There are more different types of trees in the rainforest of the Amazon than anywhere else in the world, but the exact number is a mystery that will take 300 years to resolve.
In 2013, scientists estimated the approximate number of Amazonian tree species in about 16 mil. In a new study in Scientific Reports, these same researchers delve into collections of museums around the world to confirm how many tree species have been recorded so far in the Amazon and how many have not yet discovered.
Nigel Pitman, curator at the Field Museum, says that more than half a million specimens collected in the Amazon have been recorded in the museums between 1707 and 2015, with a list of 11 thousand 676 species of trees. We interpret our 2013 estimate of 16,000 species in total is correct, and that about 4,000 of the rarest Amazonian trees have not yet been discovered and described.
“Since 1900, between 50 and 200 new trees have been discovered in the Amazon each year,” adds Pitman. “Our analysis suggests that the discovery of new species of trees are not culminate during three centuries.”
The study was based on the digitization of museum collections, with records, photographs and digital records of specimens in museum collections that are shared throughout the world through websites like IDigBio aggregator.
