Amazon plant diversity revealed by a taxonomically verified species list.

Recent debates on the number of plant species in the vast lowland rain forests of the Amazon have been based largely on model estimates, neglecting published checklists based on verified voucher data. Here we collate taxonomically verified checklists to present a list of seed plant species from lowland Amazon rain forests. Our list comprises 14,003 species, of which 6,727 are trees.

Identification of Amazonian trees with DNA barcodes.

Background: Large-scale plant diversity inventories are critical to develop informed conservation strategies. However, the workload required for classic taxonomic surveys remains high and is particularly problematic for megadiverse tropical forests.

Methodology/principal Findings: Based on a comprehensive census of all trees in two hectares of a tropical forest in French Guiana, we examined whether plant DNA barcoding could contribute to increasing the quality and the pace of tropical plant biodiversity surveys.

Floral organogenesis and floral evolution of the Lecythidoideae (Lecythidaceae).

The subfamily Lecythidoideae of Lecythidaceae (Brazil nut family) is a dominant group in neotropical forests, especially those of Amazonia. New World members of the family have large showy flowers that are either polysymmetric or monosymmetric. In this study, floral organogenesis of all 10 neotropical genera was examined using SEM.

Evolution of Lecythidaceae with an emphasis on the circumscription of neotropical genera: information from combined ndhF and trnL-F sequence data.

The Lecythidaceae comprise a pantropical family best known for the edible seeds of the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) and the cannon-ball tree (Couroupita guianensis), which is planted as a botanical curiosity in subtropical and tropical gardens. In addition, species of the family are often among the most common in neotropical forests, especially in the Amazon Basin. The Brazil nut family is diverse and abundant in the Amazon and is considered to be an indicator of undisturbed or scarcely disturbed lowland forests; thus, what is learned about its evolution, ecology, and biogeography may suggest similar patterns for other Amazonian tree families.

Cecropia as a food resource for bats in French Guiana and the significance of fruit structure in seed dispersal and longevity.

Cecropia (Cecropiaceae) is a Neotropical genus of pioneer plants. A review of bat/plant dispersal interactions revealed that 15 species of Cecropia are consumed by 32 species of bats. In French Guiana, bats were captured in primary and secondary forests, yielding 936 fecal samples with diaspores, among which 162 contained fruits of C.