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Gaps in tropical science from unrepresentative distribution of sampling and citation across natural terrestrial environments

Metcalfe, Daniel B. LU ; Anders, Emily ; Axén, Hanna ; Petter Axelsson, E. ; Bermudez, April E. ; Bartholomew, David C. ; Butt, Nathalie ; Cadillo-Quiroz, Hinsby ; Chaudhary, Nitin LU orcid and Callebaut, Timon , et al. (2025) In Nature Communications 16(1).
Abstract

Effective environmental policies for the tropics depend on accurate, representative scientific data. However, there is strong evidence from particular disciplines and regions that existing research is patchily distributed. Here, we show that poor representation of sampling and citation in some biomes and across key environmental gradients from all disciplines for the entire tropics may lead to flawed scientific paradigms and inappropriate policy prescriptions. We map sampling locations and citations from 2 738 published studies in natural terrestrial tropical environments across all disciplines to identify gaps in field sampling effort and research attention. Five ecoregions – all in moist broadleaf forests – generate 22% of the total... (More)

Effective environmental policies for the tropics depend on accurate, representative scientific data. However, there is strong evidence from particular disciplines and regions that existing research is patchily distributed. Here, we show that poor representation of sampling and citation in some biomes and across key environmental gradients from all disciplines for the entire tropics may lead to flawed scientific paradigms and inappropriate policy prescriptions. We map sampling locations and citations from 2 738 published studies in natural terrestrial tropical environments across all disciplines to identify gaps in field sampling effort and research attention. Five ecoregions – all in moist broadleaf forests – generate 22% of the total citations but cover only 3% of the tropical land area. By contrast, drier biomes with low tree cover account collectively for 57% of the tropical area but generate only 20% of total citations. Locations that are drier, colder, with greater plant species richness, lower tree cover and facing greater climate change extremes are under-sampled and under-cited. Our results will help to correct these imbalances to improve the scientific basis for environmental policies across the tropics.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Communications
volume
16
issue
1
article number
11378
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:105025677485
  • pmid:41422069
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
10.1038/s41467-025-67617-4
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8efd0003-1781-46f7-9e73-cecf6fbc1caf
date added to LUP
2026-02-12 10:51:13
date last changed
2026-02-13 12:44:04
@article{8efd0003-1781-46f7-9e73-cecf6fbc1caf,
  abstract     = {{<p>Effective environmental policies for the tropics depend on accurate, representative scientific data. However, there is strong evidence from particular disciplines and regions that existing research is patchily distributed. Here, we show that poor representation of sampling and citation in some biomes and across key environmental gradients from all disciplines for the entire tropics may lead to flawed scientific paradigms and inappropriate policy prescriptions. We map sampling locations and citations from 2 738 published studies in natural terrestrial tropical environments across all disciplines to identify gaps in field sampling effort and research attention. Five ecoregions – all in moist broadleaf forests – generate 22% of the total citations but cover only 3% of the tropical land area. By contrast, drier biomes with low tree cover account collectively for 57% of the tropical area but generate only 20% of total citations. Locations that are drier, colder, with greater plant species richness, lower tree cover and facing greater climate change extremes are under-sampled and under-cited. Our results will help to correct these imbalances to improve the scientific basis for environmental policies across the tropics.</p>}},
  author       = {{Metcalfe, Daniel B. and Anders, Emily and Axén, Hanna and Petter Axelsson, E. and Bermudez, April E. and Bartholomew, David C. and Butt, Nathalie and Cadillo-Quiroz, Hinsby and Chaudhary, Nitin and Callebaut, Timon and Dahlsjö, Cecilia A.L. and Dusenge, Mirindi Eric and Feeley, Kenneth J. and Wanger, Thomas Cherico and Hwang, Bernice C. and Hermans, Thirze D.G. and Jonsson, Micael and Kardol, Paul and Lindh, Arvid and Lussetti, Daniel and Lamba, Shubhangi and Mewett, Gavyn and Mujawamariya, Myriam and Manzi, Olivier Jean Leonce and Salinas, Norma and Prevéy, Janet S. and Bargués-Tobella, Aida and Tang, Jing and Vought, Olivia K. and Witteman, Maria and Wallin, Göran and Zhang, Wenxin and Yan, Yan and Virkkala, Anna Maria}},
  issn         = {{2041-1723}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Communications}},
  title        = {{Gaps in tropical science from unrepresentative distribution of sampling and citation across natural terrestrial environments}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67617-4}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41467-025-67617-4}},
  volume       = {{16}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}