title: Maximising Synergy among Tropical Plant Systematists, Ecologists, and Evolutionary Biologists.
abstract: Closer collaboration among ecologists, systematists, and evolutionary biologists working in tropical forests, centred on studies within long-term permanent plots, would be highly beneficial for their respective fields. With a key unifying theme of the importance of vouchered collection and precise identification of species, especially rare ones, we identify four priority areas where improving links between these communities could achieve significant progress in biodiversity and conservation science: (i) increasing the pace of species discovery; (ii) documenting species turnover across space and time; (iii) improving models of ecosystem change; and (iv) understanding the evolutionary assembly of communities and biomes.
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Timothy R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. Electronic address: t.pennington@rbge.ac.uk.
authors.forename: R Toby
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Pennington
authors.affiliation: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK; School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Kyle G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Dexter
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology and University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Paul V A
authors.initials: PVA
authors.lastname: Fine
authors.affiliation: Department for Identification and Naming, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fortune-Hopkins
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonia Peruana, Iquitos, Peru.
authors.forename: Euridice N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Honorio
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica, Escola Nacional de Botânica Tropical, Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico de Rio de Janeiro (ENBT/JBRJ). Rua Pacheco Leão, 2040. RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Isau
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Huamantupa-Chuquimaco
authors.affiliation: Department for Identification and Naming, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.
authors.forename: Bente B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Klitgård
authors.affiliation: Department for Comparative Plant and Fungal Biology, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.
authors.forename: Gwilym P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica, Escola Nacional de Botânica Tropical, Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico de Rio de Janeiro (ENBT/JBRJ). Rua Pacheco Leão, 2040. RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Haroldo C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: de Lima
authors.affiliation: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ashton
authors.affiliation: International Center for Tropical Botany, Florida International University, Miami, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baraloto
authors.affiliation: Center for Tropical Forest Science - Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Donoghue
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaye
authors.affiliation: National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: W John
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Kress
authors.affiliation: School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Caroline E R
authors.initials: CER
authors.lastname: Lehmann
authors.affiliation: Jardin Botanico de Missouri, Oxapampa, Peru.
authors.forename: Abel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monteagudo
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Oliver L
authors.initials: OL
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: Jardin Botanico de Missouri, Oxapampa, Peru.
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vasquez
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D065928:Forests; D014197:Trees; D014329:Tropical Climate
keywords: beta diversity; global change; permanent plot; taxonomy; trait; tropical forest