Biodiversity, biogeography, conservation and restoration of isolated rock outcrop vegetation in the dry biomes of Latin America

拉丁美洲干旱生物群落中孤立岩石露头植被的生物多样性、生物地理学、保护和恢复

• 批准号: 2399983
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2399983
• 关键词: Biodiversity; biogeography; conservation; restoration; isolated

The dry biomes of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay are regarded as a hotspot for biodiversity conservation because of their species-rich, unique biota. For example, the two million km2 of savannas in the Brazilian "cerrado" contain >11,000 flowering plant species, more than the Brazilian Amazon rain forest. 30% of these species are found nowhere else, but massive industrial agriculture expansion has destroyed 50% of the cerrado in the past five decades. High diversity in neotropical savannas and dry forests is a function of landscape heterogeneity, with small areas of vegetation on different substrates contributing to total biodiversity. Within the dry forests of the Bolivian Chiquitania and Brazil's cerrado savannas, "inselbergs" - raised metamorphosed sandstone and granitic rock - house large numbers of endemic species. This project will document inselberg floras and their biogeographic history, knowledge that is lacking but essential to prioritise conservation and restoration. It will therefore contribute to determining the conservation value and scope for restoration in some of the most species-rich, yet poorly known, neotropical habitats.Aim: To understand the conservation value and scope for restoration of vegetation formations on inselbergs in the Chiquitania dry forest and cerrado through evaluating the distribution, diversity and evolutionary history of plants across inselbergs in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.Objectives: To map the occurrence and distribution of inselbergs in the Bolivian Chiquitania and Brazilian cerradoDetermine the variation in climatic and soil conditions which exist across inselbergsEvaluate plant species diversity and distribution across inselbergsUse DNA-based phylogeography to investigate the genetic diversity and evolutionary history of inselberg species Apply different approaches and biodiversity metrics for ranking the conservation value of inselbergsDetermine scope for active versus passive restoration on inselbergsResearch approach: On largely intact inselberg vegetation this project will: a) map and document the floristic composition and endemism on inselbergs, alongside the association of these variables with soil and environmental conditions and; b) use molecular phylogeographic approaches to infer the genetic diversity and evolutionary/biogeographic processes that underlie their historical assembly. This will allow us to understand what patterns of floristic and phylogenetic diversity on inselbergs in the seasonal Neotropics. Combining this information with an evaluation of the degree of degradation on inselbergs, the proximity of suitable habitat to allow restoration to occur, and the ecological nature of this habitat, we will determine what vegetation types may be most adequate for restoration and whether active or passive restoration techniques are most likely to be viable.

巴西、玻利维亚和巴拉圭的干旱生物群落因其物种丰富、独特的生物群而被视为生物多样性保护的热点。例如，在巴西“塞拉多”的200万平方公里的热带稀树草原上，有超过11，000种开花植物，比巴西亚马逊雨林还多。这些物种中有30%在别处找不到，但在过去的50年里，大规模的工业化农业扩张摧毁了塞拉多50%的土地。新热带稀树草原和干燥森林的高度多样性是景观异质性的一个功能，不同基质上的小面积植被有助于总的生物多样性。在玻利维亚的奇基塔尼亚和巴西的塞拉多热带稀树草原的干燥森林中，“inselbergs”--变质的砂岩和花岗岩--居住着大量的特有物种。该项目将记录因塞尔贝格的植物群及其地理历史，这些知识是缺乏的，但对于优先保护和恢复至关重要。因此，它将有助于确定一些物种最丰富，但知之甚少的新热带栖息地的保护价值和恢复范围。目的：通过评估巴西，玻利维亚和巴拉圭的inselbergs植物的分布，多样性和进化历史，了解Chiquitania干旱森林和塞拉多inselbergs植被形成的保护价值和恢复范围。目的：绘制玻利维亚Chiquitania和巴西cerrada的inselbergs的发生和分布图确定inselbergs之间存在的气候和土壤条件的变化评估inselbergs之间的植物物种多样性和分布使用DNA-应用不同的方法和生物多样性指标对岛群的保护价值进行排序确定岛群保护价值的范围研究方法：在基本上完整的因塞尔山植被上，该项目将：a）绘制和记录因塞尔山的植物区系组成和特有性，以及这些变量与土壤和环境条件的关系; B）使用分子生物地理学方法来推断其历史组装的遗传多样性和进化/地理过程。这将使我们能够了解什么样的模式的植物区系和系统发育多样性的inselbergs在季节性新热带区。结合这些信息与评估的退化程度的inselbergs，合适的栖息地，以允许恢复发生的接近程度，以及这种栖息地的生态性质，我们将确定什么样的植被类型可能是最适合恢复，以及是否主动或被动恢复技术是最有可能是可行的。