Brazilian herbaria: an overview

Abstract

Herbaria represent irreplaceable repositories of biodiversity and are used to answer questions about conservation, ecology, systematics, and other sciences. In this sense, we characterize the infrastructure, human resources, and idiosyncrasies of Brazilian herbaria. To achieve this goal, curators were sent a structured and standardized questionnaire to gather information about herbaria. The Brazilian Herbaria Network listed 216 active herbaria in the year 2018, of which 139 answered the questionnaire. These herbaria hold 6,741,469 samples in their collections and more than 39,000 type samples. Most herbaria are in federal universities (40.28 %). Only 24 % of the curators considered that their herbarium is valued by their institutions and 52 % indicated inadequate storage areas. Only nine collections have smoke sensors. Our analysis showed that if an herbarium has an institutional policy the curator is 78 % more likely to consider its herbarium valued. Therefore, it is important for all herbaria to institute their policy. These numbers reflect the difficulty in maintaining herbaria, in many cases cared for only by its curator without institutional recognition and support. Despite recent losses in Brazilian natural history collections, herbaria are still threatened by a lack of basic infrastructure.

Hidden biodiversity of Amazonian white-sand ecosystems: two distinctive new species of Utricularia (Lentibulariaceae) from Pará, Brazil

“…In the case of these new Utricularia species, a few factors can be listed to explain the lag between first collection and description, which are common in other plant groups. First, Amazonian herbaria are quite distant from most botanical research centers, receiving fewer resources, both human and financial, therefore being less visited by specialists ( Hopkins 2019 ; de Gasper et al 2020 ). This is also reflected by the still low number of imaged specimens in the collections housed in these herbaria, hindering the remote access by specialists and leaving a considerable number of these specimens ‘undetermined’.…”

New records of Cuscuta L. (Convolvulaceae) in Central-West Brazil

“…The lack of knowledge about several botanical groups in Mato Grosso do Sul is connected to the historical deficit of taxonomists working in the state. Very few botanists have been responsible for most floristic collections (Alves et al 2018;Sartori and Pott 2018;Gasper et al 2020).…”

Lippia (Verbenaceae) do Brasil: atualização taxonômica, biogeografia e conservação

“…programas governamentais e a disponibilidade on-line dos dados levaram o país a um novo patamar de estudos de biodiversidade (GASPER et al, 2020). Os esforços brasileiros resultaram na divulgação de 3.825.851 imagens de espécimes no Herbário Virtual Reflora e, dentre estas, 149.209 são tipos nomenclaturais (REFLORA, 2021).…”

“…A maioria dos herbários encontra-se em universidades públicas (cerca de 60%) e sofre com uma infraestrutura precária, que vai desde a falta de espaço adequado, políticas para conservação dos acervos, pessoal, recursos financeiros até a ausência de sistemas de proteção contra incêndio. Em conjunto, refletem os cortes de orçamento recorrentes direcionados à ciência e educação no país e colocam em risco a possibilidade de dar continuidade a projetos de digitalização das coleções (FERNANDES et al, 2017;GASPER et al, 2020;QUINTANS-JÚNIOR et al, 2020;RBH, 2020).…”

“…Nesse sentido, os herbários representam acervos insubstituíveis de biodiversidade usados para responder questões de diversas áreas da ciência, desde as de base, como taxonomia e sistemática, até as mais derivadas como ecologia, conservação, genética e biogeografia (Lavoie 2013; Gasper et al 2020). Diante da riqueza de informações contidas nos herbários, o acesso on-line a essas coleções é fundamental para o desenvolvimento da ciência, principalmente em relação a conservação da diversidade vegetal.…”