Missouri Botanical Garden

Este artículo reconstruye la trayectoria personal y científica de Paul Carpenter Standley (1884–1963), uno de los botánicos más influyentes en el conocimiento de la flora mesoamericana y figura fundamental para la botánica costarricense. A partir de fuentes biográficas, publicaciones y testimonios de colegas, se revisan su formación, su carrera en el Smithsonian Institution y el Museo Field de Historia Natural, sus expediciones de campo y los rasgos que caracterizaron su personalidad y forma de trabajo. Se destaca su extraordinaria productividad como recolector y taxónomo: reunió más de 130 000 especímenes, publicó alrededor de 500 trabajos y participó en la descripción de más de 3 500 nuevos taxones, incluidos 70 géneros. En Costa Rica realizó trabajo de campo durante 1924 y 1925–1926, recolectó cerca de 15 000 especímenes y posteriormente publicó, entre 1937 y 1938, el primer estudio exhaustivo de la flora vascular del país. Aunque su obra presentó algunas limitaciones derivadas de la rapidez con que trabajaba y de la escasa representación de sus colecciones en el herbario nacional, su contribución científica fue excepcional. El artículo concluye que el legado de Standley continúa siendo esencial para el conocimiento, la investigación y la conservación de la diversidad florística de Costa Rica y Mesoamérica.

Taxonomic uncertainty is prevalent across many biological groups. Yet, it remains overlooked in ecology, evolution, and conservation, leading to potential misinterpretations of biodiversity patterns. Here, we argue that this uncertainty emerges from the interaction between biological processes shaping natural lineages and human efforts to name and classify them. Based on this, we propose a set of metrics to quantify confidence in species boundaries and to track the history of taxonomic change and stability. We show how these metrics can be embedded into biodiversity analyses, from mapping uncertainty across taxa and geographic regions to assigning weights to species and deriving more realistic error ranges in ecological models. Making taxonomic uncertainty explicit advances biodiversity science and strengthens conservation decisions.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:The Brassicaceae and many species of its various genera are currently recognized as models in various fields of biology. The impact of the major advancements in molecular phylogeny, development, genomics and related fields on the systematics of the family led to the recognition of the first phylogenetic tribal classification of the family and recognition of monophyletic genera. The present review is aimed to cover almost all advancements in the family systematics for the first time. METHODS:The comprehensive literature on the molecular phylogeny, development, cytology, genomics and related fields was assembled relative to its systematics value to Brassicaceae, especially for tribal classification, generic delimitation, origin, hybridization and migration. KEY RESULTS:Adjustments to the limits of problematic tribes Brassiceae, Coluteocarpeae and Thelypodieae, in addition to various genera (e.g. Atacama, Delpinophyton, Menonvillea, Noccaea and Pseudoarabidopsis) are discussed and likely solutions suggested. A complete list of apomorphic characters in the family is assembled for the first time, and all species or genera in which they occur are listed. CONCLUSIONS:This comprehensive review is the first historical advancement of the Brassicaceae systematics during the past three decades, and it aims to help current and future students of the family to understand the background of such developments.

Climate and atmospheric changes are impacting forest function and structure worldwide, but their effects on tropical forest diversity are unclear. Nowhere is the scientific challenge greater than in the Andes and the Amazon, which together include the world’s most diverse forests. Here, using 406 permanent plots spanning four decades of intact lowland and montane forest dynamics, we test for long-term change in species richness and assess the influence of climate and other variables. We show that, at a continental scale, species richness appears stable, but this masks substantial regional variation. Species richness increased in Northern Andean and Western Amazon plots, yet declined in the Central Andes, Guyana Shield and Central-Eastern Amazon. Overall, warmer, drier and more seasonal forests lost species, while those at higher elevations, in less fragmented areas and with faster rates of tree turnover experienced increases. Region-specific drivers, particularly precipitation seasonality and demographic factors, modulated these trends. The results highlight the diverse ways in which Amazon–Andes forests are changing and underscore the critical need to preserve large-scale ecosystem integrity to maintain local tree diversity. By doing so, Northern Andean forests in particular could serve as an important refuge for species increasingly displaced by climate change. This study examines long-term changes in species richness across tropical forests in the Andes and Amazon. Hotter, drier and more seasonal forests in the eastern and southern Amazon are losing species, while Northern Andean forests are accumulating species, acting as a refuge for climate-displaced species.

Societal Impact Statement Collections of dried plant specimens (herbaria) provide an invaluable resource for the study of many areas of scientific interest and conservation globally. Digitisation increases access to specimens and metadata, enabling efficient use across a broad spectrum of research. The value of physical specimens is enhanced by digitisation, but these specimens remain fundamental for the study of traits not yet captured digitally. We investigate the requirements for physical access and the curation and facilities needed to maximise specimen use and value. We present recommendations to ensure that specimens and data are both fully accessible to support research into global challenges. Summary Herbarium management has traditionally focused on providing direct access to the physical specimens, but this scope must now expand to also embrace digital collections. Advances in technologies such as artificial intelligence and high‐throughput genomics are increasing the amount of information that can be extracted from specimens, and it is becoming commonplace to provide digital access to specimen images and collection metadata. These developments are facilitating the use of herbarium collections to inform conservation planning and in studies plant and fungal taxonomy, distribution and evolution. This paper examines how herbaria are transitioning from physical specimen‐centric collection management practices to increasingly digitised curation, and the effects that digital availability of data are having on demands for physical access. We provide a set of recommendations to institutions holding herbarium collections. We emphasise the critical importance of further digitising herbaria of all sizes; the need to ensure that historical inequalities in deposition of specimens are not perpetuated; and that the capacity to utilise new technologies must be further developed, especially in biodiverse regions from which most herbarium collections are derived. To improve access to collection data, herbarium managers need to more rigorously adopt community‐agreed data standards, and more strongly support open access platforms such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility either directly or through regional coalitions. As digitisation and open data access increase, herbaria will need to offer users with seamless hybrid access to physical and digital records while continuing to develop their collections to advance research and conservation.