Plant Diversity in the Montane and Submontane Forests of Southern Bahia and Northern Espírito Santo, Brazil

巴西大西洋沿岸的森林是世界上生物多样性的“热点”之一。它遭受严重的森林砍伐，具有高度的生物多样性，特别是其他地方没有的物种（特有物种）。从这些高度破碎的森林中采集的生物标本分布不均匀，大多数采集地点靠近城市或大型保护区，或靠近海岸的更容易到达的地区。这片狭窄的森林边缘由几个植物和许多动物的高度特有种地区组成。其中包括圣保罗和里约热内卢（圣保罗地区）的沿海山地森林和巴伊亚州南部的潮湿森林。保利斯塔地区和巴伊亚州地区的分界线与圣埃斯皮里图州北部和巴伊亚州最南部的森林采伐不足的地区相吻合。据推测，在保利斯塔地区和巴伊亚地区之间的差距中增加的收集将表明这种差距不存在。它将证明，现在只在巴伊亚亚亚山地森林中发现的物种将出现在更南边的类似森林中，而只在里约热内卢和圣保罗的Mar山脉的山地森林中发现的植物将出现在圣埃斯皮里图北部和巴伊亚南部的高海拔森林中。纽约植物园（NY）、可可研究中心（CEPEC）、巴伊亚州圣克鲁斯州立大学（UESC）和圣埃斯皮里图州圣特蕾莎的梅洛雷托生物博物馆（MBML）的工作人员将合作收集巴伊亚州南部和圣埃斯皮里图州北部亚山地和山地森林中的维管植物。在国际科学与工程办公室和生物多样性调查与清单计划的支持下，该项目将：1)检验保利斯塔和巴伊亚特有中心之间没有差距的假设，以及许多山地和亚山地物种在分布上的限制比以前认为的要少；2)生产的标本将被现在和未来的生物学家用于专家鉴定、研究和描述新物种；3)编制了巴伊安州南部和圣埃斯皮里图州北部植物区系的核心清单；4)重新评估巴西东部森林植物的特有模式。这个项目将对巴西东部大西洋森林的智能保护至关重要。项目小组将寻找并突出可能进行保护的亚山地和山地森林地区。此外，珍稀植物物种的分布将得到更好的界定，从而可以评估将每个物种列入世界自然保护联盟濒危物种红色名录的标准。预计这些分布将遵循生态分区的模式，在给定的森林片断中某些物种的存在或不存在将是可预测的。培训巴西植物学家和纽约研究生将是我们研究的另一个重要副产品，因为美国学生前往巴西，他们将为未来的工作发展重要的合作。

The Atlantic coastal forest of Brazil is one of the World's biodiversity "hotspots." It suffers severe deforestation and has high biological diversity, especially of species found nowhere else (endemic species). Collection of biological specimens from these highly fragmented forests is unevenly distributed, with most collections made in proximity to cities or large protected areas, or in more easily accessible areas near the coast. This narrow fringe of forest comprises several areas of high endemism for plants and many groups of animals. These include the coastal montane forests of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (Paulista area) and the moist forests of southern Bahia. The division between the Paulista area and the Bahia area coincides with a very poorly collected region of forests in northern Espirito Santo and extreme southern Bahia. It is hypothesized that increased collecting in the gap between the Paulista area and the Bahia area will show that this gap does not exist. It will demonstrate that species now known only from the submontane forests of Bahia will be found occurring in similar forests farther south and that plants known only from the montane forests of the Serra do Mar of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo will be found in the high elevation forests of northern Espirito Santo and southern Bahia. Staff of The New York Botanical Garden (NY), the Center for Cocoa Research (CEPEC), the State University of Santa Cruz, Bahia (UESC), and the Mello Leitao Biological Museum (MBML) of Santa Teresa, Espirito Santo, will collaborate and collect the vascular plants in the submontane and montane forests of southern Bahia and northern Espirito Santo, Brazil. The project, with support from the Office of International Science and Engineering and the Biodiversity Surveys and Inventories program , will have: 1) tested the hypotheses that there is no gap between the Paulista and Bahia centers of endemism, and that many montane and submontane species are less restricted in distribution than previously believed; 2) produced specimens that will be used by present and future biologists for expert identification, study, and descriptions of new species; 3) compiled a core checklist of the flora of the southern Bahian and northern Espirito Santo; and 4) reassessed patterns of plant endemism in the forests of eastern Brazil. This project will be critical to intelligent conservation in the Atlantic forest of eastern Brazil. The project team will find and highlight areas of submontane and montane forest for possible conservation. In addition, distributions of rare plant species will be better defined, permitting an assessment of criteria for the inclusion of each species on IUCN's Red List of threatened species. It is expected that these distributions will be seen to follow patterns of ecological zonation and the presence or absence of certain species in a given forest fragment will be predictable. Training of Brazilian botanists and NY graduate students will be another important byproduct of our research, as the US students travel to Brazil they will develop important collaborations for future work.