Tree species of South America central savanna: endemism, marginal areas and the relationship with other biomes

Abstract

Biological knowledge is important for guidance of conservation polices. In the Cerrado, an extremely diverse biome, the last synthesis of floristic knowledge has more than ten years. To understand the progress on the information, our aim was quantify the tree species of the Cerrado, and assess their distribution. We compiled 167 inventories and rapid surveys of tree species, corresponding to 625 sites. We accessed the species distributions in the Brazilian biomes, and estimated the number of species in the savannas of Cerrado using four algorithms. We observed a greater local richness in more central regions of the biome, but due to high beta diversity, more peripheral regions presented a greater cumulative richness. The Atlantic Forest was the most important neighbouring biome, influencing the floristic composition of the Cerrado. The proportion of typical Cerrado species was 16%. The highest proportion of endemic species is possibly found in other life forms, and it is crucial that these species are included in inventories and floristic surveys. To guide new studies and help supplement the knowledge of the Cerrado's flora, we identified the main sampling gaps, located mainly in ecotonal regions, which are responsible for the largest number of species recorded in studies of the Cerrado.

Forest Structure and the Species Composition of the Parque Estadual Mata Atlântica, Located in Goiás State, Brazil

“…A total of 68% of the PEMA species also occurred in Cerrado. The similarity of SDNF to Cerrado was already reported by Françoso et al [30] who found that the Atlantic Forest Domain has the greatest number of flora shared with the Cerrado, and it is the most important neighboring biome, influencing the Cerrado floristic composition.…”

“…The Fabaceae family presented the greater diversity, since it is a characteristic family from seasonal forests, which is well represented in most studies in Atlantic Forest Domain [29,30]. In PEMA, the common pattern for forests was observed, where few species are abundant and many species are rare [30].…”

“…In PEMA, the common pattern for forests was observed, where few species are abundant and many species are rare [30]. For example, the 10 species with the highest relative density contributed approximately 40.43% of the living individuals.…”

“…This study emphasizes the importance of floristic inventories and biodiversity assessments, necessary to understanding the current richness and conservation of forest biodiversity [43]. Therefore, the biological knowledge is important for guidance of conservation polices [30], and a holistic approach is necessary to solve the conservation problems [46]. Thus, PEMA is extremely important for biological conservation due to attributes such as high biodiversity.…”

A dark scenario for Cerrado plant species: Effects of future climate, land use and protected areas ineffectiveness

“…We modelled trees, shrubs, subshrubs, vines and herbs that inhabit the Cerrado vegetation domain of Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay. Because of high plants diversity, it is difficult to determine which taxa are well distributed within the Cerrado ecoregion or occur in a marginal way, given that several species are predominant in other neighbouring ecoregions (Françoso, Haidar, & Machado, ). For this reason, we created a plant species list of the Cerrado for the three countries and then selected the taxa based on different criteria (see Supporting Information Appendix about Cerrado species list and species selection).…”