Cyperaceae in Africa - Biogeography, Evolution and Taxonomic revision with focus on <i>Fic

144,001 cleaned occurrence records for 643 sedge species in Africa, collected from 1894 to 2023. The dataset, created by Benjamin Darko Williams, also includes a dated phylogeny of the order Poales and four phylogenomic tree files. This research aims to resolve taxonomic challenges in the genus Ficinia within the Cyperaceae family.

Use Cases

• Biogeographic regionalisation analysis based on the cleaned GBIF occurrence data and compositional turnover.
• Taxonomic revision of the genus Ficinia based on morphological and phylogenomic analyses of voucher specimens.
• Inferring evolutionary patterns and speciation based on diagnostic traits integrated with the phylogenomic data.
• Ancestral state reconstruction to confirm the infrageneric classification of Ficinia.

Strengths

• Contains 144,001 cleaned occurrence records, providing a substantial basis for distribution analysis.
• Includes a dated phylogeny and four specific phylogenomic tree files for evolutionary study.
• Data spans a long temporal range from 1894 to 2023, allowing for historical analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for the phylogeny and tree files is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

GBIF occurrence data and voucher specimens from herbaria including BOL, CT, SAM, JRAU, J, TRV, K, NBG, P, and PRE.

Collection Method

Data retrieved and cleaned to create a sparse community matrix; phylogenomic analyses conducted using IQTree and ASTRAL-III software.

Time Range

Occurrence data: 1894 to 2023; Sequence data: retrieved 2021-2023.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-15 06:44:50; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Africa and adjacent oceanic islands.