Sampling gaps and areas of endemism in the Mata Atlântica and in the Dry Diagonal of South America using Malvales as a biological model.

• Grant number: 24/05849-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Phytogeography
• Principal Investigator: José Rubens Pirani
• Grantee: Vania Nobuko Yoshikawa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/12597-0 - Diversification and enhancement of the collections on the hebaria in the State of São Paulo, with increase of their virtual availability and spatial analysis, for advances in documentation of the Neotropical biodiversity, AP.BTA.TEM

Abstract

Biological collections are valuable sources in studies that go beyond the classical taxonomic and systematic related to herbaria and museums. As they contain environmental metadata regarding the occurrence of organisms along time and space, they are of special interest for ecological and biogeographical studies. In this project, we propose to validate taxonomically the records of Malvales deposited at ESA, SJRP, SP, SPF and SPFR herbaria, build a database complemented by other herbaria of national relevance, and then employ these taxa, which include common components from several vegetation types and with wide geographical distribution along the Atlantic Forest dominion and also throughout the South American Dry Diagonal, to identify sampling gaps and areas of endemism in South America, with special focus on taxa present in protected areas.