Checklist of the Plants of the Guiana Shield - Department of Botany ...

Checklist of the Plants of the Guiana Shield
FOREWORD
At a time when human activities have placed enormous stress on the natural world, there is still
much that we do not know about the Earth’s biodiversity; the great majority of species have not yet been
described, and very few of those that have been named are known in any detail. Checklists provide us
with a first approximation of what we know, and can provide a profile of the biodiversity in relatively
poorly-known parts of the globe. For many groups, they may represent the most complete information
available. Since basic taxonomic information provides essential information for studies in systematic
and evolutionary biology, we continually seek to improve and update it. Collecting specimens and writing
checklists, flora treatments, and monographs are all essential elements in our quest to understand the
natural world and how it evolved.
In northern South America, one of the richest regions of the world in terms of biodiversity, our
knowledge has grown with the recent publication of the Checklist of the Plants of Peru, Checklist of the
Plants of Ecuador, and the nearly-completed Checklist of the Plants of Bolivia. This current volume,
which covers all of the plants known from the Guiana Shield region in northeastern South America, is
another outstanding contribution to this global effort. All perrtinent information about this region will
be brought together in a comprehensive New World Checklist of Vascular Plants and Bryophytes
(http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/nwc.html). All of these projects contribute to our overall mission
to understand, preserve, and protect the wealth of biodiversity that is such an outstanding feature of this
incredible part of the world.
Checklists have many uses: they are aids in the identification and correct naming of species, essential
resources for biodiversity estimates and biogeographic studies, and the starting points for more detailed
studies of an area’s biota. Reviewed by many specialists, they often represent the most advanced state of
knowledge available in their field. They also increase national and regional pride and provide important
public outreach and fundamental information to use in addressing the biodiversity crisis. This checklist
of the plants of the Guiana Shield, combined with the recently published Checklist of the Terrestrial
Vertebrates of the Guiana Shield, increases our knowledge of this fascinating region and acts as a starting
point from which additional research may be developed. It gives insight into the species richness,
endemicity, and floral and faunal affinities of this region. Such lists can also provide the baseline
information for analyzing species turnover rates, migration, invasion events, and many other biological
phenomena.
In the face of the growing biodiversity crisis, we celebrate the collaborative nature of a project such
as this. It is an excellent example of effective interaction, involving over 250 people from around the
world who contributed in diverse ways to its completion. These contributors variously collected plants
from the area, provided identifications of and information about those plants, or reviewed drafts of the
checklist, and together made possible its successful completion.
It is with great pleasure that I welcome this important addition to our knowledge of the biodiversity
of Earth, and at the same time congratulate the many individuals and institutions who made it possible.
Peter H. Raven
President, Missouri Botanical Garden
George Engelmann Professor of Botany, Washington University in St. Louis
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