The World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) is a
biogeographical
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, i ...
The scheme is one of a number developed by Biodiversity Information Standards particularly aimed at
taxonomic
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
databases. The starting point was the "need for an agreed system of geographical units at approximately 'country' level and upwards for use in recording plant distributions". The scheme represents a compromise between political and botanical divisions. All boundaries either follow a political boundary (country boundary, province boundary, etc.), or coastlines. The scheme also aims to follow botanical tradition, in terms of the distribution categories used in works like the '' Flora Europaea'', '' Flora Malesiana'', or Med-Checklist. This approach occasionally leads to departures from political boundaries. Thus the scheme follows ''Flora Europaea'' in placing the eastern Aegean islands (such as Lesbos, Samos and Rhodes) in the West Asia region, rather than in Europe where they belong politically as part of Greece.
Levels
The scheme defines geographic places at four scales or levels, from "botanical continents" down to parts of large countries:
# Continental – nine botanical continents
# Regional – each botanical continent is divided into between two and ten sub-continental regions
# Area or "botanical country" – most regions are subdivided into units generally equating to a political country, but large countries may be split or outlying areas omitted
# "Basic recording units" – the lowest level is only used for very large countries, subdividing them into states or provinces on purely political grounds
Standardized codes are used to represent the units at each level. Numerical codes are used for Levels 1 and 2, alphabetic codes for Levels 3 and 4.
Phytogeography
For more botanically oriented classifications using phytogeography, the scheme's documentation endorses the use of
floristic kingdoms
{{Short pages monitor
Asia-Tropical forms the second part of the traditional geographical continent of Asia. Its western and northern boundaries are formed by the two regions 40 Indian Subcontinent and 41 Indo-China. The southern boundary separates Asia-Tropical from
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The south-eastern boundary was changed between the first edition of 1992 and the second edition of 2001. In the first edition, Asia-Tropical was divided into three regions: 40 Indian Subcontinent, 41 Indo-China and 42 Malesia. The eastern boundary of Malesia was placed between the
Bismarck Archipelago
The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km.
History
The first inhabitants o ...
and the Solomon Islands Archipelago, which were put into region 60 Southwest Pacific. It was subsequently argued that it made more "floristic sense" to link the Solomon Islands with the Bismarck Archipelago and the island of New Guinea. Accordingly, in the second edition, a new region 43 Papuasia was created within Asia-Tropical, comprising New Guinea, Near Oceania (the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands Archipelago), so that Asia-Tropical consists of four regions.
5 Australasia
The botanical continent of Australasia, as defined by the WGSRPD, consists only of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and New Zealand, plus outlying islands. The name was described as having been "controversial", since it has been used to describe larger areas. Other definitions may include Indonesia, New Guinea and many Pacific islands, which the WGSRPD divides between 4 Asia-Tropical and 6 Pacific.
6 Pacific
The WGSRPD groups most islands with a nearby continental landmass, usually the closest but may also make a decision influenced by the floristic similarity (hence the placement of the Azores with Africa and not Europe). The exception is the islands of the central part of the Pacific Ocean, which are placed in a separate botanical continent. The largest of these islands include
New Caledonia
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,
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
The WGSRPD divides the Americas into 7 Northern America and 8 Southern America rather than into the traditional continents of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
and South America. The boundary between Northern America and Southern America was changed from the first edition to the second edition. In the first edition, a south-eastern part of Mexico was included in Southern America, the rest of Mexico being placed in Northern America. This followed the boundary of Mesoamerica in ''Flora Mesoamericana''. However, it proved unpopular, especially with Mexican botanists, so in the second edition, all of Mexico is placed in Northern America, which thus consists of Mexico, the
contiguous United States
The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...
plus Alaska, Canada, and Greenland, together with associated offshore islands.
8 Southern America
As noted above, the Americas are divided into 7 Northern America and 8 Southern America rather than into the traditional continents of North America and South America, with the precise boundary between the two having changed between the first and second editions of the WGSRPD. Southern America consists of the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, the WGSRPD definition of Central America (those countries south of Mexico and north of
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
), and the traditional geographical continent of South America, together with some offshore islands, such as the Galapagos.
9 Antarctic
The Antarctic botanical continent consists of continental Antarctica, plus a number of Subantarctic Islands, including the Falkland Islands,
South Georgia
South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east ...
The nine botanical continents (Level 1) are each divided into between two and ten Level 2 regions; see the table above. Each region is given a two digit code, the first digit being that of the Level 1 continent to which it belongs. Altogether, there are 52 regions.
Many of the regions are geographical divisions of the continents, e.g. 12 Southwestern Europe, 34 Western Asia or 77 South-Central U.S.A. Others are whole countries within the continents, e.g. 36 China, 79 Mexico or 84 Brazil. Some less well-known regions include:
* 21 Macaronesia, consisting of the Azores, the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
, and
Madeira
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, subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
, plus associated smaller islands
* 38
Eastern Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...
, consisting of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, Korea, and Taiwan, plus associated smaller islands – the usual geographical unit East Asia is much larger
* 42 Malesia, consisting of peninsular Malaya, Borneo,
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
Bismarck Archipelago
The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km.
History
The first inhabitants o ...
Levels 3 and 4 are identified by letter codes. Three letter codes are used for Level 3; e.g. "NWG" stands for New Guinea. Where the Level 3 area is subdivided into Level 4 "basic recording units", a two letter code is appended; thus "NWG-IJ" represents Irian Jaya, the Indonesian part of New Guinea. Where the Level 3 area is not subdivided, "OO" may be added to create a five letter code to show that the Level 4 unit is identical to the Level 3 area. Thus "BIS" represents the
Bismarck Archipelago
The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km.
History
The first inhabitants o ...
at Level 3. This area is not subdivided, so "BIS-OO" can be used to represent it at Level 4. As an example, the complete division of the Level 2 Papuasia region is shown below.
Usage
Organizations and works using the scheme include the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), and the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP), published by Kew.
Thus in the GRIN Taxonomy for Plants database, the distribution of '' Magnolia grandiflora'' is given in terms of WGSRPD botanical continents and regions as:
:"Northern America
::Southeastern U.S.A.
::South-Central U.S.A."
Below the Level 2 regions, the Level 3 areas in this case are US states.
The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families uses the WGSRPD codes for Levels 2 and 3. Thus the Level 2 distribution of ''Magnolia grandiflora'' appears as "77 78 (79) (81) (85)". The Level 2 codes 77 and 78 are South-Central U.S.A. and Southeastern U.S.A respectively; the absence of parentheses shows that the species is native to these regions. Parentheses around codes are used in the WCSP to show that the species is
naturalized
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
rather than native. Hence the species is naturalized in 79 (Mexico), 81 (Caribbean) and 85 (Southern South America).
Phytochorion
A phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phytochoria do not usually have a sharp boundary, but rather a soft one, a transitional area in which many species from both re ...