scholarly journals Diamonds and Daisies: Floristics and Conservation of Asteraceae in One of Brazil’s Major Centers of Endemism

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 194008291988429
Author(s):  
Daniel Augusto Chaves ◽  
Suelma Ribeiro-Silva ◽  
Vanessa Lopes Rivera ◽  
João Bernardo Azevedo Bringel ◽  
Jimi Naoki Nakajima ◽  
...  

Brazilian rupestrian grasslands (campos rupestres) are old, climatically buffered infertile landscapes, which support many endemic species. Asteraceae show the high levels of plant endemism and contain more endangered species than any other family in Brazil. Here, we evaluated the complementarity of two protected areas for the conservation of endangered Asteraceae along the Espinhaço Mountain range, Southeast Brazil. Specifically, we investigated if the known endangered Asteraceae flora of the Diamantina District Plateau (38 species) occurs in two protected areas, Rio Preto State Park and Sempre Vivas National Park, and if these areas are complimentary or overlapping in protecting endangered Asteraceae species. To survey Asteraceae, we used a standardized RAPELD protocol (21 1 ha plots) and traditional floristic collecting (117 ha polygon/32 days/average team = 2.1 collectors) across different habitats and altitudes within both areas. RAPELD protocol recorded 115 species in a sample of 12,775 individuals of Asteraceae. Traditional floristic collecting recorded 172 species in a sample of 613 collections. Seventy-nine percent of endangered species known to occur within the Plateau were recollected by either RAPELD or traditional floristic collecting. Only 13% of endangered Asteraceae flora was common to both protected areas; 47% occur in Rio Preto State Park and 34% in Sempre Vivas National Park; combined, they recorded 68% of the endangered Plateau Asteraceae flora; only one critically endangered species was recorded. The two parks are complimentary but insufficient to protect the endangered Asteraceae flora of the Plateau; the uneven distribution of endangered species in the Diamantina District Plateau is a threat to their conservation.

Phytotaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 460 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-96
Author(s):  
LUCAS F. BACCI ◽  
DIEGO TAVARES IGLESIAS ◽  
RENATO GOLDENBERG

We describe here Bertolonia lucernula, a new endemic species from the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. It is only known from one locality, the “Área de Proteção Ambiental Mestre Álvaro”, in the municipality of Serra. The new species can be recognized by the branches and petioles covered with sessile and short-stalked glands and scattered unbranched trichomes, flat leaf blade surfaces covered only with sessile and short-stalked glands, small flowers with a widely campanulate hypanthium covered with the same trichomes as the petioles, calyx with membranaceous, truncate sepals, and short, triangular external teeth, asymmetric and obovate petals, with the apex covered with sessile and short-stalked glands on the adaxial surface. According to IUCN criteria, Bertolonia lucernula should be classified as Critically Endangered (CR).


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Cheek ◽  
Barthelemy Tchiengue ◽  
Xander van der Burgt

ABSTRACTThis is the first revision in nearly 130 years of the African genus Pseudohydrosme, formerly considered endemic to Gabon. Sister to Anchomanes, Pseudohydrosme is distinct from Anchomanes because of its 2–3-locular ovary (not unilocular), peduncle concealed by cataphylls at anthesis and far shorter than the spathe (not exposed, far exceeding the spathe), stipitate fruits and viviparous (vegetatively apomictic) roots (not sessile, roots non-viviparous). Three species, one new to science, are recognised, in two sections. Although doubt has previously been cast on the value of recognising Pseudohydrosme buettneri, of Gabon, it is here accepted and maintained as a distinct species in the monotypic section, Zyganthera. However, it is considered to be probably globally extinct. Pseudohydrosme gabunensis, type species of the genus, also Gabonese, is maintained in Sect. Pseudohydrosme together with Pseudohydrosme ebo sp.nov. of the Ebo Forest, Littoral, Cameroon, the first addition to the genus since the nineteenth century, and which extends the range of the genus 450 km north from Gabon, into the Cross-Sanaga biogeographic area. The discovery of Pseudohydrosme ebo resulted from a series of surveys for conservation management in Cameroon, and triggered this paper. All three species of Pseudohydrosme are morphologically characterised, their habitat and biogeography discussed, and their extinction risks are respectively assessed as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct), Endangered and Critically Endangered using the IUCN standard. Clearance of forest habitat for logging, followed by agriculture or urbanisation are major threats. One of the species may occur in a formally protected areas and is also cultivated widely but infrequently in Europe and the USA for its spectacular inflorescences.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. eaau2879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Di Minin ◽  
Thomas M. Brooks ◽  
Tuuli Toivonen ◽  
Stuart H. M. Butchart ◽  
Vuokko Heikinheimo ◽  
...  

Overexploitation is one of the main threats to biodiversity, but the intensity of this threat varies geographically. We identified global concentrations, on land and at sea, of 4543 species threatened by unsustainable commercial harvesting. Regions under high-intensity threat (based on accessibility on land and on fishing catch at sea) cover 4.3% of the land and 6.1% of the seas and contain 82% of all species threatened by unsustainable harvesting and >80% of the ranges of Critically Endangered species threatened by unsustainable harvesting. Currently, only 16% of these regions are covered by protected areas on land and just 6% at sea. Urgent actions are needed in these centers of unsustainable harvesting to ensure that use of species is sustainable and to prevent further species’ extinctions.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 186 (3) ◽  
pp. 166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Livia Echternacht

The present work describes and illustrates the new narrowly endemic species Comanthera pignalii (Eriocaulaceae: Paepalanthoideae). This species is restricted to the white-sand environments in the Campos Rupestres at the border of the Serra Geral, in the Espinhaço Mountain Range in Bahia, Brazil. The morphological variation, habitat and geographic distribution of the species are discussed. It is critically endangered according to the IUCN criteria B2ab (i, ii, iii, iv), as evaluated by CNCFlora, the Plant Red List Authority in Brazil. This is the first newly published plant species already officially proposed to the Brazilian Red List.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 332 (1) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
JUAN JOSE CANTERO ◽  
GLORIA E. BARBOZA ◽  
GILBERTO OCAMPO

Portulaca ragonesei (Portulacaceae), an extreme holophyte species from Salina de Ambargasta, central Argentina, is here illustrated and re-described based on morphological evidence. In addition, molecular data shows that this endemic species is one of the earliest-divergent lineages of the Oleracea clade. This is a critically endangered species that can be morphologically distinguished by its sprouting geophytes habit, the linear leaves, and the presence of constriction at the apex of the pixidium where only one seed is found.


1970 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Safi Bagherpour ◽  
Ferhat Celep ◽  
Musa Dogan ◽  
Ahmet Kahraman

In 1890, Salvia freyniana Bornm., an endemic species of Turkey, was first collected and described by J.F. Bornmueller in 1892. While revising the genus occurring in Turkey based on specimens collected from Yenipazar, south of Yozgat (Turkey in 1892), it was discovered once again in 2006. The diagnostic morphological characters of this rare endemic species are discussed. Details of fruiting material and pollen micromorphology are given for the first time. Moreover, an emended and expanded description, distribution, phenology and ecology of this species are also provided along with its conservation status. Key words: Salvia freyniana Bornm.; Lamiaceae; Endangered; Rediscovery; Turkey  


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES BURNHAM ◽  
JEB BARZEN ◽  
ANNA M. PIDGEON ◽  
BAOTENG SUN ◽  
JIANDONG WU ◽  
...  

SummaryFollowing an abnormal flood in 2010 at China’s Poyang Lake, we observed wintering Siberian Cranes Leucogeranus leucogeranus switch from foraging in the shallow-water wetlands they typically use to grassland habitats. These previously undocumented habitat selection patterns raised questions whether differences in crane behaviour such as foraging success existed between the two habitats and how those differences might affect this critically endangered species. Over two winters, we used the density of customary food items (tubers of Vallisneria spp.) obtained from long-term monitoring efforts, Siberian Cranes flock behaviours, individual foraging success and estimated total flock foraging effort across both habitats. Novel foraging patterns by Siberian Cranes were associated with low densities of Vallisneria tubers across multiple sub-lakes within Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve (PLNR). Foraging success was higher in grasslands than in wetlands in winter 2010–2011, but higher in wetlands following a recovery of Vallisneria in 2011–2012. Subsequent to upland foraging during the winter of 2010–2011, we observed lower juvenile to adult ratio of Siberian Cranes at a fall migratory stopover location in north-eastern China despite indications of average environmental conditions in the nesting areas from 2010 to 2012. While grasslands adjacent to shallow-water habitats may be important refugia for wintering Siberian Cranes when Vallisneria is absent or inaccessible, and should be included in protected areas, multi-year dependence on grasslands for foraging could negatively impact population levels. Eliminating crab farming in protected areas and extending protection to shallow water areas sheltered from flooding by dykes could also help secure high quality foraging habitat under a variety of hydrological regimes. Novel foraging patterns by wintering Siberian Cranes represent a new challenge to the conservation efforts for this species that focus on shallow-water wetlands, and may be indicative of broader changes within Poyang’s ecosystem.


Author(s):  
Akshay Tanna ◽  
Daniel Fernando ◽  
Ramajeyam Gobiraj ◽  
Buddhi M. Pathirana ◽  
Sahan Thilakaratna ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 220
Author(s):  
Michele Bertoni Mann ◽  
Janira Prichula ◽  
Ícaro Maia Santos de Castro ◽  
Juliana Mello Severo ◽  
Michelle Abadie ◽  
...  

Melanophryniscus admirabilis (admirable red-belly toad) is a microendemic and critically endangered species found exclusively along 700 m of the Forqueta River, in a fragment of the Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil. One of the greatest concerns regarding the conservation of this species is the extensive use of pesticides in areas surrounding their natural habitat. In recent years, the adaptation and persistence of animal species in human-impacted environments have been associated with microbiota. Therefore, the present study aimed to characterize the oral bacterial community of wild M. admirabilis and to address the question of how this community might contribute to this toad’s adaptation in the anthropogenic environment as well as its general metabolic capabilities. A total of 11 oral samples collected from wild M. admirabilis were characterized and analyzed via high-throughput sequencing. Fragments of the 16S rRNA variable region 4 (V4) were amplified, and sequencing was conducted using an Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM) System with 316 chips. A total of 181,350 sequences were obtained, resulting in 16 phyla, 34 classes, 39 orders, and 77 families. Proteobacteria dominated (53%) the oral microbiota of toads, followed by Firmicutes (18%), Bacteroidetes (17%), and Actinobacteria (5%). No significant differences in microbial community profile from among the samples were reported, which suggests that the low dietary diversity observed in this population may directly influence the bacterial composition. Inferences of microbiome function were performed using PICRUSt2 software. Important pathways (e.g., xenobiotic degradation pathways for pesticides and aromatic phenolic compounds) were detected, which suggests that the bacterial communities may serve important roles in M. admirabilis health and survival in the anthropogenic environment. Overall, our results have important implications for the conservation and management of this microendemic and critically endangered species.


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