Abstract Detail

The Contribution of Regional Flora Projects to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation

Maldonado, Carla [1], Fuentes, Alfredo [1], Beck, Stephan [1], Freddy, Zenteno [1].

Towards a first National Flora of Bolivia.

Bolivia is the point of confluence of the floras of four large neotropical biogeographic units: Andes, Amazonia, Chaco and Brazilian-Paranense. This privileged position in the center of the South American continent has favored the presence of high levels of biodiversity, placing the country among the top 12 with the highest number of plant species worldwide. The physiography is equally varied and complex, encompassing different plains, the Precambrian Shield and the complex Andean system. Despite this, it is one of the few countries in the world that has not yet developed a National Flora. Such a National Flora is a huge undertaking often taking many years, but it is certainly of utmost importance in understanding and managing the resources of the national biodiversity. The Bolivian National Herbarium in La Paz (LPB) has now taken the initiative to launch the Flora de Bolivia project together with the other three large Herbariums in Bolivia: Cochabamba (BOLV), Santa Cruz (USZ) and Chuquisaca (HSB). There is already a fundamental knowledge of flora with the Catalog of Vascular Plants of Bolivia published in 2014, which lists 12,165 species of native plants, of which 2,343 (19%) are endemic. All this species richness is strongly threatened and under significant pressure of extinction risk, due to the various human activities that lead to the loss of habitat due to degradation, disturbance and destruction of natural ecosystems. Our main goal is to contribute to the protection of the flora through development of the First National Flora of Bolivia and to educate a new generation of scientists in plant systematics. Together, the four main herbaria in Bolivia house around 610,000 botanical specimens, which are a fundamental part of the development of treatments for the National Flora. However, this number of collections is far from being sufficient to have an adequate knowledge of the phyto-diversity of the country. New strategic collection efforts, particularly in less known areas, are necessary and are likely to expand the flora. The progress from a recent survey of the protected area "Pilón Lajas" provides an example of what we hope to obtain in terms of the online Flora for this region and for Bolivia.

1 - Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Cota cota, calle 27 s/n, La Paz, Bolivia

Keywords:
Flora
Bolivia
diversity.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: C10, The Contribution of Regional Flora Projects to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
Location: /
Date: Friday, July 23rd, 2021
Time: 11:30 AM(EDT)
Number: C10007
Abstract ID:333
Candidate for Awards:None