Amazon plant diversity revealed by a taxonomically verified species list

• Autor(a) principal: Cardoso, Domingos
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Särkinen, Tiina E., Alexander, Sara, Amorim, André Márcio Araújo, Bittrich, Volker, Celis, Marcela, Daly, Douglas Charles, Fiaschi, Pedro, Funk, Vicki A., Giacomin, Leandro Lacerda, Goldenberg, Renato, Gustavo, Heiden, Iganci, João Ricardo Vieira, Kelloff, Carol Lynn, Knapp, Sandra, Lima, Haroldo Cavalcante de, Machado, Anderson Ferreira Pinto, dos Santos, Rubens Manoel Cunha, Mello-Silva, R., Michelangeli, Fabián A., Mitchell, John Daniel, Moonlight, Peter Watson, Moraes, Pedro Luís Rodrigues de, Mori, Scott Alan, Nunes, Teonildes Sacramento, Pennington, Terence D., Pirani, José Rubens, Prance, Ghillean Tolmie, Queiroz, Luciano P., Rapini, Alessandro, Riina, R., Rincon, Carlos Alberto Vargas, Roque, Nádia, Shimizu, Gustavo Hiroaki, Sobral, Marcos Eduardo Guerra, Stehmann, João Renato, Stevens, Warren Douglas, M., Taylor, Charlotte, Trovó, Marcelo C., Van Den Berg, Cássio, van der Werff, Henk, Viana, Pedro Lage, Zartman, Charles Eugene, Forzza, Rafaela Campostrini
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional do INPA
• Texto Completo: https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/14867
• topic: Annonaceae; Araceae; Biodiversity; Brasil; Chrysobalanaceae; Epiphyte; Eugenia; Euphorbiaceae; Evolution; Herb; Lauraceae; Legume; Liana; Melastomataceae; Myrtaceae; Neotropics; Nonhuman; Orchidaceae; Philodendron; Poaceae; Pouteria; Priority Journal; Psychotria; Rainforest; Rubiaceae; Seed Plant; Species Diversity; Taxonomy; Tree; Classification; Factual Database; Plant; Biodiversity; Brasil; Databases, Factual; Plants; Rainforest

Recent debates on the number of plant species in the vast lowland rain forests of the Amazon have been based largely on model estimates, neglecting published checklists based on verified voucher data. Here we collate taxonomically verified checklists to present a list of seed plant species from lowland Amazon rain forests. Our list comprises 14,003 species, of which 6,727 are trees. These figures are similar to estimates derived from nonparametric ecological models, but they contrast strongly with predictions of much higher tree diversity derived from parametric models. Based on the known proportion of tree species in neotropical lowland rain forest communities as measured in complete plot censuses, and on overall estimates of seed plant diversity in Brazil and in the neotropics in general, it is more likely that tree diversity in the Amazon is closer to the lower estimates derived from nonparametric models. Much remains unknown about Amazonian plant diversity, but this taxonomically verified dataset provides a valid starting point for macroecological and evolutionary studies aimed at understanding the origin, evolution, and ecology of the exceptional biodiversity of Amazonian forests. © 2017, National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.