Research Training Program

Katarina Topalov
University of Novi Sad
Novi Sad, Yugoslavia

Vicki Funk, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
Department of Systematic Biology
Division of Botany

"If only there were more undergraduate programs like the RTP."

Evaluation of Plant Diversity on the Guiana Shield

The Guiana Shield is located in the northeastern part of South America and includes the countries Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana, and the north part of Brazil. It hosts a unique assemblage of plants and animals that is extremely rich, but not well explored. Since this area is now threatened by resource extraction, it is important that an understanding is gained of its biodiversity so that decisions about its conservation can be made. This proposal has been difficult to evaluate in the past because there was not enough information about the plants that have been collected. That is why the first aim of this project was to gather the data about the collected plants from as many sources as possible and the second one was to evaluate the collecting bias such as time of year or intensity of collecting. Also, one of the most commonly made mistakes in botanical studies is collecting and determining easily reached plant species (not far away from roads, tracks and rivers, etc.). However, even data like this can provide valuable information if analyzed properly, because they can be used as proxies in comparisons of two or more sites. Finally, the ways of overcoming the collecting bias have been tested by using various kinds of statistical analyses in order to provide a more objective application of the already existing information about the plant collections and, therefore, more precise insight into the flora of northeastern South America. The gathered results were used to estimate the plant diversity in western Venezuela and examine how this diversity compares to similar areas in French Guiana, Guyana and Brazil. What was discovered was that all the areas have unique plant assemblages, so none of them can be used as a surrogate for any of the others in terms of future conservation efforts.

This research was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

Letter of Gratitude