Biodiversity, a central component of Earth's life support systems, is directly relevant to
human societies. We examine the dimensions and nature of the Earth's terrestrial …

We present revised estimates of the numbers of accepted species of flowering plants
(369,434), seed plants (370,492), vascular plants (383,671) and land plants (403,911) …

Nearly half the world's vascular plant species and one‐third of terrestrial vertebrates are
endemic to 25 “hotspots” of biodiversity, each of which has at least 1500 endemic plant …

Human pressure threatens many species and ecosystems, so conservation efforts
necessarily prioritize saving them. However, conservation should clearly be proactive …

This concise introductory text provides a complete overview of biodiversity-what it is, how it
arose, its distribution, why it is important, human impact upon it, and what should be done to …

Polyploidy, the doubling of genomic content, is a widespread feature, especially among
plants, yet its macroevolutionary impacts are contentious. Traditionally, polyploidy has been …

How many flowering plant species are there? Where are they? How many are going extinct,
and how fast are they doing so? Interesting in themselves, these are questions at the heart …

To assess the coextinction of species (the loss of a species upon the loss of another), we
present a probabilistic model, scaled with empirical data. The model examines the …

Most of the figures quoted for numbers of species of seed plants over large geographical
areas have been based on subjective estimates rather than objective data analysis. Reliable …

In closed‐canopy forests, plant morphology and physiology determine shade tolerance and
potential growth and mortality rates; potential vital rates and ongoing gap dependence …