Understanding the Spatial Patterns of Diversity of Montane Forests in Northern Bolivia

玻利维亚北部的山地森林在生物学上非常多样化。据估计，这些森林中有12000种植物，占玻利维亚植物区系的60%。玻利维亚在植物学方面的探索不足，我们将在其山地森林内进行广泛的植物采集，以便编制一份那里出现的所有高等植物物种的清单。将开发这些物种所代表的所有植物科和属的识别检索表。12名美国学生和16名玻利维亚学生将在研究期间接受培训。将对16个地点进行清点和比较，以确定植物物种组成的变化。这些信息将与地理距离或生态距离测量有关。大约21,000个植物样本将被收集。每个收藏或凭证标本都应该在世界各地的草药库中持续至少300年，在此期间，它可能会被用于数百项研究，以更好地了解植物。近年来，凭单样本中包含的信息的价值有所增加。这些标本现在是保护规划、分布和多样性模拟以及全球变暖研究的重要基线信息来源。该项目将为玻利维亚任何地区的家庭和物种提供第一个互联网识别钥匙，并将在研究区域之外具有价值。专门为DNA分析收集的干燥植物材料将有助于了解植物进化史的研究。在玻利维亚境外的保护规划中，更多地了解多样性是如何划分的将是至关重要的。美国和玻利维亚植物学家的培训将产生广泛和持久的影响，因为这些学生受雇于科学、教学和环境保护领域。

The montane forests of northern Bolivia are biologically very diverse. These forests harbor an estimated 12,000 species of plants, or 60% of the Bolivian flora. Bolivia is botanically under explored and we will conduct extensive plant collecting within its montane forests in order to produce a checklist of all higher plant species occurring there. Identification keys to all the families and genera of plants represented by these species will be developed. Twelve U.S. and 16 Bolivian students will be trained during the study. Sixteen sites will be inventoried and compared to determine the change in plant species composition. This information will be related to geographical distance or ecological distance measurements.About 21,000 plant collections will be made. Each collection, or voucher specimen, should last at least 300 years in herbaria throughout the world and during that time it will likely be used in hundreds of studies to better understand plants. The information contained in voucher specimens has increased in value in recent years. These specimens are now an important source of baseline information for conservation planning, distribution and diversity modeling, and global warming studies. The project will provide the first internet identification key to families and genera for any area of Bolivia and will have value beyond the study area. The dried plant material collected specifically for DNA analysis will be helpful in studies aimed at understanding the evolutionary history of plants. The expanded knowledge of how diversity is partitioned will be essential in conservation planning beyond the boarders of Bolivia. The training of U.S. and Bolivian botanists will have a broad and long lasting impact as these students are employed in fields of science, teaching, and environmental protection.