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

Dinâmica inicial da composição florística de uma área restaurada na região do Pontal do Paranapanema, São Paulo, Brasil Initial dynamics of floristic composition in a restoresd area in the region of Pontal do Paranapanema, São Paulo state, Brazil

O Pontal do Paranapanema, extremo oeste do Estado de São Paulo, é marcado pela recente devastação florestal, e ações visando à recuperação de áreas onde outrora havia cobertura florestal tornam-se indispensáveis para a conservação da biodiversidade na região, principalmente quando se trata de áreas de Reserva Legal ou Preservação Permanente. Diante do exposto, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar a dinâmica inicial da composição florística em uma área de Reserva Legal restaurada. O trabalho foi realizado no assentamento Nova Esperança, Município de Euclides da Cunha Paulista, em uma área de 26,75 ha. O levantamento das espécies foi realizado pelo método de parcelas (16 parcelas de 20 x 30 m) em duas fases distintas do plantio, e as análises foram feitas utilizando-se o software Fitopac. Os resultados evidenciaram diminuição da biodiversidade pela alta mortalidade de espécies, levando à conclusão de que em projetos de restauração as intervenções são necessárias para a manutenção do plantio mesmo em sua fase inicial.<br>The Pontal do Paranapanema Region is located in the western range of the State of São Paulo is characterized by recent forest destruction and actions are needed for forest restorations and conservation of biodiversity in the region, principally when if treated of areas of Legal Reserve or Permanent Preservation. Before of the exposed this research had it objective analyze the dynamics initial from floristic composition an area of Legal Reserve restored. This work was realized into the Nova Esperança settlement, city of Euclides da Cunha Paulista, an area of 26,75 ha. The lifting from the species was realized at method of parcels (16 parcels of 20 x 30 m ) into two phases differentiate of the plantation, and the analisys have been using Fitopac software.The results they show only one decrease from biodiversity by high mortality of species, taking the conclusive what projects of restoration, intervention so necessary about to conservation of the plantation even in initial phase