pdf
Published
2021-07-29
Issue
Section
Brevia
License
Copyright (c) 2021 CAPITULUM: The International Compositae Alliance Newsletter
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Asteraceae in a megadiverse flora: Results from the Flora of Brazil 2020
Carolina M. Siniscalchi
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3349-5081
Benoit Loeuille
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6898-7858
Nádia Roque
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2103-917X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53875/capitulum.01.1.06
Keywords: Biodiversity, South America, Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, collaborative effort
Abstract
The Flora of Brazil 2020 initiative was Brazil’s national response to Global Strategy for Plant Conservation Target 1, delivering an online, collaboratively curated synthesis of plant diversity that integrates taxon lists, concise morphological descriptions, identification keys, and vetted geographic distributions, linked to a virtual herbarium with high-resolution images of type and reference specimens. Within this framework, a coordinated network of synantherologists produced the Asteraceae treatment, providing an updated, country-wide snapshot of taxonomic knowledge for one of Brazil’s most diverse families. Asteraceae emerges as the third richest family in Brazil, represented by 27 tribes, 326 genera and 2,205 species, with high levels of endemism (c. 95% native; 1,362 endemic species) and an exceptional number of endemic genera (71). Diversity is unevenly distributed across phytogeographic domains: Asteraceae is among the most species-rich families in all domains except the Amazon and is the leading family in the Cerrado and Pampas. The Cerrado and Atlantic Forest concentrate the highest absolute numbers of species, whereas the Amazon currently shows comparatively low recorded richness but substantial endemism, consistent with persistent sampling and taxonomic gaps. By consolidating nomenclatural and distributional knowledge at a national scale, the Flora of Brazil 2020 Asteraceae treatment highlights poorly documented taxa and regions, establishes a baseline for identifications and further revisions, and provides clear priorities for future collection and systematic research.
