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

Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

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.