2. CHAPTER 6
Figure 6.1. A. The four quartiles of species diversity (1=lowest diversity; 4= highest diversity); B. The four quartiles of species diversity still forested; Figure 6.1. (continued) E. The four classes of relative residual weighted endemism (‘<0’ =less than expected, ‘0-50’ = up to 50% more endemism than expected, ‘50-
C. The four quartiles of species weighted endemism; D. The four quartiles of species weighted endemism still forested. Red line – the proposed trans-boundary 100’ = 50-100% more endemism than expected, ‘>100’ = more than 100% more endemism than expected); F. The four classes of relative residual weighted endemism
WWF ‘Heart of Borneo’ protected area. still forested; G. The 11 floristic regions of Borneo; H. The 11 floristic regions of Borneo still forested. Hatched areas indicate the IUCN recognized protected areas
(WDPA, 2007). Red line – the proposed trans-boundary WWF ‘Heart of Borneo’ protected area.
based on SPOT-VEGETATION satellite data for 5 arc-minute maps to the ‘1 km at equator’
the years 1998-2000 (Stibig et al., 2007). The (0.00893 decimal degree) resolution of the percentage of each area covered by these (Table 6.1, Species Diversity - 4th quartile)
average annual deforestation rate on Borneo South East Asian land-cover map, and kept five land-cover forest classes (Fig. 6.1B, D, F, are already very heavily impacted. Especially
of 1.7% (Langner et al., 2007) suggests that only those grid cells with values for both maps. H; Table 6.1, ‘Forested/Non-Forested’). The the most diverse lowlands of Sabah and
our estimates of the forested extent of Borneo We used land-cover forest classes 1-5 as our analysis reveals that 36 % of Borneo’s total Sarawak (Floristic Region 10), and those of
are probably conservative. We re-sampled our proxy for forested extent, and assessed the surface, and 57% of its most diverse areas East Kalimantan (11) have been severely hit by
80 81

3. CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 2 Abstract floristic- and biogeographical research, the
collection localities need to be georeferenced
For numerous scientific purposes collection with the aid of a printed-, or one of the many
records need to be georeferenced. Although online gazetteers (i.e. Alexandria Digital
Georeferencing specimens by combining the geographic coordinates of many of the Library Gazetteer1, La Tierra gazetteer2, or
collection localities are available in gazetteers, BioGeomancer3). This works fine as long as the
digitized maps with SRTM digital especially collections from tropical areas of the localities refer to rivers, mountains, villages
world are still not georeferenced. In an attempt etc. in western countries.
elevation data and satellite images to georeference these localities for Indonesian
Borneo we used digitized old maps which were For many localities, such as small settlements,
georegistered with SRTM digital elevation data, creeks, and hills in remote tropical areas,
and Landsat 7- and JERS-1 SAR radar satellite however, the coordinates have either never
images. This enabled us to georeference 2577 been assessed, or have not been made
additional collections from Indonesian Borneo, available in a gazetteer. For the purposes
belonging to 1744 taxa, which were collected mentioned above, especially the collections
at 134 previously not georeferenced localities. made in remote areas can be very important,
This applied methodology enables researchers since these areas have often been visited only
to georeference their historical collections once by a collecting expedition. Complicating
for biodiversity, biogeographical, and global matters even further is the fact that the named
climate change impact studies. localities on the labels of the collections
gathered during the 19th, and early 20th century
Keywords expeditions, regularly refer to vernacular
names used by local guides at that time.
georeferencing; georegistration; historical
Frequently these localities are currently
map; Landsat; JERS-1 SAR; SRTM digital
known under a different name, which makes
elevation data
it impossible to find them in a gazetteer.
Furthermore, these remote areas are likely
to suffer most from the ‘Wallacean Shortfall’
Introduction (Whittaker et al., 2005), a phenomenon that
certain geographical regions are far less
One of the most important aspects of digitized sampled than others, resulting in biased
herbarium- and natural history museum collection densities (Parnell et al., 2003; Reddy
records in order to be used for i.e. biodiversity & Davalos, 2003; Moerman & Estabrook, 2006;
assessments, predicting the effects of -habitat Hortal et al., 2007). To reduce the impact of
loss, -potential for species’ invasions, and the ‘Wallacean Shortfall’ to a minimum, it is
-climate change effects (Graham et al., important to georeference as many collections
2004; Peterson, 2006), is that they need to be as possible from these already under-collected
accurately georeferenced. Most collections areas. Fortunately, during the early expeditions
made during the last two decades have often maps were made that indicate the
coordinates taken with GPS equipment. The collection localities and their corresponding
Niels Raes, Johan B. Mols, Luc P.M. Willemse older collections, and notably those made names used at the time.
and Erik F. Smets 2009. in the 19th and early 20th century, often have 1 http://middleware.alexandria.ucsb.edu/client/gaz/adl/index.jsp
Proceedings of the 7th International Flora Malesiana Symposium. only named collection localities. In order 2 http://www.tutiempo.net/Tierra/
Blumea 54(1) to make these older collections useful for 3 http://www.biogeomancer.org
19