Gaps in tropical science from unrepresentative distribution of sampling and citation across natural terrestrial environments

Effective environmental policies for the tropics depend on accurate, representative scientific data. However, there is strong evidence from particular disciplines and regions that existing research is patchily distributed. Here, we show that poor representation of sampling and citation in some biomes and across key environmental gradients from all disciplines for the entire tropics may lead to flawed scientific paradigms and inappropriate policy prescriptions. We map sampling locations and citations from 2 738 published studies in natural terrestrial tropical environments across all disciplines to identify gaps in field sampling effort and research attention. Five ecoregions – all in moist broadleaf forests – generate 22% of the total citations but cover only 3% of the tropical land area. By contrast, drier biomes with low tree cover account collectively for 57% of the tropical area but generate only 20% of total citations. Locations that are drier, colder, with greater plant species richness, lower tree cover and facing greater climate change extremes are under-sampled and under-cited. Our results will help to correct these imbalances to improve the scientific basis for environmental policies across the tropics.