A list of land plants of Parque Nacional do Caparaó, Brazil, highlights the presence of sampling gaps within this protected area

Abstract

Brazilian protected areas are essential for plant conservation in the Atlantic Forest domain, one of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots. A major challenge for improving conservation actions is to know the plant richness, protected by these areas. Online databases offer an accessible way to build plant species lists and to provide relevant information about biodiversity. A list of land plants of “Parque Nacional do Caparaó” (PNC) was previously built using online databases and published on the website "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil." Here, we provide and discuss additional information about plant species richness, endemism and conservation in the PNC that could not be included in the List. We documented 1,791 species of land plants as occurring in PNC, of which 63 are cited as threatened (CR, EN or VU) by the Brazilian National Red List, seven as data deficient (DD) and five as priorities for conservation. Fifity-one species were possible new ocurrences for ES and MG states. "Parque Nacional do Caparaó" houses 8% of the land plant species endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, including 6% of its angiosperms, 31% of its lycophytes and ferns and 14% of its avascular plants. Twelve percent of the threatened species listed for the State of Espírito Santo and 7% listed for the State of Minas Gerais are also protected by PNC. Surprisingly, 79% of the collections analysed here were carried out in Minas Gerais, which represents just 21% of the total extension of the Park. The compiled data uncover a huge botanical collection gap in this federally-protected area.

High Endemism in an Endangered Biodiversity Hotspot: Phylogeny, Taxonomy and Distribution Patterns of Catfishes of the Psammocambeva Alpha-Clade (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae) from the Rio Doce Basin, Brazil

“…The Serra do Caparaó represents the main nucleus of the northern plateau of the Serra da Mantiqueira, with the highest peak, Pico da Bandeira, reaching 2891 m asl, being a natural divider among the Rio Itabapoana, Rio Itapemirim, Rio Doce, and Rio Paraíba do Sul basins. It is among the most important centres of biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest for plants [40], also sheltering a great diversity of animals (e.g., [41]), including an endemic genus of microteiid lizard [42]. Two species of Trichomycterus were formerly described from the southern slope of the Serra do Caparaó, T. caudofasciatus and Trichomycterus brunoi Barbosa and Costa, 2010 [43,44], whereas two species have been recorded in the northern slope of the Serra do Caparaó drained by the RDB, T. caparaoensis here described, and T. brunoi of the subgenus Cryptocambeva, recently recorded for this basin [6].…”

Floristic survey of vascular plants of a poorly known area in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Flona do Rio Preto, Espírito Santo)

“…These efforts resulted in the publication of several taxonomic and floristic studies for selected plant families in subsequent years (e.g. Luber et al 2016 , Pena and Alves-Araújo 2017 , Silva et al 2017 , Chagas et al 2017 , Souza et al 2017 , Araújo et al 2018 , Torres-Leite et al 2018 , Moreira et al 2020a , Moreira et al 2020b ). Despite that, the State includes multiple knowledge gaps and botanical data remain scattered ( Garbin et al 2017 ).…”

“…Caatinga, Cerrado, Atlantic Forest and Amazon). The checklist of the vascular plants of the "Parque Nacional do Itatiaia" ( Carrijo et al 2018 , Moreira et al 2020a ) and "Parque Nacional do Caparaó" ( Moreira et al 2020b , Carrijo et al 2021 ) were the first to be launched, while the checklist of the vascular plants of the "Flona do Rio Preto" was recently added ( Carrijo et al 2021 ).…”