Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time, and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space. While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes, vast areas of the tropics remain understudied. In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases. To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications 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, 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

Organogênese direta de Orthophytum mucugense Direct organogenesis of Orthophytum mucugense

Orthophytum mucugense é uma bromélia ornamental endêmica do município de Mucugê-BA que está passível de extinção. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estabelecer um protocolo de regeneração via organogênese direta para a espécie. Os explantes raiz, caule e folha, oriundos de plantas com diferentes idades, foram inoculados em meio de cultura MS½ suplementado com BAP e ANA. Os brotos foram inoculados em meio contendo AIB e carvão ativo. As plantas foram transferidas para substrato composto de vermiculita e terra. A maior taxa de brotação foi obtida com o explante caule com 20 e 40 dias de idade em meio com 0,65mM de ANA. Na fase de enraizamento, a presença de carvão ativo interferiu positivamente no comprimento da parte aérea e do sistema radicular das plantas. As plantas foram aclimatizadas com 100% de sobrevivência.<br>Orthophytum mucugense is an ornamental bromeliad endemic to the municipality of Mucugê-BA which is vulnerable to extinction. The aim of this study was to establish a regeneration protocol via direct organogenesis for the species. The explants root, stem and leaf from plants of different ages were inoculated in the MS½ culture medium supplemented with BAP and NAA. The shoots were inoculated on medium supplemented with IBA and activated charcoal. The plants were transferred to a substrate composed of vermiculite and soil. The highest rate of sprouting was obtained with stem explants of 20 and 40 days old in medium supplemented with 0.65mM of NAA. For rooting the presence of activated charcoal had a positive influence on the length of shoot and root plants system. The plants were acclimatized with 100% survival