New Brazilian Floristic List Highlights Conservation Challenges
- 1 January 2012
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in BioScience
- Vol. 62 (1), 39-45
- https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2012.62.1.8
Abstract
A comprehensive new inventory of Brazilian plants and fungi was published just in time to meet a 2010 Convention on Biological Diversity target and offers important insights into this biodiversity's global significance. Brazil is the home to the world's richest flora (40,989 species; 18,932 endemic) and includes two of the hottest hotspots: Mata Atlantica (19,355 species) and Cerrado (12,669 species). Although the total number of known species is one-third lower than previous estimates, the absolute number of endemic vascular plant species is higher than was previously estimated, and the proportion of endemism (56%) is the highest in the Neotropics. This compilation serves not merely to quantify the scale of the challenge faced in conserving Brazil's unique flora but also serves as a key resource to direct action and monitor progress. Similar efforts by other megadiverse countries are urgently required if the 2020 targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation are to be attained.Ministerio do Meio AmbienteMinisterio do Meio AmbienteCentro Nacional de Conservacao da FloraCentro Nacional de Conservacao da FloraNational Council for Scientific and Technological DevelopmentNational Council for Scientific and Technological DevelopmentBentham and Moxon TrustBentham and Moxon TrusKeywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- Informing and influencing the interface between biodiversity science and biodiversity policy in South AfricaBotanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011
- Amazon vegetation: how much don’t we know and how much does it matter?Kew Bulletin, 2010
- Future habitat loss and the conservation of plant biodiversityBiological Conservation, 2010
- The Brazilian Atlantic Forest: How much is left, and how is the remaining forest distributed? Implications for conservationBiological Conservation, 2009
- Analysing botanical collecting effort in Amazonia and correcting for it in species range estimationJournal of Biogeography, 2007
- Diatomáceas (Bacillariophyta) marinhas e estuarinas do Paraná, Sul do Brasil: lista de espécies com ênfase em espécies nocivasBiota Neotropica, 2006
- Biodiversity: Where's Hot and Where's NotConservation Biology, 2003
- How many species of seed plants are there?Taxon, 2001
- Biodiversity hotspots for conservation prioritiesNature, 2000
- Amazonian biodiversity: assessing conservation priorities with taxonomic dataBiodiversity and Conservation, 1998