Widespread sampling biases in herbaria revealed from large-scale digitization

Barnabas H Daru; Daniel S Park; Richard B Primack; Charles G Willis; David S Barrington; Timothy J S Whitfeld; Tristram G Seidler; Patrick W Sweeney; David R Foster; Aaron M Ellison; Charles C Davis

doi:10.1111/nph.14855

Back

Widespread sampling biases in herbaria revealed from large-scale digitization

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Widespread sampling biases in herbaria revealed from large-scale digitization

Barnabas H Daru, Daniel S Park, Richard B Primack, Charles G Willis, David S Barrington, Timothy J S Whitfeld, Tristram G Seidler, Patrick W Sweeney, David R Foster, Aaron M Ellison, …

New Phytologist, Vol.217(2), pp.939-955

2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14855

Files and links (2)

pdf

PDF - Author's Accepted Version15.41 MBDownload View

Accepted VersionPDF - Author Accepted Version Open Access

url

https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14855View

Published Version

Abstract

collector bias

geographic bias

herbarium

regional flora

sampling bias

temporal bias

trait bias

- Nonrandom collecting practices may bias conclusions drawn from analyses of herbarium records. Recent efforts to fully digitize and mobilize regional floras online offer a timely opportunity to assess commonalities and differences in herbarium sampling biases. - We determined spatial, temporal, trait, phylogenetic, and collector biases in c. 5 million herbarium records, representing three of the most complete digitized floras of the world: Australia (AU), South Africa (SA), and New England, USA (NE). - We identified numerous shared and unique biases among these regions. Shared biases included specimens collected close to roads and herbaria; specimens collected more frequently during biological spring and summer; specimens of threatened species collected less frequently; and specimens of close relatives collected in similar numbers. Regional differences included overrepresentation of graminoids in SA and AU and of annuals in AU; and peak collection during the 1910s in NE, 1980s in SA, and 1990s in AU. Finally, in all regions, a disproportionately large percentage of specimens were collected by very few individuals. We hypothesize that these mega-collectors, with their associated preferences and idiosyncrasies, shaped patterns of collection bias via 'founder effects'. - Studies using herbarium collections should account for sampling biases, and future collecting efforts should avoid compounding these biases to the extent possible.

Details

Title: Widespread sampling biases in herbaria revealed from large-scale digitization
Authors: Barnabas H Daru (Corresponding Author) - Harvard University, United States
Daniel S Park (Author) - Harvard University, United States
Richard B Primack (Author) - Boston University, United States
Charles G Willis (Author) - Harvard University, United States
David S Barrington (Author) - University of Vermont, United States
Timothy J S Whitfeld (Author) - Brown University, United States
Tristram G Seidler (Author) - University of Massachusetts, United States
Patrick W Sweeney (Author) - Yale University, United States
David R Foster (Author) - Harvard University
Aaron M Ellison (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Charles C Davis (Author) - Harvard University, United States
Publication details: New Phytologist, Vol.217(2), pp.939-955
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Date published: 2018
DOI: 10.1111/nph.14855
ISSN: 1469-8137
Copyright note: Copyright © 2018 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. This is the accepted version of the following article: Daru, B. H., Park, D. S., Primack, R. B., Willis, C. G., Barrington, D. S., Whitfeld, T. J., Seidler, T. G., Sweeney, P. W., Foster, D. R., Ellison, A. M. and Davis, C. C. (2018), Widespread sampling biases in herbaria revealed from large-scale digitization. New Phytol, 217: 939-955. doi:10.1111/nph.14855, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.14855
Organisation Unit: Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451142602621
Output Type: Journal article

Metrics

39 File views/ downloads

922 Record Views

334 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Highly Cited Paper

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Plant Sciences

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites