Title
Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network
Date Issued
01 February 2022
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Gomes-da-Silva J.
Filardi F.L.R.
Barbosa M.R.V.
Baumgratz J.F.A.
Bicudo C.E.M.
Cavalcanti T.B.
Coelho M.A.N.
Costa A.F.
Costa D.P.
Dalcin E.C.
Labiak P.
Lima H.C.
Lohmann L.G.
Maia L.C.
Mansano V.F.
Menezes M.
Morim M.P.
Moura C.W.N.
Lughadha E.N.
Peralta D.F.
Prado J.
Roque N.
Stehmann J.R.
Sylvestre L.S.
Trierveiler-Pereira L.
Walter B.M.T.
Zimbrão G.
Forzza R.C.
Abreu F.P.
Abreu M.C.
Abreu V.H.R.
Acuña-Castillo R.
Afonso E.A.L.
Agra L.A.N.N.
Agra M.F.
Aguiar D.P.P.
Aires E.T.
Almeda F.
Almeida G.S.S.
Almeida M.M.
Almeida N.B.C.
Almeida R.F.
Almeida R.B.P.
Almeida T.E.
Almeida E.B.
Alves D.M.
Alves F.M.
Alves K.N.L.
Alves M.B.B.
Alves R.F.
Amaral M.C.E.
Amaral A.L.S.
Amélio L.A.
Amorim A.M.A.
Amorim B.S.
Amorim E.T.
Amorim V.O.
Andrade I.M.
Andrade R.S.
André T.
Andreata R.H.P.
Andrino C.O.
Ângulo M.B.
Anjos C.B.
Antar G.M.
Antonicelli M.C.A.
Antunes L.L.C.
Aona L.Y.S.
Arana M.D.
Aranha J.L.M.
Araújo A.G.A.
Araujo A.O.
Araújo C.C.
Araujo C.A.T.
Araujo F.M.
Araújo M.H.T.
Arbo M.M.
Arnou E.S.
Asprino R.C.
Assis F.C.
Assis L.C.S.
Assis M.C.
Athayde Filho F.
Athiê-Souza S.M.
Azevedo I.H.F.
Bacci L.F.
Barbosa C.V.O.
Barbosa J.F.
Barbosa-Silva R.G.
Barcellos I.C.
Barboza G.E.
Barcelos F.R.B.
Barcelos L.B.
Barreto K.L.
Barros F.
Barros T.L.A.
Barros-Barreto M.B.B.
Bastos C.J.P.
Bastos C.A.
Batista J.A.N.
Publisher(s)
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Abstract
The shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora.
Start page
178
End page
198
Volume
71
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias de las plantas, Botánica Conservación de la Biodiversidad
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85121596781
Source
Taxon
ISSN of the container
0040-0262
DOI of the container
10.1002/tax.12640
Sponsor(s)
We thank the curators of all the herbaria that digitized their collections and agreed to share their data and images through the Reflora project and the INCT Virtual Herbaria. We also thank the IT staff of JBRJ, and the Institute of Engineering Studies and Research at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPE/UFRJ) for the work conducted between 2011 and 2020. We also thank the Brazilian Biodiversity Information System (SiBBr), CNPq, Capes, and all the Brazilian “FAPs” for funding and research fellowships. We also thank Dr. Michael D. Guiry and the National University of Ireland, Galway, for providing data from the AlgaeBase. Finally, we thank the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) for postdoctoral fellowships granted to the first and second authors, JGS and FLRF.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus