Science Enabled by Specimen Data

Guerrero, P. C., T. Contador, A. Díaz, C. Escobar, J. Orlando, C. Marín, and P. Medina. 2025. Southern Islands Vascular Flora (SIVFLORA) dataset: A global plant database from Southern Ocean islands. Scientific Data 12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04702-9

The Southern Islands Vascular Flora (SIVFLORA) dataset is a globally significant, open-access resource that compiles essential biodiversity data on vascular plants from islands across the Southern Ocean. The SIVFLORA dataset was generated through five steps: study area delimitation, compiling the dataset, validating and harmonizing taxonomy, structuring dataset attributes, and establishing file format and open access. Covering major taxonomic divisions, SIVFLORA offers a comprehensive overview of plant occurrences, comprising 14,589 records representing 886 species, 95 families, and 42 orders. This dataset documents that 58.62% of the taxa are native, 9.61% are endemic, and 31.77% are alien species. The Falkland/Malvinas Archipelago, the most species-rich, contrast sharply with less diverse islands like the South Orkney Archipelago. SIVFLORA serves as a taxonomically harmonized, interoperable resource for investigating plant diversity patterns, ecosystem responses to climate change in extreme environments, island biogeography, endemism, and the effects of anthropogenic pressures on Southern Ocean flora.

Emiroğlu, Ö., S. Aksu, S. Başkurt, J. R. Britton, and A. S. Tarkan. 2023. Predicting how climate change and globally invasive piscivorous fishes will interact to threaten populations of endemic fishes in a freshwater biodiversity hotspot. Biological Invasions. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-023-03016-4

Freshwater ecosystems are highly vulnerable to the detrimental impacts of both biological invasions and climate change. Piscivorous alien fishes drive populations of small-bodied native fishes to extinction and warming is already driving extreme temperature events in lakes and rivers globally. Here, we use Ecological Niche Modelling (ENM) to predict how climate change will alter the geographical space of six alien fishes and five native fish genera (which include multiple endemic species) in Turkey, a hotspot of freshwater fish diversity. The models predicted that the geographical space of the alien fishes already present in Turkey would generally increase (including pikeperch Sander lucioperca and perch Perca fluviatilis ), but with the most substantial increases in largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides , a species not yet present in Turkey but that is invasive in countries nearby and is highly popular for sport angling. For the native fish genera, general predictions were for reduced geographical space, especially in the south and east of the country, suggesting the endemic species will become increasingly imperilled in future. Their populations will also be at increasing risk of deleterious impacts from the alien piscivores, as the predictions were also for increasing overlaps in the geographical space of both the alien fishes and native fish genera. These predictions suggest that the conservation of these endemic species need to consider measures on preventing both the introduction of alien species (e.g. largemouth bass) and the further dispersal of extant alien species (e.g. pikeperch), as well as habitat interventions that will limit the effects of climate change on their populations. These results also indicate that the combination of climate change and alien invasions could have substantial impacts on—and similar—hotspots of freshwater diversity.

Espindola, S., E. Vázquez‐Domínguez, M. Nakamura, L. Osorio‐Olvera, E. Martínez‐Meyer, E. A. Myers, I. Overcast, et al. 2022. Complex genetic patterns and distribution limits mediated by native congeners of the worldwide invasive red‐eared slider turtle. Molecular Ecology 31: 1766–1782. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16356

Non-native (invasive) species offer a unique opportunity to study the geographical distribution and range limits of species, wherein the evolutionary change driven by interspecific interactions between native and non-native closely related species is a key component. The red-eared slider turtle, Tra…

Smith, J. A., A. L. Benson, Y. Chen, S. A. Yamada, and M. C. Mims. 2020. The power, potential, and pitfalls of open access biodiversity data in range size assessments: Lessons from the fishes. Ecological Indicators 110: 105896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105896

Geographic rarity is a driver of a species’ intrinsic risk of extinction. It encompasses multiple key components including range size, which is one of the most commonly measured estimates of geographic rarity. Range size estimates are often used to prioritize conservation efforts when there are mult…