Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation

Member Websites

Visit the Websites of the members of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation

Member websites are developed by ATBC members to share knowledge and tools with a broad community of tropical biologists. Each link below will take you to the summary; click the home page view of each site to visit and explore.

Scott A. Mori's Websites

This page introduces the websites of Scott Mori, Botanist at The New York Botanical Garden. Scott specializes on the systematics and ecology of Neotropical Lecythidaceae, and in neotropical floristics. He has initiated an e-Flora of French Guiana in collaboration with French Scientists associated with IRD and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and he and his wife, Carol Gracie, have prepared an electronic checklist of the flowering plants of the Caribbean island of Saba in the Netherlands Antilles. This flora also includes checklists of other vascular plant groups as well as the marine algae and lichens contributed by others. Scott also collaborates with Reinaldo Aguilar and Xavier Cornejo in the preparation of an e-flora of the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica and with Nathan P. Smith on a Glossary for Vascular Plants. Finally, he and his colleagues are synthesizing what they have learned about neotropical Lecythidaceae on the Lecythidaceae Pages. Information about these projects is available on the following websites.

Author

Scott A. Mori is the Nathaniel Lord Britton Curator of Botany, at The New York Botanical Garden. His research on flowering plants focuses on the taxonomy and ecology of trees of the lowland New World tropics. He is especially interested in co-evolution between plants and their pollinators and seed dispersers. In order to investigate these relationships, he pursues taxonomic research on the Brazil nut family (Lecythidaceae) for which he and his colleague Iain Prance, have completed a Flora Neotropical Monograph. Scott Mori is dedicated to the conservation of tropical forests. He has prepared a vascular plant flora of a biological reserve in central French Guiana. The flora was done in collaboration with the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), one of the organizations responsible for research in France's overseas departments. The book is designed to allow non-botanists to determine the names of plants in this, one of the last wilderness areas of the world. He continue his work in French Guiana with studies of plant/animal interactions, in particular bat pollination and dispersal. (Photo by Carol Gracie)

His latest publication is Tropical Plant Collection. From the Field to the Internet.

LP_Banner

Lecythidaceae - the Brazil nut family

by Scott A. Mori, Nathan P. Smith, X. Cornejo and Ghillean T. Prance

The long-term goal of this website is to provide, in a single location, all of the information that we and our collaborators have accumulated on the taxonomy and biology of the Brazil nut family. We include species pages, electronic identification keys, a specimen database, literature references (especially protologues) which often include PDFs of the publications, access to images of herbarium specimens (especially types), field images, and a glossary to the specialized terminology of neotropical Lecythdiaceae. We also include PowerPoint presentations on topics such as pollination and dispersal biology as well as give tips on how to photograph and collect specimens of Lecythidaceae in the field. This site focuses on New World Lecythidaceae.

Saba_Banner

Plants and Lichens of Saba

by S. A. Mori, W. R. Buck, C. A. Gracie, & M. Tulig

In February 2006, Conservation International, in conjunction with the Saba Conservation Foundation, embarked on a project to survey the biodiversity of Saba from beneath the sea to the summit of its highest peak, Mt. Scenery. As part of this effort, the Department of Botany of the Smithsonian Institution surveyed the marine algae. In 2006 and 2007, The New York Botanical Garden participated in surveying the bryophytes, lichens, and vascular plants of the island. Although small in size, Saba's rugged topography is covered by several vegetation types, ranging from near desert to cloud forest. Our goal has been to provide illustrated checklists (a virtual museum) of all of the plants and lichens that grow on Saba and in the surrounding sea. Both native and introduced plants are included. All plants (algae, bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering plants are included in this project.

Osa_Banner

Vascular Plants of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

by Reinaldo Aguilar, Xavier Cornejo, Catherine V. Bainbridge, Melissa Tulig, and Scott A. Mori

The New York Botanical Garden, Friends of the Osa, and Los Charcos Center for Regional Plant Diversity have worked together to produce a database-driven, specimen based, illustrated checklist of the flowering plants of the Osa Peninsula in Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. The goals of this project are to: 1) inventory the plants of the Osa by making herbarium specimens to document the presence and distribution of species on the peninsula; 2) attach selected images of herbarium specimens and digital images taken in the field to the records of herbarium specimens serving as vouchers for them; 3) contribute to the conservation of the plants of Costa Rica by identifying those species that need to be given special consideration for protection because they are endemic and/or the habitats in which they occur are threatened; and 4) provide information that will allow researchers and the general public to recognize Osa plants, learn their names, understand their ecology, and participate in their conservation.

Click here to access a map that shows the location and overall boundaries of the project.

The New York Botanical Garden's Glossary for Vascular Plants

By Scott A. Mori and Nathan P. Smith

The purpose of this botanical glossary is to provide definitions of the terminology used in the descriptions and keys of web sites at The New York Botanical Garden. The reason we prepared this glossary was to take advantage of electronic media to attach as many images as needed to illustrate terms and to be able to provide links to terms related to one another. Records of terms in this database can also be attached to electronic keys to illustrate choices between characters in the keys.

FrenchGuiana_Banner

French Guiana e-Flora Project

by Scott A. Mori, Melissa Tulig, Jean-Jacques de Granville, Sophie González, Véronique Guerin, Hervé Chevillotte, & Jerôme Chave

The New York Botanical Garden (NY), The Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) are working together to produce a database-driven, specimen-based, illustrated checklist of the flowering plants of the Nouragues Nature Reserve that will be the first step in a French coordinated effort to produce an electronic flora of French Guiana. The goals of this project are to: 1) Continue the inventory of the plants of the reserve by making high quality herbarium specimens that will serve as vouchers for DNA collections, images of flowers, fruits, and seedlings; and as documentation of the presence of a species in the reserve; 2) attach images of herbarium specimens, botanical line illustrations, and digital images to the records of the specimens serving as vouchers for them; 3) select representative images and attach them to the names of species documented to occur in the reserve; 4) prepare an electronic, illustrated key to the families of flowering plants known to occur in the reserve; and 5) prepare an e-flora treatment for the Lecythidaceae to serve as a model for treatments of other families to be included in an eventual e-flora for all of French Guiana. These goals have been met and the project is no longer actively managed. The authors would be willing to turn this site over to someone who would like to continue botanical exploration in this area.

References

Mori, S. A., W. R. Buck, C. A. Gracie & M. Tulig. 2007 onward. Plants and Lichens of Saba (http://sweetgum.nybg.org/saba/). Virtual Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden.
Mori, S. A., N. P. Smith, X. Cornejo & G. T. Prance. 18 March 2010 onward. The Lecythidaceae Pages (http://sweetgum.nybg.org/lp/index.php). The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.
Aguilar, R., X. Cornejo, C. Bainbridge, M. Tulig & S. A. Mori. 2008 onward. Vascular Plants of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica (http:sweetgum.nybg.org/osa/). The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.
Mori, S. A. & N. P. Smith. 2012 onward. The New York Botanical Garden's glossary for vascular plants (http://sweetgum.nybg.org/glossary/). Virtual Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.
Mori, S. A., M. Tulig, J.-J. de Granville, S. Gonzalez & V. Guerin. 15 Dec 2007 onward. French Guiana e-Flora Project. The New York Botanical Garden and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (http://sweetgum.nybg.org/fg/).

Received 20 September 2012; Published on line 2 October 2012.

RainforestPlants

RainforestPlants is a web-based tool for learning tropical botany, specifically the recognition and identification of plant families. Sixty-five common flowering plant families are described, providing a broad, but not overwhelming introduction to the subject.

Authors

RainforestPlants was developed by Scott Shumway (Wheaton College, Norton, MA) and Susan Letcher (Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, NY). The families, genera, and species included are representative of La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica, an important training ground for tropical botanists (McDade et al 1994). However, these families are prevalent across the Neotropics, giving the website a much broader applicability.

Goals

RainforestPlants was designed for students who come to the tropics for a short period of intense study, often with little prior knowledge of tropical biology or basic botany. The mix of simplicity combined with breadth of coverage will also make RainforestPlants a valuable resource for advanced students of plant systematics, dendrology, ecology, and ethnobotany throughout the Neotropics. Similarly, we hope that it will pique the interest of non-botanists interested in knowing more about the plants with which their study organisms interact.

Content

Upon entering a tropical forest, a student is overwhelmed by the diversity of plants and by the seeming impossibility of ever sorting them out. RainforestPlants provides several ways for students to begin to make sense of this botanical diversity by organizing it into taxonomic groupings. An introductory section provides guidelines on “How to Examine a Plant” in the field. Once basic features, such as leaf complexity, phyllotaxy, and presence or absence of stipules are ascertained, the user is guided through a series of tests that are helpful for key identification features such as exudates, odor, leaf characteristics visible under a hand lens, and bark strength. A fully illustrated glossary helps the user learn a basic botanical vocabulary.

The information provided in RainforestPlants makes it possible to identify most tropical plants to the level of family using one of two user-friendly keys. The first is a variation on a key published by Gentry (1996). The second is the matrix developed by Dr. Humberto Jimenez-Saa for use in teaching tropical dendrology. The first works for all 65 families, while the second works for trees. The family pages provide a way to identify some of the more common genera in a family. In some cases, species-level identification will also be possible. A page of “top ten lists” lets the student know which of these families, genera, and species are most abundant and species-rich in old-growth forest at La Selva. Hopefully this will provide the students with a framework for organizing and expanding their knowledge of tropical plants.

Each family is briefly described on its own page. The defining characteristics and economic uses for each family are written in English and Spanish with a minimum of technical jargon. Descriptions are followed by a list of the genera and numbers of species found at the La Selva Biological Station. A line drawing shows a representative species. Field marks to be employed for identification are provided for each family and are followed by color photographs illustrating these key features and providing examples of important genera within the family.

The palms are one of the quintessential groups of tropical plants. Even the neophyte botanist can point out a member of the palm family with a fair degree of confidence. The abundance of individuals and the diversity of species of palms are unusually high in the La Selva forest (Hartshorn and Hammel 1994). A user-friendly key has been created that will enable the identification of 23 of the 34 species found at La Selva. The remaining are either uncommon in the forest or non-native cultivated species. The palm key links to descriptions and photographs of each species. A pdf link enables users to print out the key and carry it into the field.

Future Developments

In the future the authors plan to develop a version of RainforestPlants that can be used in the field on hand-held electronic devices, such as the ipad and smart phone.

Taxonomy provides a foundation for ecology and conservation (McNeely 2002).
Training a new generation of tropical ecologists will depend on making taxonomic information accessible, relevant, and attractive.
RainforestPlants fills an important niche by providing an entry point into the complex world of tropical plant taxonomy.

Literature Cited

Gentry, A.H. 1996. A Field Guide to the Families and Genera of Woody Plants of Northwest South America (Columbia, Ecuador, Peru) with Supplementary Notes on Herbaceous Taxa. University of Chicago Press.
Hartshorn, G.B. and Hammel, B.E. 1994. Vegetation and Floristic Types. In McDade, L.A. et al. 1994. La Selva: Ecology and Natural History of a Neotropical Rain Forest. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Jimenez-Saa, H. 2008. Tropical Dendrology. http://www.hjimenez.org/dendrology.html
McDade, L.A. et al. 1994. La Selva: Ecology and Natural History of a Neotropical Rain Forest. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
McNeely, J.A. 2002. The Role of Taxonomy in Conserving Biodiversity. Journal for Nature Conservation 10:145-153.

Received 11 July 2012; Published on line 15 July 2012.

2013 Annual Meeting

San José, Costa Rica,
23-27 June

Account Login