A Taxonomic Revision of the Marlierea Clade (Myrcia sect. Aulomyrcia, Myrtaceae)

Understanding how plant life history affects species vulnerability to anthropogenic disturbances and environmental change is a major ecological challenge. We examined how vegetation type, growth form, and geographic range size relate to extinction risk throughout the Brazilian Atlantic Forest domain. We used a database containing species-level information of 6,929 angiosperms within 112 families and a molecular-based working phylogeny. We used decision trees, standard regression, and phylogenetic regression to explore the relationships between species attributes and extinction risk. We found a significant phylogenetic signal in extinction risk. Vegetation type, growth form, and geographic range size were related to species extinction risk, but the effect of growth form was not evident after phylogeny was controlled for. Species restricted to either rocky outcrops or scrub vegetation on sandy coastal plains exhibited the highest extinction risk among vegetation types, a finding that supports the hypothesis that species adapted to resource-limited environments are more vulnerable to extinction. Among growth forms, epiphytes were associated with the highest extinction risk in non-phylogenetic regression models, followed by trees, whereas shrubs and climbers were associated with lower extinction risk. However, the higher extinction risk of epiphytes was not significant after correcting for phylogenetic relatedness. Our findings provide new indicators of extinction risk and insights into the mechanisms governing plant vulnerability to extinction in a highly diverse flora where human disturbances are both frequent and widespread.

AimWe aimed to assess the contribution of marginal habitats to the tree species richness of the Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Forest) biodiversity hotspot. In addition, we aimed to determine which environmental factors drive the occurrence and distribution of these marginal habitats.LocationThe whole extension of the South American Atlantic Forest Domain plus forest intrusions into the neighbouring Cerrado and Pampa Domains, which comprises rain forests (“core” habitat) and five marginal habitats, namely high elevation forests, rock outcrop dwarf‐forests, riverine forests, semideciduous forests and restinga (coastal white‐sand woodlands).MethodsWe compiled a dataset containing 366,875 occurrence records of 4,431 tree species from 1,753 site‐checklists, which were a priori classified into 10 main vegetation types. We then performed ordination analyses of the species‐by‐site matrix to assess the floristic consistency of this classification. In order to assess the relative contribution of environmental predictors to the community turnover, we produced models using 26 climate and substrate‐related variables as environmental predictors.ResultsOrdination diagrams supported the floristic segregation of vegetation types, with those considered as marginal habitats placed at the extremes of ordination axes. These marginal habitats are associated with the harshest extremes of five limiting factors: temperature seasonality (high elevation and subtropical riverine forests), flammability (rock outcrop dwarf‐forests), high salinity (restinga), water deficit severity (semideciduous forests) and waterlogged soils (tropical riverine forests). Importantly, 45% of all species endemic to the Atlantic Domain only occur in marginal habitats.Main conclusionsOur results showed the key role of the poorly protected marginal habitats in contributing to the high species richness of the Atlantic Domain. Various types of environmental harshness operate as environmental filters determining the distribution of the Atlantic Domain habitats. Our findings also stressed the importance of fire, a previously neglected environmental factor.

Extinctions of anuran amphibians are more alarming compared to all other vertebrates. Several reports of declines come from Atlantic Forest, which currently holds only 1.62% of natural vegetation under full protection. However, despite this degradation, the Atlantic Forest still shelters a great diversity of anurans with a high diversity of specific ecological characteristics. Thus, our objective was to identify which ecological characteristics of anurans from the Atlantic Forest can be associated to this extinction risk, in order to understand how these characteristics can promote the species persistence against environmental disturbance. For each species, we gathered biological/ecological characteristics from literature, as well the extinction risk based on the National List of Endangered Species of Wildlife. In 2015, 547 anuran species had been assigned to the Atlantic Forest, of which 406 had their extinction risk defined. However, we considered only 295 species in our analyses due to the availability of biological/ecological information. We observed that the clutch size and the altitudinal distribution are related to the extinction risk of anurans. Threatened species had a small clutch size and were distributed in low or high areas, whereas non-threatened species had a larger clutch size and were distributed in intermediate altitude areas. Studies that investigate ecological characteristics that determine the extinction risk of species can be useful to assist conservation actions, concentrating efforts to species more sensitive to environmental alterations, besides highlighting the importance of natural history and the ecology of organisms in conservation decisions.

A comparative approach is used to evaluate the social implications of environmental policy toward poor rural folk in the Atlantic Forests of Brazil and the United States. The objective is to question who benefits from the conservation units of the Appalachians in the United States and the Coastal Mountains in Brazil. Parallel complex processes are identified in biomes with similar past experiences. Initial European colonization occurred in both countries at roughly the same time. Commodity production was undertaken on the coastal plains and highland areas became refuges for poor farmers. During the twentieth century conservation units were set up in mountainous areas and nature enclosures removed the rural poor from the land and replaced them with regenerated forests consumed by middle- and upper-class urban people.

Two key problems in trying to link rarity to extinction risk have been conflating threats with risk factors, and over-reliance on a rarity construct that fails to capture many relevant risk factors. In this study, we disentangle threats from risk factors and show how their interaction can be used to predict extinction risk. We also investigate the sensitivity of rarity classifications to various thresholds, including biologically meaningful ones. We use the 168 species of North American firefly beetles (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) as our focal family to examine rarity classifications, and to illustrate the importance of clearly distinguishing between risk factors and threats in evaluating extinction risk. Our results show that, beyond rarity, fireflies exhibit numerous risk factors, including diet specialization, poor dispersal ability, light-based mating signals, symbiotic associations, and behaviors that can result in Allee effects, that make them susceptible to various global threats. This suggests that, for this group and perhaps other taxa, rarity type cannot be used as a surrogate for extinction risk. By identifying threats and risk factors and clearly distinguishing between them, this study should facilitate future assessments of extinction risk for this family, and the approach could be used for other taxa.

Climate change is increasing species extinction risk. The ability of a species to cope with climate change can be quantified by projecting distribution models and by estimating the risk of non-adaptedness using genomic data. The Cerrado and the Atlantic Forest in Tropical South America are increasingly threatened by habitat loss and anthropogenic climate change. This work aims to evaluate the ecological and genomic vulnerability of Plathymenia taxa and its lineages, P. reticulata, a Cerrado species, and P. foliolosa, an Atlantic Forest species, to determine their current and future habitat suitability and the mismatch between current local adaptation with the expected climate changes. The species distribution models predicted a high range loss for the Plathymenia lineages. The genotype-environment association analyses showed that the Plathymenia lineages have populations adapted to different precipitation and temperature seasonality regimes. The genomic offset analyses predict a mismatch between local adaptations and future climate for the Plathymenia indicating a high risk of non-adaptedness, especially in the pessimistic scenario. Our results show an elevated extinction risk of the species due to climate change. We suggest reevaluating the extinction risk and management of the Plathymenia species separately based on their differences in vulnerability to climate change.

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest has been transformed into a mosaic of forest fragments that impacts local populations of vertebrates, in particular birds. In the state of Sergipe, Brazil, while only approximately 10% of the original forest remains, ornithological research is still incipient, and basic data are still lacking. In this context, the present study investigated the bird community of a remnant of Atlantic Forest in the municipality of Japoatã using complementary methods in a rapid survey approach. The composition of the community and its trophic guilds was defined and compared with other localities in Sergipe, and Atlantic Forest sites in other Brazilian states. Data were collected in October 2016, by mist-netting and the compilation of MacKinnon lists. A total of 118 bird species were recorded during 1088 net-h and in 60 MacKinnon lists. Four of these species are under some risk of extinction, and one of these is endemic to the region. The most diverse families were Thraupidae, Tyrannidae, Trochilidae, and Thamnophilidae, with the relative contribution of each family varying according to the the sampling method used. The most common species were Manacus manacus (Linnaeus, 1766) and Coereba flaveola (Linnaeus, 1758). The omnivores were the largest guild (n = 301 individuals), followed by the insectivores (n = 236) and the frugivores n = 146). The combined survey approach proved effective, increasing the number of bird species known to occur in the study area to 165, with an increase of more than 40% in comparison with previous surveys in the same area. Overall, the results of the present study reinforce the need for further ornithological surveys in the region, and the value of combining complementary approaches for a more comprehensive inventory during rapid surveys.

A taxonomic treatment of species of Senegalia (Leguminosae, Mimosoideae) from the Atlantic Domain is presented. We recognized the occurrence of 28 species, from about 52 species in Brazil. The species from the Atlantic Domain occur mainly in these physiognomies: Rain Forest (22), Restinga (14) and Semi-deciduous Forest (12). Fifteen species have wide distributions and 11 taxa have restricted areas of occurrence. We developed a dichotomous key, morphological descriptions, illustrations, and distribution maps for the species. The principal diagnostic characters were the shape, number and position of extrafloral nectaries, number of pairs of pinnae per leaf, and inflorescence type. Two new species are described here: S. amorimii and S. grazielae, and three new records were found for the Atlantic Domain: S. kallunkiae, S. limae, and S. santosii.

Sustainable management of wildlife habitat and risk of extinction

Em Pernambuco, além da Floresta Atlântica costeira, e dos Brejos de Altitude, as encostas orientais do Planalto da Borborema também são regiões ricas em espécies de Orchidaceae. Os afloramentos rochosos são comuns e têm sido indicados com uma das áreas mais representativas para a família no Nordeste do Brasil. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo inventariar a flora de orquídeas da área. Excursões foram realizadas entre 2005 e 2013, contemplando afloramentos rochosos de 13 áreas. Foram encontradas 29 spp. pertencentes a 18 gêneros, sendo Habenaria (seis spp.) e Epidendrum (quatro spp.) os mais representativos. Entre as espécies catalogadas destacam-se Acianthera prolifera e Octomeria alexandri como novos registros para Pernambuco, e Phragmipedium sargentianum que consta na lista de espécies ameaçadas de extinção no Brasil. As espécies são amplamente distribuídas a restritas na sua distribuição, dentre as quais, nove são endêmicas do Brasil. Este estudo corrobora informações anteriores sobre a elevada riqueza e abundância de Orchidaceae nas formações vegetais dos afloramentos rochosos, incluindo muitas espécies endêmicas. Apesar disto, poucas unidades de conservação no estado de Pernambuco englobam esse ecossistema tão importante.

While certain Brazilian ecosystems attract significant attention from the global scientific community, others - particularly those in mountainous regions, which are both unique and highly vulnerable - remain underexplored and inadequately understood, especially from the ecohydrological perspectives. This article calls for developing robust hydrological and ecohydrological research in the Brazilian mountains, which can contribute to their environmental protection and water resources management. To support this call, I present examples of the Serra da Mantiqueira Range, which is one of the most important Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspots in the World, besides being an important water source for the Southeast Brazil. I do not intend to present an exhaustive approach to the hydrology/ecohydrology of Brazilian mountains, since this is not possible, given their complexity and heterogeneity. Therefore, I propose to debate and illustrate this theme, to point knowledge gaps, and to propose a research agenda to contribute to the understanding of the water/ecosystem interactions in Brazilian mountains.

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest domain has one of the highest levels of plant species endemism, but the intense historical fragmentation across the coastal Atlantic tropical rain forest has reduced the original vegetation to < 10% and an island-like, patchy landscape. Despite such unprecedented vegetation loss, biogeographically and phylogenetically interesting discoveries in different angiosperm families have been newly reported for the Atlantic Forest in recent years. Here, we show that species discovery in the legume family (Fabaceae) across the Atlantic Forest has counter-intuitively been increasing. Since 1850, more than half of the legume species described for the domain are endemic, and the total number of endemic species has since increased almost four-fold, resulting in the current record of 442 endemic legumes. One such endemic is a new papilionoid legume, only known from a few giant trees that remained misidentified for 70 years since it was first collected. This new species, described here under the name Dipteryx hermetopascoaliana, based on morphological, geographical and molecular evidence, represents the first endemic species to the genus in the Atlantic Forest. We provide a complete morphological description, distribution map, preliminary conservation status and illustration of the new species. The phylogenetic isolation of D. hermetopascoaliana as sister to all other species of the genus and its restricted distribution in a severely fragmented landscape isolated by sugarcane monocultures in north-eastern Brazil are a signature of how critically endangered the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest is.

There has been an increasing number of studies on species extinction because of global warming based on estimations of changes in species distributions. Life cycle impact assessment methods do not have a biodiversity damage factor for global warming that uses the extinction risk index. In this study, a method for determining the extinction risks of individual species per unit CO2 emission was proposed and test calculations of the extinction risks of 216 species of Japanese vascular plants were performed. We also examined the possibility of determining local and global extinction risk factors using this method. This method uses the Expected Increase in the Number of Extinction Species (EINES), which is defined as the inverse of the time to extinction, as the extinction risk index. Procedures for determining the extinction risks of individual species per unit CO2 emission (EINES/species/kg) are as follows. First, based on the base scenario of CO2 emission, a niche-based species distribution model is used to estimate species distribution areas in 2000 and 2100 and calculate the distribution area decrease over 100 years. The number of years before the zero distribution area is then determined by assuming that the decrease is constant. Extinction risk is defined as the inverse of this time. The final step is to determine the extinction risk at specific CO2 emissions in addition to the base emission scenario and divide the difference in the extinction risk by the additional amount of CO2 emissions. The distribution areas of 216 species of Japanese vascular plants having southern distribution limits were estimated to decrease by 40–85% in 100 years. The accuracy of the estimation was sufficient according to the value of area under the curve (AUC). Considering climate models and migration conditions, the extinction risk per unit CO2 emission was estimated between −0.6 × 10−18 and 4.7 × 10−18 (EINES/species/kg). We converted the normalization values of the extinction risk of Japan for the 216 species to compare impact of land use changes and waste processing with that of global warming on the species. We found that global warming has smaller impact compared with land use changes and larger impact compared with waste processing. A method for estimating the extinction risks of species per unit CO2 emission was proposed, and it can be used to determine the local and global extinction risk factors of CO2.

Abstract—A new species of Eugenia from the Atlantic forest of Brazil is described and illustrated. Eugenia flavicarpa is restricted to the Floresta de Tabuleiro (lowland forests) of Espírito Santo state and is nested in Eugenia subg. Pseudeugenia. Considering all other species of the subgenus that occur in forest vegetation types of the Atlantic forest phytogeographic domain, Eugenia flavicarpa can be distinguished mainly by the combination of smooth leaves with indumentum on both surfaces, with two marginal veins, usually ramiflorous inflorescences, pedicels 4.5‐9.7 mm long, flower buds 3.5‐4 mm in diameter, and by the calyx lobes that are 2‐3 mm long with rounded to obtuse apices. Morphological analyses were performed to explore the significance of quantitative diagnostic features between the new species and the closely related species, Eugenia farneyi. Notes on the habitat, distribution, phenology, and conservation status of Eugenia flavicarpa are provided, as well as a key for all species of Eugenia subg. Pseudeugenia from forest vegetation of the Atlantic forest phytogeographic domain.

The Atlantic Forest is one of the largest and richest tropical rainforests on the planet, being one of the 25 world priorities for conservation. The Atlantic Forest portion located north of the São Francisco River corresponds to the Pernambuco Endemism Center (PEC). We describe the snake composition of the PEC, providing information about the diversity, natural history and geographical distribution of the species, based on records from five scientific collections and additional information from the literature. A total of 78 species of snakes distributed in eight families was registered in the Pernambuco Endemism Center. The Caatinga is the Brazilian biome that most shares species with the PEC, followed by Cerrado. On the other hand, seven species are considered endemic of this region. Most of the snake species in the PEC have been registered in forest (94.8%), followed by “Brejos Nordestinos” (46.1%), Tabuleiros (43.5%), Restingas (14.1%) and Mangroves (5.1%). The PEC snake fauna includes mainly terrestrial species (60.2%) and cryptozoic and/or fossorial species (21.7%), but also presents a high richness of semi-arboreal and arboreal species (29.5%). Vertebrates are the main food item consumed by the species (78% of species), among the main prey are mammals, lizards, and amphibians. Most species show a strictly nocturnal activity period (50%), followed by strictly diurnal (38%). The PEC is the most degraded and least known region of the Atlantic Forest, yet it has revealed a high richness of snake species, including seven endemic species. It is emphasized that regional conservation efforts need to be intensified, because few forests in the region are formally protected, and the majority consist of small and poorly protected fragments, which means that many species in the region may be in risk of extinction.