Research on biodiversity has grown considerably during the last decades. The present study applies bibliometric methods to evaluate efforts in this field of study. We retrieved roughly 69,000 bibliographic records fro...Research on biodiversity has grown considerably during the last decades. The present study applies bibliometric methods to evaluate efforts in this field of study. We retrieved roughly 69,000 bibliographic records from the Web of Science database that matched the word biodiversity (and derivatives) in keywords, title or abstract. Article contributions and number of involved authors and journals increased exceptionally fast since the 1980s, when the term biodiversity was coined. But since the year 2008, a decelerated growth rate leads to an average rate of knowledge generation. Using the frequency of terms extracted from publication titles, we inferred that the community-level focus has increased in biodiversity studies, while molecular biodiversity is still not strongly represented. Climate-related topics are rapidly gaining importance in biodiversity research. The geographical imbalance between allocation of research efforts and distribution of biological diversity is apparent.展开更多
We provide confirmed photographic evidence for the previously overlooked occurrence of the polyphyletic Asian gecko genus Cnemaspis from Gunung Mulu National Park, the world-renowned UNESCO natural heritage site in no...We provide confirmed photographic evidence for the previously overlooked occurrence of the polyphyletic Asian gecko genus Cnemaspis from Gunung Mulu National Park, the world-renowned UNESCO natural heritage site in northern Sarawak, East Malaysia. This new record from Sarawak province represents a remarkable range extension for Cnemaspis cf. kendallii by 550 km to the northeast and denotes the most northern occurrence of the genus in Borneo. Our new finding makes it very likely that these gekkonid lizards also inhabit appropriate limestone karst habitats in adjacent Sabah, Brunei, and Kalimantan. Given the visible differences in the Mulu specimen compared to those from the remaining distribution range on Borneo and the Malaysian Peninsula together with the fact that numerous Cnemaspis species are restricted to small areas, it seems plausible that another undescribed, rather cryptic and possibly locally endemic Bornean species is involved. Lastly, the new record contributes to the importance of the Mulu National Park as a major conservation area in East Malaysia of international concerns.展开更多
文摘Research on biodiversity has grown considerably during the last decades. The present study applies bibliometric methods to evaluate efforts in this field of study. We retrieved roughly 69,000 bibliographic records from the Web of Science database that matched the word biodiversity (and derivatives) in keywords, title or abstract. Article contributions and number of involved authors and journals increased exceptionally fast since the 1980s, when the term biodiversity was coined. But since the year 2008, a decelerated growth rate leads to an average rate of knowledge generation. Using the frequency of terms extracted from publication titles, we inferred that the community-level focus has increased in biodiversity studies, while molecular biodiversity is still not strongly represented. Climate-related topics are rapidly gaining importance in biodiversity research. The geographical imbalance between allocation of research efforts and distribution of biological diversity is apparent.
基金Funding for travel expenses of A. Koch was granted by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
文摘We provide confirmed photographic evidence for the previously overlooked occurrence of the polyphyletic Asian gecko genus Cnemaspis from Gunung Mulu National Park, the world-renowned UNESCO natural heritage site in northern Sarawak, East Malaysia. This new record from Sarawak province represents a remarkable range extension for Cnemaspis cf. kendallii by 550 km to the northeast and denotes the most northern occurrence of the genus in Borneo. Our new finding makes it very likely that these gekkonid lizards also inhabit appropriate limestone karst habitats in adjacent Sabah, Brunei, and Kalimantan. Given the visible differences in the Mulu specimen compared to those from the remaining distribution range on Borneo and the Malaysian Peninsula together with the fact that numerous Cnemaspis species are restricted to small areas, it seems plausible that another undescribed, rather cryptic and possibly locally endemic Bornean species is involved. Lastly, the new record contributes to the importance of the Mulu National Park as a major conservation area in East Malaysia of international concerns.
