Tropical Plant Collecting From the Field to the Internet Edited by Scott A. Mori Amy Berkov Carol A. Gracie Edmund F. Hecklau TECC Editora Florianópolis, Brazil This book is dedicated to John Daniel Mitchell in recognition of his support of the Institute of Systematic Botany and the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of The New York Botanical Garden © 2012 by Scott A. Mori ISBN: (Color Edition) Published by TECC Editora Florianópolis, Brazil www.tecceditora.com - [email protected] Distributed by Itasca Books Cover painting by Michael Rothman All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and re- trieval system, without prior permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote short passages in a review. The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the editors, authors, and publisher. The editors, authors, and publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book. Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xiv Chapter 1. My Career as a Tropical Botanist BY SCOTT A. MORI | 1 Box 1-1. The Difference between Monographs and Floras 2 Initiation to Botany 3 Becoming a Tropical Botanist 6 Monograph of the Brazil Nut Family 16 A Year in Panama 17 NYBG Post-Doc 24 Bahia, Brazil 27 NYBG Curator 31 French Guiana 32 Central French Guiana 35 Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project 43 Nouragues 48 Saba 52 Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica 55 Conclusions 57 Chapter 2. Amy’s Year in the Rain Forest BY AMY BERKOV | 59 Flirting with Domesticity 61 Sensory Deprivation in the Midst of Plenty 63 Waiting for Things to Fall From the Sky 66 The Emerging of Scamps 69 The Giant Wild Forest Pussy Cat 71 La Carte de Sejour Vrai 72 Seasonal Changes in the Land of Endless Summer 74 N’habite pas à L’adresse Indiquée 75 Epilogue 75 Chapter 3. Tips for Tropical Biologists BY SCOTT A. MORI | 77 Hiking to Camp 78 Camp Sites 79 Camp Life 84 Dangers and Annoyances 85 Accidents 85 Box 3-1. Machete as a Cane 88 Lost in the Forest 89 Dangerous Waters 89 Box 3-2. Lost in the Forest 90 Arachnids 94 Chiggers 94 Scorpions 95 Spiders 95 Ticks 96 Insects 97 Ants 97 Bees and wasps 97 Box 3-3. Tarantula Hawk 101 Whiplash beetles 102 Butterflies and moths 103 Burrowing fleas 104 Tabanid flies 104 Black flies 105 Botflies 106 Parasites 108 Dengue fever 108 Cutaneous larva migrans 109 Leishmaniasis 109 Malaria 112 Snakes 114 Mammals 118 Jaguars 118 Pumas 120 Peccaries 120 Box 3-4. Pecari tajacu 121 Monkeys 123 Humans 124 Box 3-5. Guerrilleros 126 Conclusions 129 Chapter 4. From the Field BY SCOTT A. MORI | 131 Collection Numbers and Duplicates 135 How Many Collections? 138 What to Collect? 140 Vouchers for Ecological Studies 141 Equipment 145 Clothing 145 Collecting equipment 146 Specimen Collecting 148 Finding collections 148 Specimen notes 149 Climbing trees 152 Preparing specimens 163 Specimen images 167 Box 4-1. Protocol for Images of Lecythidaceae 168 Box 4-2. Construction of a Plant Holder for Photography 170 Drying specimens 171 Box 4-3. Construction of a Standard Wooden Propane- driven Drying Frame 173 Box 4-2. Construction of an Aluminum Hotplate-driven Mini Plant Drying Frame 176 Tips for Collecting in Neotropical Countries 183 Before the arrival 184 During the visit 186 Before the departure 187 After the expedition 188 Conclusions 188 Chapter 5. Into the Herbarium BY SCOTT A. MORI | 191 Herbarium Management 194 Geographical focus 194 Label making 195 Box 5-1. An Example of a Collection Label 197 Cataloging 198 How many records are needed? 200 Geo-referencing 202 Naming image files 205 Use of space 207 Specimen annotation 211 Herbarium mission statements and collection policies 211 Box 5-2. Mission and Collecting Policy 212 Conclusions 213 Chapter 6. Onto the Internet BY SCOTT A. MORI | 215 Electronic Monographs 217 Important Components of Electronic monographs 218 Specimens 219 Multimedia 220 Taxonomy 220 Box 6-1. Species Page Content 221 Literature 223 Glossaries 225 Keys 225 Electronic Floras 226 Box 6-2. Specimens from the Field onto the Internet 227 Citation of e-monographs and e-Floras 230 Problems Remaining to be Addressed 230 Conservation 236 Conclusions 238 Chapter 7. Rain Forests of Tropical America: Is there Hope for their Future? BY SCOTT A. MORI | 239 Tropical rain forest 239 Biodiversity 241 Why are there so many Species in the Neotropics? 242 Economic Importance 245 Plant Succession 248 Both Fragile and Resilient 249 Man’s Role 252 Ecosystem Services 259 Human Population and Consumption 263 Biofuels 264 Water and Climate Change 266 Is there Hope for the future? 270 Appendix A. Adopt-a-Forest Strategy BY SCOTT A. MORI | 273 Appendix B. Funding for Systematic Botany BY SCOTT A. MORI | 275 Why Support Systematic Botany? 276 Importance of Grants 278 The National Science Foundation (NSF) 279 Hypothesis conundrum 283 National Geographic Society (NGS) 284 Foundations 285 Contracts 287 Fellowships 287 Ecotours 288 Individual Giving 291 Additional Institutional Support 292 Miscellaneous Rund Raising 294 Appendix C. Personal Field Supplies BY SCOTT A. MORI | 295 Appendix D. Essential Collecting Equipment BY SCOTT A. MORI | 297 Literature Cited | 299 Index to Scientific Names, Common Names, and Place Names | 319 Preface The diversity of plants is described in two important kinds of publica- tions—Floras and monographs (Box 1-1). A Flora describes all plants in a given geographic area, and a monograph treats all species of a particular group of plants throughout its geographic range. Monographs, which include the information needed for identify- ing plants as well as a summary of what is known about the group stud- ied, provide the baseline information needed for other studies of plants, such as cytology, molecular biology, ecology, environmental assessments, conservation biology, and economic botany. Mares (1991) has pointed out that modern research on mammals in the United States is “built upon a firm foundation of basic research” and without this foundation “the excit- ing questions now being asked would be difficult to formulate.” Likewise, well-done and complete Floras are the most useful tools for determining the names of plants in specific areas, and also facilitate biological stud- ies that would be impossible without this important baseline information. An outstanding example is Croat’s (1978) classic Flora of Barro Colorado Island, which has been followed by studies of the island’s forest ecology (Leigh et al., 1982, 1996), as well as by studies of the insects, birds, mam- mals, and all other organisms that depend upon the plants described in the Flora. In other words, Floras and monographs serve as the basis for studies of evolution, ecology, ethnobotany, and conservation biology because they allow researchers to identify the plants they study. Published monographs and Floras provide the foundation needed to design studies that test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses. We do not mean to imply, however, that the botanists who produce monographs and Floras do not test hypotheses. Contrary to the claims of some crit- ics of systematic botany, who maintain that systematics is not a science, but merely “stamp collecting” or an enumeration of facts about the liv- ing world, hypothesis testing is the very foundation of systematic botany. The overwhelming amount of descriptive work in systematics masks the hypothesis testing, but every taxon (e.g., family, genus, species) defined x / Tropical Plant Collecting: From the Field to the Internet by a systematist is a hypothesis that is open to testing by the addition of new collections and the accumulation of new data. In short, there are as many hypotheses in systematic biology as there are taxa on the planet! In addition, the establishment of species boundaries paves the way for testing hypotheses about the evolutionary and ecological relationships between plants and animals, as well as the relationships that plants have with their abiotic environment. Mori et al.’s (2005) discussion demonstrates how the availability of both a published Flora and a bat Fauna facilitated a study of plant/bat interactions in the Neotropics (Lobova et al, 2009). Bats play an important role in the pollination and dispersal of tropical plants; however, details of these interactions in lowland neotropical forests are not thoroughly docu- mented because there are few areas in the Neotropics with published in- ventories of both plants and bats. An exception is found in central French Guiana, where the existence of both a Flora (Mori et al. 1997, 2002a) and a bat Fauna (Charles-Dominique et al. 2001) made it possible to identify the regional species. This, in turn, facilitated determining the identities of plants that specific bats depend upon for at least part of their nutrition, and the identities of bats that specific plants depend on for seed dispersal (Lobova et al. 2009). Lobova et al. (2009) addressed the hypothesis that the relationships between bats and plants have resulted in morphological adaptations in both groups. They also demonstrated that bats play a key role in maintaining biodiversity in tropical lowland forests. This book describes the field work involved in making plant col- lections and gathering the data used in producing monographs and Flor- as. Chapters 1 and 2 deal with Mori’s career as a tropical botanist and Berkov’s adaptation to the rigors of a year’s field work in French Guiana. The third chapter discusses the adventures and misadventures inherent to tropical field studies. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 provide insights into how botanical specimens are collected, processed, and integrated into herbaria, and how information about them is disseminated via the Internet.