The global distribution of human-visible flower color diversity

A robust latitudinal gradient in human-visible flower color diversity emerges across 64,000 flowering plant species, with colors in more even proportions toward the equator.

• Why it matters: Measuring flower color consistently across Earth’s flora has limited global tests of whether color diversity shifts predictably across ecological systems.
• What they did: Using computer-vision analysis of community science data, the study modeled major global features of human-visible flower color and standardized sampling by species count per flora.
• The result: When modeled alongside climate and pollination strategy, flower color diversity shows associations with both biotic and abiotic factors, enabling global tests of processes shaping floral phenotypes beyond species richness.