Forest conservation-Remember Gran Chaco-Response

PENNINGTON, R.T.; BANDA-R., K.; DELGADO-SALINAS, A.; DEXTER, K.G.; GALETTI, L.A.; LINARES-PALOMINO, R.; MATURO, H.M.; MOGNI, V.Y.; OAKLEY, L.J.; OLIVEIRA-FILHO, A.; PRADO, D.E.; QUINTANA, C.; RIINA, R.; SARKINEN, TIINA

SCIENCE

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE

Año: 2017 vol. 355 p. 465 - 466

0036-8075

DRYFLOR* (2017a): Forest conservation-Remember Gran Chaco?Response. Science 355 (6324): 465-466. ISSN 1095-9203. *Pennington, R.T.; K. Banda-R, A. Delgado-Salinas, K.G. Dexter, L. Galetti, R. Linares-Palomino, H.M. Maturo, V. Mogni, L. Oakley, A. Olivera-Filho, D.E. Prado, C. Quintana, R. Riina, T. Särkinen.We agree with others that there is a need to arrive at better, universallyagreed-upon definitions of neotropical biomes, especially in seasonally dry areas and including the Gran Chaco region. For this reason, there are 50 inventories of Chaco woodland in the openly available DRYFLOR database. Exploring biome definitions at this continental scale will require quantitative analysis of how floristic composition and ecosystem function is influenced by environmental conditions and geographic distance across all major neotropical biomes, including rain forests, dry forests, and savannas. We predict that if the Chaco woodlands are included in such a broad-scale analysis, their highly distinctive flora would separate them as a biome at a continental scale, underlining the importance of conserving their unique plant diversity.