Photographs as an essential biodiversity resource: drivers of gaps in the vascular plant photographic record.

The photographic record is increasingly becoming an important biodiversity resource for primary research and conservation monitoring. However, globally, there are important gaps in this record even in relatively well-researched floras. To quantify the gaps in the Australian native vascular plant photographic record, we systematically surveyed 33 sources of well-curated species photographs, assembling a list of species with accessible and verifiable photographs, as well as the species for which this search failed. Of 21 077 Australian native species, 3715 lack a verifiable photograph across our 33 surveyed resources. There are three major geographic hotspots of unphotographed species in Australia, all far from current population centres. Many unphotographed species are small in stature or uncharismatic, and many are also recently described. The large number of recently described species without accessible photographs was surprising. There are longstanding efforts in Australia to organise the plant photographic record, but in the absence of a global consensus to treat photographs as an essential biodiversity resource, this has not become common practice. Many recently described species are small-range endemics and some have special conservation status. Completing the botanical photographic record across the globe will facilitate a virtuous feedback loop of more efficient identification, monitoring and conservation.

AusTraits, a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora.

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge.

Testing the generality of above-ground biomass allometry across plant functional types at the continent scale.

Accurate ground-based estimation of the carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems is critical to quantifying the global carbon budget. Allometric models provide cost-effective methods for biomass prediction. But do such models vary with ecoregion or plant functional type? We compiled 15 054 measurements of individual tree or shrub biomass from across Australia to examine the generality of allometric models for above-ground biomass prediction. This provided a robust case study because Australia includes ecoregions ranging from arid shrublands to tropical rainforests, and has a rich history of biomass research, particularly in planted forests. Regardless of ecoregion, for five broad categories of plant functional type (shrubs; multistemmed trees; trees of the genus Eucalyptus and closely related genera; other trees of high wood density; and other trees of low wood density), relationships between biomass and stem diameter were generic. Simple power-law models explained 84-95% of the variation in biomass, with little improvement in model performance when other plant variables (height, bole wood density), or site characteristics (climate, age, management) were included. Predictions of stand-based biomass from allometric models of varying levels of generalization (species-specific, plant functional type) were validated using whole-plot harvest data from 17 contrasting stands (range: 9-356 Mg ha(-1) ). Losses in efficiency of prediction were <1% if generalized models were used in place of species-specific models. Furthermore, application of generalized multispecies models did not introduce significant bias in biomass prediction in 92% of the 53 species tested. Further, overall efficiency of stand-level biomass prediction was 99%, with a mean absolute prediction error of only 13%. Hence, for cost-effective prediction of biomass across a wide range of stands, we recommend use of generic allometric models based on plant functional types. Development of new species-specific models is only warranted when gains in accuracy of stand-based predictions are relatively high (e.g. high-value monocultures).

Quantifying and understanding reproductive allocation schedules in plants.

A plant's reproductive allocation (RA) schedule describes the fraction of surplus energy allocated to reproduction as it increases in size. While theorists use RA schedules as the connection between life history and energy allocation, little is known about RA schedules in real vegetation. Here we review what is known about RA schedules for perennial plants using studies either directly quantifying RA or that collected data from which the shape of an RA schedule can be inferred. We also briefly review theoretical models describing factors by which variation in RA may arise. We identified 34 studies from which aspects of an RA schedule could be inferred. Within those, RA schedules varied considerably across species: some species abruptly shift all resources from growth to reproduction; most others gradually shift resources into reproduction, but under a variety of graded schedules. Available data indicate the maximum fraction of energy allocated to production ranges from 0.1 to 1 and that shorter lived species tend to have higher initial RA and increase their RA more quickly than do longer-lived species. Overall, our findings indicate, little data exist about RA schedules in perennial plants. Available data suggest a wide range of schedules across species. Collection of more data on RA schedules would enable a tighter integration between observation and a variety of models predicting optimal energy allocation, plant growth rates, and biogeochemical cycles.

Adaptación y validación de la Escala de Highs para la detección de sintomatología hipomaníaca en el puerperio / Adaptation and validation of the Highs Scale for detecting hypomanic symptoms in the puerperium

Background: International studies have demonstrated that brief and mild episodes of hypomania in the puerperium are quite common immediately after labor. However, there has been no research on the topic in Chile. Method: The Highs Scale, a self-rating questionnaire utilized to detect hypomanic symptoms following childbirth, was subjected to content validation and applied on a sample of 98 women attending in a public hospital in Santiago on the second or third day after giving birth and reapplied on the third and sixth week after. The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale was also filled. Results: 20.4 percent of mothers obtained scores equal or higher than the cut-off point in the first measurement of the Highs Scale. The scale showed slightly lower reliability to the one accepted in Psychometry, due to the homogeneous nature of the sample and the low number of items. Conclusions: The scale is able to distinguish between measurements made in different moments.

Antecedentes: Estudios internacionales han demostrado que períodos breves y leves de hipomanía se presentan de modo bastante común inmediatamente después del parto. Sin embargo, no existen en Chile investigaciones en la materia. Método: Se validó de contenido la Escala Highs: cuestionario de autorreporte que tamiza sintomatología hipomaníaca en el puerperio. Se administró la escala en un hospital público de Santiago a 98 mujeres que cursaban el segundo o tercer día postparto y se readministró telefónicamente durante la tercera y sexta semana. Paralelamente se aplicó la Escala de Depresión Postparto de Edimburgo. Resultados: 20,4 por ciento de las madres obtuvo puntajes iguales o superiores al de corte en la primera medición de la Escala Highs. Para la muestra en estudio la escala presentó una confiabilidad algo menor a la aceptada en Psicometría, atribuible a la homogeneidad del grupo y al bajo número de ítems de la escala. Conclusiones: La Escala Highs es capaz de discriminar entre mediciones realizadas en momentos diferentes.