Though nobody could ever specifically count the number but everybody is more or less sure about the fact that Amazon rainforest homes more different kind of trees than anywhere else on the Earth.
In 2013, scientists from the Field Museum in Chicago, estimated that the number of species was around 16,000. However, the same scientists have now looked at museum collections from around the world to confirm just how many tree species have been recorded in the Amazon so far and that lead them to estimate how many still remain to be discovered and how long that may take, said Shivali Best MAilOnline.
Nigel Pitman, The Field Museum’s Mellon Senior Conservation Ecologist, said: ‘An international team of botanists tallied up the number of species in more than half a million museum specimens collected in the Amazon between 1707 and 2015, and we came away with a list of 11,676 Amazonian tree species.
‘We interpret this to mean that our 2013 estimate of 16,000 species is good, and that about 4,000 of the rarest Amazonian trees remain to be discovered and described.’
Since 1900, between 50 and 200 new species of tree have been discovered in the Amazon every year.
Mr Pitman also added that: ‘Our analysis suggests that we won’t be done discovering new tree species there for three more centuries.’
Because much of the data from the museums was hundreds of years old, the study relied upon the digitalisation of many collections.
“We couldn’t have written this paper without digitisation efforts. All of the information we needed was in the same place, so we didn’t have to go through every individual museum in the world. We were able to use data not just from The Field Museum, but from museum collections everywhere”, Mr Pitman said.
The results of this study could prove an invaluable resource for ecologists studying the Amazonian rainforest, reported Shivali.
Hans ter Steege, from the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, who led the study, said: ‘We’re trying to give people tools so they’re not just laboring in the dark.
‘The checklist gives scientists a better sense of what’s actually growing in the Amazon Basin, and that helps conservation efforts.’
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