vascular plant species remain scientifically undescribed, and many of the > 350,000 described species lack sufficient geographic records documenting their distribution. Identifying and understanding taxonomic and geographic knowledge gaps is essential to prioritize future collection and conservation initiatives.
Dr. Pironon said, “Resources to undertake new botanical expeditions or to digitize existing collections are limited, so prioritizing collecting efforts is vital. Our study provides a flexible framework to help accelerate the documentation of global plant diversity to inform conservation actions. Knowing where there are most species remaining unnamed and unmapped, of which many are likely to be threatened, is necessary for us to meet the 2030 targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework.”
In total, the research uncovered 33 darkspots, including 14 in the Asia-Tropical region, eight in South America, eight in the Asia-Temperate region, two in Africa, and one in North America. Globally, Colombia, New Guinea, and China South-Central exhibited the largest combined shortfalls in descriptive and geographical data, in that order.
By continent, New Caledonia had the greatest combined shortfall for the Pacific; Western Australia for Australasia; New Guinea for Asia-Tropical; China South-Central for Asia-Temperate; Madagascar for Africa; Albania for Europe; Mexico Southwest for North America; and Colombia for South America. Under different environmental and socio-economic scenarios, six botanical countries emerged as priority areas for focused collecting activities: Colombia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, and Turkey.
New Guinea was the only darkspot not overlapping with a global biodiversity hotspot. However, its exceptional biodiversity—expected to grow further as knowledge gaps are filled—faces rising threats from species overexploitation and land conversion.
“Many species that are not yet described by science are, in fact, well known by Indigenous and local communities,” explains Dr. Kiran Dhanjal-Adams, Future Leader Fellow at RBG Kew.
“With the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework highlighting the importance of Indigenous and local communities in conservation, we have the basis for strengthening partnerships and increasing our capacity to describe species in a way that can help raise conservation interest and funds to support local communities, as well as shedding light on new species.”
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