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

Quintais urbanos de Mirassol D'Oeste-MT, Brasil: uma abordagem etnobotânica Urban homegardens of Mirassol D'Oeste-MT, Brazil: an ethnobotany stady

Quintais são espaços de fácil acesso e cômodos para os moradores cultivarem uma diversidade de espécies que desempenham funções de estética, lazer, alimentação e medicinal, dentre outras. O objetivo deste trabalho foi o de descrever a composição florística e a respectiva utilização em quintais urbanos de Mirassol D'Oeste, MT, (15º 45'30"S e 058º16'36"W), com a coleta de dados envolvendo: entrevistas estruturadas e semi-estruturadas aplicadas a 29 moradores; coleta simultânea do material botânico das espécies indicadas, incorporação destas no Laboratório de Botânica da UNEMAT, Cáceres e análise da freqüência absoluta e relativa das espécies mais citadas e encontradas nos quintais. Foram registradas 397 denominações locais de plantas (etnoespécies), 275 taxa reunidos em 79 famílias destacando-se com maior número de espécies: Solanaceae (23), Asteraceae (17), Lamiaceae (14), Rosaceae (12) e Verbenaceae (9). Os atributos alimentar e ornamental representam, individualmente, 35% das espécies e o medicinal, 29%. Algumas plantas detêm até quatro potencialidades. Do universo vegetal conhecido e utilizado localmente as espécies nativas correspondem a 8%, resultado considerado baixo comparando-se aos obtidos em populações mato-grossenses radicadas no Cerrado e Pantanal. Essa população manifesta por meio de suas práticas uma tradição agrícola em interface às características de uma sociedade urbano - industrial coabitando em espaços comuns, o quintal.<br>A home garden is a small track of ground next to or surrounding a house where its residents can cultivate a diversity of plants, whose function is aesthetic, leisure, food, medicinal among others. The aim of this work was to study the floristic composition of urban homegardens in the city of Mirassol D'Oeste, state of Mato Grosso, coordinate 15º45'30"S and 58º16'36"W. For colleting data we interviewed 29 residents using structured and semi-structured interviews; and, simultaneously collected botanical species which we analysed at the Mato Grosso State University Botanical Laboratory, in Cáceres. We made statistical analyses using absolute frequency and relative frequency to quantify and specify the botanical species found in the gardens. We registered a total of 397 ethnobotanical species and grouped 275 taxa in 79 botanical families. The highest numbers among them were 23 species of Solanaceae, 17 Asteraceae, 14 Lamiaceae , 12 Rosaceae and 9 species of Verbenaceae. Food and ornamental attributes represented 35 % of the species and medicinal 29% . Some species had up to four potentialities. From the known plant universe used locally, native species corresponded to 8%. This percentage was considered low when compared to that of the population living in the Pantanal and cerrado areas. This population demonstrated an interface between agricultural tradition and the characteristics of urban-industrial society living in common spaces: the homegardens