Distribution of endemic angiosperm species in Brazil on a municipality level

Abstract

Background

Herbarium collections and the data they hold are the main sources of plant biodiversity information. These collections contain taxonomical and spatial data on living and extinct species; consequently, they are the fundamental basis for temporal and spatial biogeographical studies of plants. Mega projects focused on providing digital and free access to accurate biodiversity data have transformed plant science research, mainly in the past two decades. In this sense, researchers today are overwhelmed by the many different datasets in online repositories. There are also several challenges involved in using these data for biogeographical analyses. Analyses performed on the data available in the repositories show that 70-75% of the total amount of data have spatial deficiencies and a high number of records lack coordinates. This shortage of reliable primary biogeographical information creates serious impediments for biogeographical analyses and conservation assessments and taxonomic revisions consequently produces obstacles for evaluations of threats to biodiversity at global, regional and local levels. With the aim of contributing to botanical and biogeographical research, this paper provides georeferenced spatial data for angiosperm species endemic to Brazil. The information from two reliable online databases, i.e. the Flora do Brasil 2020 floristic database (BFG) and Plantas do Brasil: Resgate Histórico e Herbário Virtual para o Conhecimento e Conservação da Flora Brasileira (REFLORA), which are both based on records collected over the course of the last two centuries, is used to create this spatial dataset.

New information

We provide three taxonomically-edited and georeferenced datasets for basal angiosperms, monocots and eudicots, covering a total of 14,992 endemic species from Brazil. Producing this consolidated dataset involved several months of detailed revision of coordinates and nomenclaturally updating of the names in these datasets. The information provided in this geo-referenced dataset, covering two centuries of specimen collections, will contribute to several botanical and mainly biogeographical studies.