Biodiversity across the Greater Cape Floristic Region

Aim: With plant biodiversity under global threat, there is an urgent need to monitor the spatial distribution of multiple axes of biodiversity. Remote sensing is a critical tool in this endeavor. One remote sensing approach in detecting biodiversity is based on the hypothesis that the spectral diversity of plant communities is a surrogate of multiple dimensions of biodiversity. We investigated the generality of this “surrogacy” for spectral, species, functional, and phylogenetic diversity across 1,267 plots in the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR), a hyper-diverse region comprising several biomes and two adjacent global biodiversity hotspots.

Location: The GCFR centered in southwestern and western South Africa.

Time Period: All data were collected between 1978–2014.

Major taxa studied: Vascular plants within the GCFR.

Methods: Spectral diversity was calculated using leaf reflectance spectra (450–950 nm) and was related to other dimensions of biodiversity via linear models...