Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Caracterização floristica e fisionomica da Floresta Atlantica sobre a formação Pariquera-Açu, na Zona da Morraria Costeira do Estado de São Paulo

Orientador: Reinaldo MonteiroDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de BiologiaResumo: Este trabalho procurou caracterizar florística e estruturalmente trechos da Floresta Atlântica presente na Zona da Morraria Costeira do Estado de São Paulo, e apresentar a relação desta com as demais florestas presentes nas outras Zonas da Província Costeira (Serraria Costeira e Baixada Litorânea) e no Planalto Atlântico do mesmo Estado. Para tanto foram escolhidas duas áreas florestais em bom estado de preservação, localizadas no município de Pariquera-Açu. Essas florestas ocorreram sobre dois tipos de solos contrastantes: Latossolo Amarelo (Ultic Hapordothox) e Podzólico Vermelho Amarelo (Epiaquic Hapludult), ambos tendo como material de origem a formação Pariquera-Açu. Seguindo uma rigorosa metodologia de amostragens de solo e serapilheira, não foram encontradas diferenças significativas nos atributos químicos de solo e nem na quantidade de serapilheira acumulada entre as áreas de LA e PVA. Os solos apresentaram baixos teores de nutrientes e elevada saturação por alumínio, diferenciando-se apenas por atributos fisicos. Análises fitossociológicas foram realizadas em quatro áreas de amostragem, sendo duas em áreas de PVA e duas em áreas de LA, subdivididas em parcelas de 1 Ox 10m, totalizando 1,2ha, onde foram amostrados todos os indivíduos com perímetro à altura do peito (PAP) ³ a 15cm. O levantamento florístico foi realizado através de caminhadas de coleta por toda a área amostrada e no interior das parcelas, amostrando todas as espécies em fase reprodutiva. No levantamento florístico foram amostradas 2 espécies de pteridófitas e 484 espécies de fanerógamas, sendo 66 monocotiledôneas e 418 dicotiledôneas. No total foram amostradas 486 espécies, distribuídas em 276 gêneros e 104 famílias. As famílias de maior riqueza específica foram Myrtaceae (48 espécies), Leguminosae (35), Rubiaceae (27), Melastomataceae (26), e Lauraceae (24). Do total de espécies, 48,85% foram árvores e hemiepífitas primárias; 17,1 % lianas; 11,7% epífitas, hemiepífitas secundárias e parasitas; 11,1 % arvoretas e arbustos, 8,8% herbáceas e 2,5% palmeiras, fetos arborescentes e bambus. No levantamento fitossociológico foram amostrados 2112 indivíduos, sendo 1956 vivos, e 156 mortos (107 mortos em pé e 3 árvores e 46 indivíduos de palmito cortados). Os indivíduos vivos apresentaram-se distribuídos em 53 famílias, 113 gêneros e 183 espécies. A família de maior riqueza florística foi Myrtaceae, seguida de Lauraceae e Leguminosae. As espécies de maior valor de importância foram Euterpe edulis, Ficus gomelleira, Sloanea guianensis, Aparisthmium cordatum, Pausandra morisiana, Virola oleifera, Virola gardneri, Sloanea obtusifolia, Alchornea triplinervia e Chrysophyllum flexuosum. Estas espécies, somadas, perfazem 45,21% do valor de importância total. O índice de diversidade de Shannon (H') foi de 4,134 nats/indivíduos e a eqüabilidade (J) foi de 0,793. Foram realizadas comparações florísticas entre localidades presentes no Planalto Atlântico e nas Zonas que constituem a Província Costeira (Serrania Costeira, Morraria Costeira e Baixada Litorânea). Para tanto utilizou-se das listagens de espécies amostradas em levantamentos fitossociológicos dessas localidades, sendo que as mesmas foram agrupadas através de métodos de classificação e ordenação. Foram detectados a presença de quatro blocos distintos. Um destes reuniu os trabalhos efetuados no Planalto Atlântico e os outros três reuniram os trabalhos executados na Província Costeira. Pertenceram a um mesmo grupo as localidades situadas no sopé da Serrania Costeira, da Morraria Costeira e nas áreas de Floresta Ombrófila da Baixada Litorânea. As elevadas altitudes da Serrania costeira constituíram um outro grupo. O mesmo ocorreu com as áreas de restinga da Baixada Litorânea. Os fatores que levaram a distinção florística entre os grupos foram apresentados e discutidos. Foram sugeridas novas áreas para a realização de levantamentos florísticos e fitos sociológicos, visando promover o melhor entendimento da estrutura e da composição florística da Floresta Atlântica do Estado de São PauloMestradoMestre em Biologia Vegeta

Estudo da vegetação na area de contato entre formações florestais em Gaucha no Norte - MT

Orientador: Reinaldo MonteiroTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de BiologiaDoutoradoDoutor em Biologia Vegeta

ESTRUTURA, DIVERSIDADE E HETEROGENEIDADE DE UMA FLORESTA OMBRÓFILA MISTA ALTOMONTANA EM SEU EXTREMO NORTE DE DISTRIBUIÇÃO (MINAS GERAIS)

The Mixed Ombrophylous Forest is one of the most threatened forest ecosystems in the country and it is estimated that only about 3% of the original covering of this vegetation type has remained. In Minas Gerais state, these remaining forests are rare, restricted mainly to the south of the state. This study aimed to evaluate the structure, diversity and heterogeneity of tree layer species of a Mixed Ombrophylous Forest in its most extreme northern distribution (Minas Gerais state, Brazil). The study was conducted in Parque Estadual da Serra do Papagaio (PESP), which includes the only remaining of araucaria forest in a full protection Conservation Unit (CU) in Minas Gerais state. We allocated in the area 25 permanent plots of 20m x 10m (0.5 ha) and every shrub and tree vegetation with DBH ≥ 4.8 cm was measured, identified and the height was estimated. We measured 1,158 individuals, belonging to 41 species, 28 genera and 22 families. It was observed a community with a strong concentration of the importance values (IV) in the first three species (Podocarpus lambertii, Araucaria angustifolia and Myrceugenia bracteosa), that together add up 52.74% of total IV of the community. The basal area of the community was 30.82 m² (61.65 m².ha-1), being one of the largest ever registered for Mixed Ombrophylous Forests. The Shannon species diversity index (H’ = 2.67 nats.ind-1) was in the range observed in other studies of Upper Montane Mixed Ombrophylous Forest. Multivariate analysis indicated a low floristic heterogeneity in the community; however, this low heterogeneity occurred because the main species in terms of density are also the most frequent and are distributed throughout the forest. The study shows a well-structured community with large accumulation of biomass, showing the importance of the conservation unit for the preservation of this important, rare and threatened vegetation type in Minas Gerais state

BioTIME:a database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene

Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community led open-source database of biodiversity time series. Our goal is to accelerate and facilitate quantitative analysis of temporal patterns of biodiversity in the Anthropocene.Main types of variables included: The database contains 8,777,413 species abundance records, from assemblages consistently sampled for a minimum of two, which need not necessarily be consecutive. In addition, the database contains metadata relating to sampling methodology andcontextual information about each record.Spatial location and grain: BioTIME is a global database of 547,161 unique sampling locations spanning the marine, freshwater and terrestrial realms. Grain size varies across datasets from 0.0000000158 km2 (158 cm2) to 100 km2 (1 000 000 000 000 cm2).Time period and grain: BioTIME records span from 1874 to 2016. The minimum temporal grain across all datasets in BioTIME is year.Major taxa and level of measurement: BioTIME includes data from 44,440 species across the plant and animal kingdoms, ranging from plants, plankton, and terrestrial invertebrates to small and large vertebrates.Software format: .csv and .SQ

Are rare species useful species? Obstacles to the conservation of tree diversity in the dry forest zone agro-ecosystems of Mesoamerica

Aim To test the potential to conserve rare dry forest tree and shrub species circa situm.Location Oaxaca, Mexico and Southern Honduras.Methods Local uses (timber, posts and firewood) of species were determined principally through semistructured interviews with 20 rural householders in each of four communities in Honduras and four in Oaxaca. Tree and shrub diversity inventories were carried out in a total of 227 forest patches and parcels of farmland in those eight communities. Species’ conservation priorities were determined using the star system of Hawthorne (1996) and IUCN listings.Results Despite a large number of useful species, remarkably few were also conservation priorities. Useful species were found to be substitutable as is illustrated by Bombacopsis quinata, Cordia alliodora, Guaiacum sanctum and G. coulteri.Conclusions In these areas, circa situm conservation is inhibited by the lack of species that are both rare and useful. Usefulness must be interpreted as a function of substitutability. Natural regeneration provides an abundance of diversity, farmers are unlikely to invest in the management of a species when suitable substitutes are freely available. The key to conserving rare species may be in maintaining or enhancing the value of the landscape elements in which they are found