Published in 2017, ‘GlobalTreeSearch’ is the first database of its kind, documenting all of the world’s known tree species and their country level distributions. The database is the result of over two years of work to gather both tree species names and their country level distributions. GlobalTreeSearch is used as a tool for monitoring and managing tree species diversity, forests and carbon stocks on a global, regional or national level.

It is used as the basis of the Global Tree Assessment, coordinated by BGCI and the IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (GTSG), which aims to undertake conservation assessments for all of the world’s tree species by 2020. GlobalTreeSearch enables a gap analysis to be performed, to identify where conservation assessments are lacking.

The production of GlobalTreeSearch has involved collaboration with very many organisations and individuals as well as the consultation of many sources.

GlobalTreeSearch is not a static database and evolves as new information comes to light. If you spot a mistake (in taxonomy, distribution or lifeform) or have data which you think could improve the database, please get in touch with globaltreesearch@bgci.org.

Tree Definition

GlobalTreeSearch uses the tree definition agreed on by IUCN’s Global Tree Specialist Group (GTSG): a woody plant with usually a single stem growing to a height of at least two metres, or if multi-stemmed, then at least one vertical stem five centimetres in diameter at breast height.

Some plant species have variable lifeforms, but all species that are recorded as naturally growing as a tree somewhere in their native range have been included, with the reference cited.

Taxonomy

The taxonomic concepts of GlobalTreeSearch follow the World Checklist for Selected Plant Families (WCSP) for its published families. Families that are not included in WCSP, follow other taxonomic sources including Plants of the World Online and The Plant List (TPL 2013). Other regional sources (Euro+Med, Reflora, Vascular Plants of the Americas) and taxonomic sources (e.g. ILDIS) have been consulted when required.

As The Plant List was last updated in May 2012, any species published since then have been provisionally accepted on our list unless found to be in synonymy from other more recently published sources, such as in a published monograph. The source of the taxonomic status is recorded, allowing for updates as taxonomic opinion evolves.

Distribution information

Distribution information was recorded following the ISO 3166 country names standard. Distribution information has been recorded to country level for all taxa, with distribution in several countries (Brazil, United States, South Africa, Australia and China) recorded to state or province.

Review

GlobalTreeSearch was sent out for review to over 30 experts to identify missing taxa or non-trees and also to review distribution information.

Any unresolved comments are recorded, as well as the reason for uncertainty about a species (Life form, Geography and Taxonomy).

Updating

The GlobalTreeSearch database is subject to regular updates; to suggest changes to the GlobalTreeSearch database please contact: globaltreesearch@bgci.org.

Citation

Please cite any use of GlobalTreeSearch data as:

BGCI. [YEAR ACCESSED]. GlobalTreeSearch online database. Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Richmond, UK. Available at https://tools.bgci.org/global_tree_search.php. Accessed on (DD/MM/YYYY).

Data User Agreement

Please refer to BGCI Data User Agreement when downloading data from GlobalTreeSearch.

Paper

More information about the methodology and results of GlobalTreeSearch were published in 2017 in the Journal of Sustainable Forestry. Citation: Beech, E., Rivers, M., Oldfield, S., & Smith, P. P. (2017). GlobalTreeSearch: the first complete global database of tree species and country distributions. Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 1-36.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank in particular the following organisations for providing data contributing to GlobalTreeSearch:

• African Plant Database
• World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
• IPNI
• Flora of China
• Brazilian Flora 2020
• Missouri Botanical Gardens Tropicos
• Plants of Southern Africa
• FloraBase

And the following IUCN Species Survival Committee Specialist Groups and Red List Authorities:

• Global Tree Specialist Group
• Cuban Plant Specialist Group
• New Caledonia Plant Red List Authority
• Madagascar Plant Specialist Group
• Brazil Plant Red List Authority
• East African Plant Red List Authority

We would like to thank the following individuals for contributing, compiling and reviewing data for GlobalTreeSearch:

Megan Barstow, Henk Beentje, Steven Brewer, Chien-Fan Chen, Lillian Chua, Alison Copeland, Iain Darbyshire, Christopher Doherty, Neville Evans, Alfredo Fuentes, Yvette Harvey-Brown, Thomas Heller, Alison Hutchinson, Zoe Irwin, Ben Jones, David Kikodze, Esteban Martínez, Mónica Moraes R., Lydia Murphy, Sachiko Nishida, Naomi Rich, Marie-Stéphanie Samain, George Schatz, Anne-Cathrine Scheen, Ferry Slik, Harry Smith, Daniela Suarez, Philip Thomas, Lex Thomson, Jonathan Timberlake, Carmen Ulloa Ulloa, Salako K. Valère, Freddy Zenteno

Project co-ordination and management: Emily Beech, Malin Rivers, Kirsty Shaw and Paul Smith.