Use of Specimen Data

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Use of Specimen Data in Conservation
Olga Martha Montiel
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Putting scientific data to work for conservation
MBG Resources

• 48 Ph.D. botanists
• 2.86 million specimen records of vascular
  plants in TROPICOS
• 2.5 million specimen records from the New World
• 5.5 million specimens in the MBG herbarium
• 231,563 library items
• Consolidated partnerships

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Flora de Nicaragua

Families 225 Genera 1,699 Species
5,796 Number of collections 123,000 96
geo-referenced Endemism 1.5 (79 species) At
least 33 species have become extinct in the
country in the last century
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Collection density
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Species Diversity
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Conservation status of the flora of Nicaragua
Assignation of preliminary conservation value to
each species in the Flora using the following
criteria Number of collections Date
of the last collection Distribution of the
species

Evaluation of the species with higher
conservation values applying the IUCN criteria
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P. rhynchanthus
Psittacanthus minor Endemic to the Sebaco Valley
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Bonamia douglasii
CR
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Coursetia paucifoliolata
Calliandra sp.
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Justicia ramosa

Guaiacum sanctum
Dictyanthus cerratopetalus
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Systematic Studies of Individual Plant Families
Including Red Listings
Studies of Mesoamerican Asclepiadaceae A case
study of the family in Guatemala
Revision No. of species in Mesoamerica
205 No. of species in Guatemala
105 No. of new species in Mesoamerica 60
Conservation analysis Assignation of
conservation values IUCN evaluation
Modeled distributions of the most
endangered species
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Plant conservation in the Eastern Arc Mountains
and Coastal Forests of Kenya and Tanzania
Compilation of information on the plants in the
region Field and herbaria work Evaluation of
the conservation status of the estimated 1800
species in the hot spot (IUCN Red List
Categories) Creation of a network of regional
experts
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Identification of important areas of biodiversity
in Ecuador and comparison with future scenarios
of climate change
Data included in the analysis Plant
families No. of species No. of
collections Araceae (Anthurium)
46 2347 Bignoniaceae (Bignonieae) 10
390 Bromeliaceae 180 4250 Gesneriaceae 130
5673 Lauraceae 82 2048 Leguminosae 232
6617
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Evaluating plant collection data representation
for ecological niche modeling a case study using
plant vouchers from Ecuador and Bolivia
This project focuses on testing whether plant
voucher specimens adequately sample the climatic
gradient in two countries Ecuador and Bolivia.
Note that ecological niche modeling may help to
correct geographic sampling bias in the
distribution of voucher specimens, but may be
severely and adversely affected by environmental
sampling bias.
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Determinants of Vascular Plant Species Richness
in the Tropical Andes
Over 366,000 plant specimen records from
TROPICOS database are being analyzed to test the
correlation of climate, habitat, and topographic
factors with patterns of species richness in the
Tropical Andes
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Advancing the Goals of the Global Strategy for
Plant Conservation

• Preliminary assessments of the conservation
  status of
• species
• Identify centers of plant diversity to help
  assure the protection of
• the areas that hold the greatest numbers of
  species
• Analysis and interpretation of plant data to
  support conservation decision-making