A broad range of climatic and biogeographical conditions are represented in the French Overseas Territories, from sub-polar to equatorial, resulting in a high diversity of endemic species. We mobilized data from herbaria, floras, checklists, literature, the expertise of botanists and plant ecologists to compile the most complete dataset on endemic vascular plants and bryophytes in the 15 French Overseas Territories. To date, 3748 spermatophytes (seed plants), 244 pteridophytes (ferns and lycophytes) and 448 bryophytes are...

Rapid environmental change forces long-lived plants like trees to immigrate into zones still occupied by phylogenetically distantly related species. Does such phylogenetic isolation (PI) change the trees’ ecosystem functioning such as litter decomposition? We studied oaks (Quercus petraea) of low and high PI, reciprocally transplanting their litters to identify effect of aboveground litter quality and belowground decomposer biota. Across 8 and 14 months we quantified decomposition (mass loss, C-loss and N-loss), decomposer biota (Acari, Collembola,...