Botanical advances in Southwestern Amazonia: The flora of Acre (Brazil) five years after the first Catalogue

Abstract

Even though it is well known that the flora of Amazonia is severely under-documented, botanical research in the region has been stagnant for the past two decades or more. An exception to this trend has been the international collaboration in the state of Acre, Brazil. The objective of this study was to assess botanical progress in Southwestern Amazonia, specifically the evolution of our knowledge of the flora of the state of Acre five years after production of the first catalogue of its flora. Between 2006-2011, the Acre data-base recorded 2,110 determinations, and among these were 347 new records for Acre, representing an increase of 8.6% in the known flora, which as of 2011 comprised 4351 species. Of the new records, 6.6% (23) were new records for Brazil and 14.4% (50) represented genera new to Acre. The new records comprised 322 species of vascular plants and 22 of non-vascular plants. The most significant finding was that one of every six identifications was a new record for Acre; the total flora of Acre is estimated to be at about 8,000 species. Advances in documentation of the Acre flora have been achieved through institutional partnerships, attention to rescuing and "cleaning" data, mobilizing taxonomic specialists, distributing duplicates to herbaria with significant Amazon collections, and undertaking expeditions to regions of the state that were poorly known or unknown. Indeed, the botanical inventory of Amazonia overall and the management and conservation of the Amazon flora can be realized only through programs that are systematic, integrative and participatory. Every effort must be made to guarantee that the inventory of Amazonia proceeds at least as rapidly as deforestation and development. This necessarily means far greater investment in training, employing, and supporting the field work of productive taxonomists.

Flora of Brazil Online: Can Brazil's botanists achieve their 2020 vision?

“…Our results indicate that despite an apparent increase in the rate of growth of the collections, coupled with increased awareness of the need for additional collections in the North and Northeast (e.g. Sobral and Stehmann 2009;Medeiros et al 2014;Moro et al 2014) there has been little or no change in the proportions of the collections deposited in the major regions of Brazil over the past decade or more (Tab. 2).…”

“…The fact is that many of those who have the knowledge and experience to produce authoritative, high-quality taxonomic treatments for the Flora at the pace and scale required to meet the 2020 Target may also be considering the potential impact of this commitment on their career prospects. The ageing profile of the taxonomic specialists willing to tackle large groups has been noted by Medeiros et al (2014) who also reported a shortage of younger taxonomists willing to take their places. Increased availability of data in digital form coupled with user-friendly interfaces to streamline the preparation of species treatments may lighten the burden of the task for taxonomists but it may prove equally important to ensure that the importance of their contributions to science and conservation in Brazil are recognised at the highest level and that this recognition is incorporated into the systems and metrics by which scientists are evaluated and rewarded.…”

“…Conversely, we can predict that most of the projected 1,963 additions to the Flora of species already known from other countries will not be found in Northeast Brazil but in regions bordering other South American countries. For example, in their analysis of five years of additions to the flora of Acre, Medeiros et al (2014) reported 34 additions to the flora of Brazil of which most (23 = 67%) had previously been described from other countries, while just 11 (33%) were new to science (including some species still awaiting publication).…”

Growing knowledge: an overview of Seed Plant diversity in Brazil

“…New records were also highlighted by catalogues, such as Zuloaga et al (2008) and Jørgensen et al (2014), floras and monographs (i.e. Medeiros et al 2014).…”

“…The list of plants from the Catalogue of the Flora of Acre (Daly & Silveira 2009) was one of the databases added to the system when it was created, and this was reflected in a modest increase of species for this state (7.7%), while dramatic adjustments to the number of endemic species for the state were made between 2010 and 2015, with a fall in the number of endemic species of the order of -46.3%. The recent growth of knowledge regarding the flora of Acre is described by Medeiros et al (2014). Also in the process of organizing its Catalogue, the state of Rio de Janeiro (Baumgratz et al 2014) saw moderate growth in the species number (586 species, growth of 8.7%) and a fall on the number of endemic species (105 species, decreasing -8.9%).…”