Researchers from Cuiabá and Alta Floresta, 800 km from the capital, discovered a possible new plant species for the Amazon and three new records of botanical varieties for Mato Grosso, during the resumption of research for the ‘Flora Cristalino Program’, created 13 years ago for the study and discovery of unknown vegetation.
The list of plants in the Crystalline Natural Heritage Private Reserves (RPPNs) was produced, for the first time, between 2008 and 2013, when they carried out research in an area of 187.71 thousand hectares and collected 3.5 thousand specimens, over the five years of analysis.
The initiative is from researchers at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), in Cuiabá, the State University of Mato Grosso (Unemat), in Alta Floresta and the Herbarium of the Southern Amazon (Herbam).
According to biologist, UFMT researcher and project coordinator, Ana Kelly Koch, the identification of plants in a vegetation is the starting point for any scientific study, be it fauna, water resources, climate and others.
“There are already more or less 500 collections, since the first expeditions that we started making, since June, in practically three months of the project”, he said.
In the first phase, the Flora Cristalino Program listed 1,366 plant species, referring to 626 genera belonging to 151 families, covering the nine types of vegetation found in the region, five of which represent forest formations, two campinaranas, a rupestrian field and a pioneer formation. .
MT researchers discover possible new plant species for the Amazon
*Under the supervision of Kessillen Lopes
