Daniela C Zappi

University of Brasília | UnB · Department of Botany

Old, climate-buffered infertile landscapes (Ocbils) have attracted increasing levels of interest in recent years because of their exceptionally diverse plant communities. Brazil’s campos rupestres (rupestrian grasslands) are home to almost 15% of Brazil’s native flora in less than 0.8% of Brazil’s territory: an ideal study system for exploring vari...

In order to establish effective conservation strategy, drivers of local and regional patterns of biodiversity need to be understood. The composition of local biodiversity is dependent on a number of factors including evolution and redistribution of lineages through dispersal and environmental heterogeneity. Brazilian canga is characterised by a fer...

Open habitats such as grasslands occupy < 5% of the Amazon and are currently grouped under the broad term Amazonian savanna, covering an area of c. 267 000 km 2 , mostly in Brazil and Bolivia. These habitats are found isolated within an extensive rainforest matrix, having a distinct flora from the latter. The lower Amazon River is home to several p...

Cactaceae has many vertebrate-pollinated species, and in the subtribe Cereinae, several genera are indicated as being pollinated by bats. In this subtribe, we observed phenotypic specialization in floral morphological attributes associated with chiropterophily, allowing high precision in the determination of this pollination system. However, in loc...

Prestes a completar cem anos, a semana de 1922, importante marco transformador da arte brasileira, é hoje refletida na totalidade de nossa literatura, música e pintura. Esta releitura poética ilustrada confronta sete dos personagens mais importantes do modernismo, entrelaçados ao longo de sete poemas cada um, abordando seus talentos excepcionais, s...

A phylogenetic study of Uebelmannia investigates the relationships of a newly discovered taxon in this enigmatic, early‐diverging genus that is sister to all the other c. 460 species of tribe Cereeae. Here we present a coalescent‐based phylogenetic tree inferred with nuclear genes captured by the Cactaceae591 probe set encompassing all Uebelmannia...

Main conclusion Natural selection influenced adaptive divergence between Cereus fernambucensis and Cereus insularis, revealing key genes governing abiotic stress responses and supporting neoteny in C. insularis. Abstract Uncovering the molecular mechanisms driving adaptive divergence in traits related to habitat adaptation remains a central challe...

Here we use population genomic data (ddRAD-Seq) and ecological niche modeling to test biogeographic hypotheses for the divergence of the island-endemic cactus species Cereus insularis Hemsl. (Cereeae; Cactaceae) from its sister species C. fernambucensis Lem. The Cereus insularis grows in the Fernando de Noronha Islands (FNI), a Neotropical archipel...

The geodiversity of rocky ecosystems includes diverse plant communities with specific names, but their continental‐scale floristic identity and the knowledge on the role of macroclimate remain patchy. Here, we assessed the identity of plant communities in eastern Brazil across multiple types of rocky landscapes and evaluated the relative importance...

During fieldwork to assess biodiversity of the canga at the Serra de Campos, São Félix do Xingu, in the mountains of the Amazon rainforest, a new species of Lauraceae, Dicypellium anisum, was discovered, which is described and illustrated here. It is distinct from the other Dicypellium species by its shrubby habit, triplinerved leaves with domatia...

Hybrid systems represent ‘new ecological opportunities’, as the changes in their vegetative and reproductive traits may facilitate colonization of new niches. The Cactaceae species Xiquexique gounellei and Xiquexique tuberculatus present different habitat preferences in the Brazilian Caatinga, however, across their distributions, some populations o...

A new study of the phylogeny of Cereus investigates generic monophyly and previous subgeneric classification. A coalescent approach was used to assess phylogenetic relationships among Cereus species based on nuclear orthologous genes captured by the Cactaceae591 probe set. The analysis included two unusual new taxa from eastern and northern Brazil...

Verbesina L. is a genus of the tribe Heliantheae, subtribe Verbesininae (Asteraceae), with distribution in the Americas, where Mexico and the Andes harbour the richest concentration of species. The approximately 325 species in the genus are shrubs, subshrubs, trees and rarely herbs. Despite its high species diversity and biogeographical importance,...

Floral scent is a key olfactory cue in both diurnal and nocturnal pollination systems. In the case of nocturnal systems, such as bat‐pollinated flowers, odour seems to play a more important role than visual cues. Cactaceae include many bat‐pollinated species; however, few studies have investigated the olfactory cues in this family. We analysed and...

Background and aims Cactaceae are succulent plants, quasi-endemic to the American continent, and one of the most endangered plant groups in the world. Molecular phylogenies had been key to unravelling phylogenetic relationships among major cactus groups, previously hampered by high levels of morphological convergence. Phylogenetic studies using pla...

The Caatinga biogeographical region, located in the semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil, is characterized by high levels of cactus diversity and endemism. In this study, we investigated the genetic diversity, differentiation, and phylogeography of three Tacinga species (Tacinga inamoena, Tacinga subcylindrica, and Tacinga palmadora), which are...

a new species, Mendoncia amabilis, is described from the amazonia as part of an ongoing taxonomic revision of the genus for the Neotropical region. The new species was found from Colombian and Peruvian amazonia, occurring at river margins below 100 m. It is easily recognized by its strigose petiole, leaf-blades sparsely strigose to glabrescent bene...

Abstract Cereus jamacaru is a cactus distributed in Northeastern Brazil, with high symbolic value to this region. However, the interaction, behavior and the role of pollinators remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate the reproductive biology, addressing the ecological significance of floral attributes, including details about floral signali...

Summary. A total of seven species of Cactaceae, including hybrids, are newly recognised or reevaluated for the area defined for the Cacti of Eastern Brazil, some being described for the first time (Tacinga ×grandiflora, Discocactus piscibarbarus). Other taxonomic changes are noted (Tacinga ×quipa, Arrojadoa multiflora, Pilosocereus brauniorum, Micr...

The present survey of leaf-blade trichomes of Mendoncia used SEM and light microscopy to investigate the diversity of trichome types in Neotropical and Paleotropical species of the genus. The eglandular trichomes are filiform, uniseriate, with asymmetric epidermal cells arranged radially around the trichome, these epidermal cells may be short or el...

Amazon ironstone outcrops vegetation, or canga , is a remarkable environment in which the plants are adapted to peculiar circumstances. Knowledge regarding different aspects of this ecosystem remains modest, including necessary insights for its conservation and recovery, such as the reproductive phenology of priority species that form the plant com...

Premise: Pilosocereus (Cactaceae) is an important dry forest element occurring in all subregions and transitional zones of the Neotropics, with the highest diversity in eastern Brazil. The genus is subdivided into informal taxonomic groups; however, most of these are not supported by recent molecular phylogenetic inferences. This lack of confidenc...

Canga is an environment of great natural and economic value because it harbours a considerable number of endemic species on a substrate that is rich in iron ore. In the Amazon, this open vegetation type grows on top of isolated outcrops in a dense forest matrix found in the Carajás region, in southeastern Pará. Of these outcrops, the Parque Naciona...

Inselbergs are azonal formations found scattered in different biomes globally. The first floristic list focusing on an inselberg in the Brazilian Amazon is presented here. We aimed to investigate floristic and phylogenetic connections among Neotropical inselbergs and analyze whether environmental variables act as a filter of plant lineages. We used...

A taxonomic revision of the Rudgea hostmanniana complex in the Guiana shield region is presented. This group includes species with sheathing stipules bearing dorsal appendages, thick glabrous leaves lacking domatia, inflorescences thyrsoid to glomerulate but not regularly dichotomous, a calyx tube absent or very short, a corolla tube 2–7(–13) mm lo...

A total of twenty-one taxa of Cactaceae, including hybrids, are newly recognised or reevaluated for the area defined for the Cacti of Eastern Brazil, some being described for the first time. Other taxonomic changes are noted together with various range extensions and many of the plants concerned are illustrated.

In Brazil, the country with the highest plant species richness in the world, biodiverse savannas and grasslands – i.e., grassy ecosystems, which occupy 27% of the country – have historically been neglected in conservation and scientific treatments. Reasons for this neglect include misconceptions about the characteristics and dynamics of these ecosy...

A new species of Rudgea (Rubiaceae) was discovered in a forest remnant in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, within the Atlantic Rainforest, and is distinguished by its relatively small leaves, reduced inflorescences, and the broadly infundibular, externally densely tomentose corolla. Rudgea infundibuliformis is categorized as Critically Endanger...

The dramatic threats to the population at the locus classicus of Micranthocereus polyanthus (EN) is reported and all surviving mature individuals counted. The urgent need for the secure preservation of its habitat at Brejinho das Ametistas, Bahia, Brazil is emphasised.

Summary: The ex situ conservation of Leuenbergeria aureiflora (EN) and Pereskia bahiensis subsp. minensis (CR) (Cactaceae) by means of seed production for banking is described as an example of what can be achieved on a domestic scale, utilising plants of documented wild provenance.

During floral biology studies in Northeastern Brazil, populations of Harpochilus from central-southern Bahia have been found to differ from H. neesianus. Following extensive fieldwork and floral visitor observations, studies of all available specimens, coupled with micromorphology of indumentum and pollen, we have gathered sufficient evidence to re...

The taxonomic knowledge for genus Justicia in the Amazonian state of Pará, Brazil, is updated. The study was based on material from important national and international herbaria, as well as specimens collected in different vegetation types within the state, some of them kept under cultivation by the first author. Twenty five species of Justicia wer...

The shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiver-sity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxo-nomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impedi...

The vast Amazonian biome still poses challenges for botanists seeking to know and recognize its plant diversity. Brazilian northern cities are expanding fast, without considering the regional biodiversity, and urban plantings of almost exclusively exotic species are taking place. It is paramount that the correct identity of such trees is ascertaine...

The Neotropical genus Rudgea (Rubiaceae) includes at least 120 species, 18 of which have previously been reported from the Guianas. While revising the material for the Flora of the Guianas, the authors uncovered and hereby describe six new species: R. approuaguensis, R. glomerulata, R. graniticola, R. itoupensis, R. jadinii and R. leucocarpa. Most...

Cereus insularis (Cereeae, Cactaceae) is an insular endemic and dominant element of the vegetation of Fernando de Noronha Islands (FNI), a Neotropical archipelago 350 km from mainland Brazil. Here, we estimate the levels of genetic diversity for C. insularis and investigate its genetic relationship with the closely allied C. fernambucensis, which i...

The shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiver-sity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxo-nomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impedi...

Christiana mennegae is a phylogenetically enigmatic taxon and represents a case in point of a species whose presence escaped the radar of the Amazon lists and the Brazilian Flora project. Here we expand its distribution by adding new records from Peru and overlooked ones from Brazil. To investigate its phylogenetic placement in the Brownlowioideae,...

Aim The interconnectedness and biotic interchange among Neotropical biomes are thought to play an important role in driving adaptation and diversification. However, how these processes are in synteny to trait evolution in species of open and xeric areas is poorly studied. Here, we investigate the spatial and temporal dimensions of evolution and can...

Delimiting species boundaries is a major goal in evolutionary biology. An increasing body of literature has focused on the challenges of investigating cryptic diversity within complex evolutionary scenarios of speciation, including gene flow and demographic fluctuations. New methods based on model selection, such as approximate Bayesian computation...

Climate change has impacted biodiversity, affecting species and altering their geographical distribution. Besides understanding the impact in the species, it has been advocated that answering if different traits will be differently impacted could allow refined predictions of how climate change will jeopardize biodiversity. Our aim was to evaluate i...

The Cerrado represents the largest extension of savanna in South America. It occupies large stretches of central Brazil, being fragmented towards the Northeast, Southeast, and South regions of the country. Examples of disjunct patches of vegetation with savanna physiognomy within the Caatinga can be found in the Chapada Diamantina, the Chapada do A...

The canga of the Serra dos Carajás, in Eastern Amazon, is home to a unique open plant community, harboring several endemic and rare species. Although a complete flora survey has been recently published, scarce to no genetic information is available for most plant species of the ironstone outcrops of the Serra dos Carajás. In this scenario, DNA barc...

A Serra dos Carajás é uma das maiores províncias minerais do mundo, e apresenta um ecossistema peculiar, conhecido como canga ferruginosa ou campos rupestres ferruginosos. Nessa área, são desenvolvidos estudos florísticos, que contribuíram para uma rápida evolução no conhecimento da flora nessa região. Apresentamos em ordem cronológica o progresso...

Serra dos Carajás, one of the largest mineral provinces in the world, has a peculiar ecosystem known as ferruginous canga or ironstone outcrops. Floristic studies in this area have contributed to the rapid advancement of knowledge about the flora in the region. In this case study, we present in chronological order the progress that has been made in...

A new disjunct record of Pseudorhipsalis amazonica from the eastern side of the Amazon basin is reported and its unusual reproductive behaviour described.

The canga of the Serra dos Carajás, in Eastern Amazon, is home to a unique open plant community, harbouring several endemic and rare species. Although a complete flora survey has been recently published, scarce to no genetic information is available for most plant species of the ironstone outcrops of the Serra dos Carajás. In this scenario, DNA bar...

Pereskia bahiensis subsp. minensis subsp. nov. is described from agreste vegetation in the South-eastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The new taxon differs from P. bahiensis subsp. bahiensis by its flowers, with more numerous, rounded bracts, the conspicuously white base of the petals, the stamens densely clustered at the centre of the flowers,...

The identity of the type of the genus Mendoncia is clarified and the existing type superseded. A Brazilian species, M. velloziana, is chosen in favour of M. aspera, described from Peru. This became necessary because Vandelli only had access to eastern Brazilian material from the region of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais when describing the genus Me...

Paspalum comprises 350 species worldwide and is the largest genus of Poaceae in Brazil (211 species). The reticulated evolutionary pattern within the informal Paspalum Plicatula Group makes it a challenging species complex to treat taxonomically. The present work aims to study the three annual species P. cordaense, P. macranthecium and P. plowmanii...

Two new species and one new nothospecies of Tacinga from semi-arid Eastern Brazil are described. The new taxa were discovered on the basis of material collected during field trips carried out by staff of the Cactarium Guimarães Duque of the Instituto Nacional do Semiárido. A morphologic comparison of all the Tacinga species currently known, togethe...

Honey pollen samples of Melipona seminigra pernigraMoure & Kerr 1950 sampled between 2017 and 2019 from experimental apiaries installed in campo rupestre on canga (CRC) vegetation of the Serra dos Carajás aimed to evaluated seasonal floral availability of undisturbed and mining-influenced areas. Around one hundred pollen types were identified mainl...

Species lists available from floristic and phytosociological studies contain important information about species distributions that are useful for making biogeographical inferences and even to evaluate conservation status of species and ecosystems. In the case of the Caatinga, this information may contribute to challenging the pre-established idea...

The urge to organise the world around us is an essential part of human nature. Naming and categorising enable us to store and access information ef ciently. The need to name and categorise extends to the natural world and, in particular, to living organisms. The science underpinning this area of knowledge is called Taxonomy, and is as old as humani...

Uebelmannia pectinifera Buining subsp. pectinifera (Cactaceae) is an endangered species endemic to quartzitic rocks in campo rupestre vegetation of Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Understanding its reproductive biology and pollinators is needed for effective conservation planning for the species. The study took place in the Parque Nacional Sempre Vivas...

Daphnopsis filipedunculata é uma arvoreta de até 8 m de altura, endêmica da Floresta Nacional de Carajás e descrita como restrita às florestas de transição dos platôs da Serra Norte. A espécie foi descrita em 1993, a partir de uma única coleta, realizada em 1982 na área do antigo acampamento hoje Mina de N4, que continha apenas flores masculinas. I...

Delimiting species boundaries is a major goal in evolutionary biology. An increasing body of literature has focused on the challenges of investigating cryptic diversity within complex evolutionary scenarios of speciation, including gene flow and demographic fluctuations. New methods based on model selection, such as approximate Bayesian computation...

As deforestation and fire move forward over pristine vegetation in the Amazon, many species remain undiscovered and may be threatened with extinction before being described. Here, we describe two new species of Utricularia (Lentibulariaceae) collected during recent fieldwork in an area of white-sand vegetation in the eastern Amazon Basin named Camp...

Recent taxonomic activity has resulted in taxa belonging to Cactaceae tribe Cereeae from limestone outcrops in Eastern Brazil being upgraded as a species and genus, respectively: Melocactus pachyacanthus Buining & Brederoo (1975: 1) subsp. viridis N.P. Taylor (1991: 40) and Pilosocereus Byles & Rowley (1957: 66) subg. Gounellea Zappi (1994: 36). Ho...

Comprising 1,850 accepted species, the Cactaceae are distributed primarily in the Americas. Brazil is the third largest diversity center for the family, with 277 species. Within this last center, the Parque Nacional de Boa Nova (PNBN), in eastern Bahia State, occupies an area of 12,065 ha. The vegetation of the PNBN includes a west-east ecotone whe...

The world's largest mineral iron province, Serra dos Carajás, is home to an open vegetation known as canga, found on top of isolated outcrops rising out of the Amazon rainforest. Over one thousand vascular plants species have been recorded in these canga sites, including 38 edaphic endemics. A new survey adds to our investigation of biogeographic r...

Rubiaceae in the Parque Nacional de Boa Nova, Bahia State, Brazil). Regarding the number of species, Rubiaceae is the fourth most diverse family among the Angiosperms. It is a cosmopolitan family, concentrated mainly in tropical and subtropical regions. With ca. 13,800 species in 611 genera, the occurrence of the family in Brazil is confirmed by 1,...

Open habitats such as grasslands occupy < 5% of the Amazon and are currently grouped under the broad term Amazonian savanna, covering an area of c. 267 000 km2, mostly in Brazil and Bolivia. These habitats are found isolated within an extensive rainforest matrix, having a distinct flora from the latter. The lower Amazon River is home to several pat...

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Investigations following the discovery of an unusual new collection from the Amazon lead to a phylogenetic investigation in order to ascertain its position within the Nyctaginaceae. Two different approaches were used: gene trees from nucleotide sequences of ndhF and ITS aiming to check the phylogenetic position of the new species in the genus Belem...

The Serra Arqueada, in the municipalities of Ourilândia do Norte and São Félix do Xingu, in southeastern Pará state, Brazil, has an extension of c. 50 km and reaches altitudes between 450 and 689 m above sea level. This range harbours outcrops of campo rupestre on canga, an iron-rich substrate, which were not studied in the Flora of the canga of th...

The Cactaceae display a wide array of pollination systems, with many different animals already confirmed as pollinators. Pilosocereus is one of the most conspicuous bat-pollinated genera characteristic of the tropical dry forests of Brazil, known as Caatinga. The role of bats, hawkmoths and bees as pollinators in natural populations was investigate...

As mudanças de clima de origem antropogênica têm impactado diretamente a biodiversidade, provocando, por exemplo, alteração na distribuição geográfica de espécies e nas comunidades de animais e plantas ao redor do globo. Espécies de distribuição restrita, conhecidas como endêmicas, especialmente as que ocorrem no topo de serras ou montanhas, poderã...

Amazonia is one of the most diverse biomes worldwide, and, as well as luxuriant forest, it includes mountain areas which, despite their small surface area, display fascinating endemism. In these regions, the specificity of edaphic factors is mirrored by a highly specialised, isolated flora adapted to survive adverse conditions. The Serra dos Carajá...

Climate change, together with human activities, impacts on natural and human systems on all conti- nents and poses a major threat to biodiversity, especially in environments with a high rate of endemism and where species are profoundly adapted to specific environmental conditions, as is the case of the seasonally dry tropical forests, noticeably th...

The SE Brazilian Discocactus pseudoinsignis N.P. Taylor & Zappi is reported from a new disjunct locality, c. 180km to the south of the type locality. It is morphologically more variable at the new locality, where the population is entirely within a protected area.

A checklist of Cactaceae found during the ascent of the Serra Geral, east of Monte Azul, Minas Gerais (Brazil) is presented, listing 17 species, the second most cactus-diverse area known in Eastern Brazil. Slightly below the crest of the serra, in Campo Rupestre, a white sand habitat for Cipocereus pusilliflorus is illustrated together with other c...

Summary. The identity and circumscription of Cereus hexagonus (L.) Mill. is discussed and recommendations for further research suggested. Attention is drawn to the long-synonymized C. lepidotus Salm-Dyck as a possibly distinct taxon whose identity may have been confused with C. hexagonus.

Pilosocereus vilaboensis subsp. pluricostatus N.P. Taylor et al., subsp. nov., is described from Pirenópolis, Goiás state, Brazil and a further heterotypic subspecies is added as P. vilaboensis subsp. rizzoanus (P.J. Braun & E. Esteves-Pereira) N.P. Taylor & Zappi, comb. et. stat. nov. A key to subspecies is provided.

The study of transferability of simple sequence repeats (SSR) among closely related species is a well-known strategy in population genetics, however transferability among distinct genera is less common. We tested cross-genera SSR amplification in the family Cactaceae using a total of 20 heterologous primers previously developed for the genera Arioc...

Epiphytes are hyper‐diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non‐vas...

Transferability results of the SSR markers for populations.

Neighbor-joining phenogram.

F-statistics by locus for all populations and FST corrected by ENA method.

PCR conditions for the SSR markers transferred.

Private alleles (> 10% frequency) found in each locus per population.

Characteristics of 20 microsatellite loci tested for transferability.

Results of a literature survey.