Botanical Diversity and Biogeography of Southern Thailand

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The inventory project by David Middleton and Stuart Davies of Harvard University and their colleagues will document the plant diversity of Peninsular Thailand which is botanically and geographically the most diverse part of the country and is the only continuous stretch of land in the Asian tropics that includes the geographic transition from aseasonal forests to strongly seasonal forests. It is estimated to encompass 7,500 species of plants and includes parts of two of the world's 25 biodiversity "hot spots," which are recognized for high species diversity with many species of very local distribution (endemic) and likely endangered by habitat loss. Field collecting will occur over three years in selected sites in collaboration with staff of the Thai Forest Herbarium and National Park Department. Sites have been selected to span the full range of geographical, climatic, soil type, and elevational gradients within the Peninsula, and collections will be made at different times of year to allow for seasonal flowering and fruiting. The collections will be databased, and interactive identification keys will be constructed for web-accessible use. The project aims to increase botanical collections available to specialists worldwide for taxonomic revisions of targeted groups and for large-scale efforts to complete the Flora of Thailand, and to contribute to the ongoing Flora Malesiana program. The project will also facilitate student training both in Thailand and at Harvard University in the U.S. Baseline data for exploring hypotheses about the biogeographical history of plant divergence and migration in southeast Asia will also be acquired.