Largest family of plants in the world gains integrated database

The objective of the projects developed by researchers from diverse countries is to increase the scientific understanding of the origin and evolution of the Compositae.

By Elton Alisson

Agência FAPESP – A family of plants known as Compositae or Asteraceae, boasting almost 30,000 species, can be found in the most diverse biomes on every continent except Antarctica.

To increase and improve understanding of the origin and evolution of this family of plants comprised by species such as sunflowers, lettuce, daisies and chrysanthemums, scientists in the United States in partnership with diverse countries, including Brazil, are developing a database and global search systems to integrate taxonomic and biogeographical information on the Compositae.

A number of these initiatives were presented at The South American Compositae Meeting, an international gathering held December 5-7, 2011 at FAPESP’s auditorium. The purpose of the meeting was to present the most recent developments in the systematics, biogeography, evolution and conservation of the Compositae.

The event, organized by FAPESP in partnership with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and Universidade de São Paulo (USP), brought together scientists from several countries to share information and develop research collaborations in studies involving Compositae species.

During the event, Vicki Funk, researcher and curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s Natural History Museum, requested the help of the researchers present for the completion of two ongoing projects for the construction of a global Internet database on the Compositae.

These projects, the Global Compositae Checklist (GCC) and the Compositae Encyclopedia of Life (C-EOL), are being coordinated by The International Compositae Alliance (Tica), which brings together 500 researchers in more than 60 countries, including Brazil.

“There are hundreds of researchers working on these projects, attempting to take a global approach to Compositae. We have had various advances, like the construction of a mother tree of this family of plants, but we are now at a crossroads and we need to conclude the projects,” said Funk, who is on the coordination team for Tica.

According to Funk, approximately 70% of the GCC’s list of species – the first project for an integrated biogeographic database on the Tica’s Compositae – is already finalized. The objective now, according to her, is to finalize the integration of the list of species in countries like Brazil and Madagascar.

“We have already made lists of the national and regional species of Compositae for countries such as Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil, but the lists have not completely been integrated,” said Funk.

Launched in 2005 during the International Botany Congress in Vienna, the GCC intends to gather information on the nomenclature and taxonomy of the 25,000 estimated species of Compositae in the world. With this background, according to the coordinators of the project, it will be possible to gather information on 10% of the world’s flora.

“This integrated database of Compositae will be an important resource for maintenance of the biodiversity and biosafety of this family of plants,” explains Funk.

The newest and most ambitious Compositae database project, headed by Tica, is C-EOL. Launched in 2010, the project’s objective is to gather biological information from every species of Asteraceae that exists or has existed in the world and to dedicate a page on the Internet to images of each species. 

To create a database, the researchers developed a virtual tool, called Virtual Key to the Compositae (VKC), to identify species worldwide based on a grid that serves to gather the greatest possible amount of information on the species.

“The idea was to build a simple tool in HTML that could facilitate identification of Compositae by the general public,” said Mauricio Bonifacio, professor at Universidade de la República in Uruguay.

According to the researcher, one of the greatest challenges facing the construction of the tool is the terminology used for the species. “We have made significant advances in the construction of this tool. However, we still have a long way to go to standardize the terminology of the species.”

The List of Brazilian Species

In 2010, Brazil released the list of species of its flora, meeting the targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) established by the Convention on Biological Diversity. The country is a signatory to this convention.

GSPC determined that each signatory country should develop a list of its known plant species as the first stage of building a complete list of the world’s flora.
 
The first version of the Brazilian list presented a total of 40,982 species: 3,608 fungi, 3,495 algae, 1,521 bryophytes, 1,176 pteridophytes, 26 gymnosperms and 31,156 angiosperms, of which 1,966 are Asteraceae and were included in the Global Compositae Checklist. A third of those included are found in São Paulo State.

“This Brazilian list will fill a gap in knowledge on the distribution of the species of plants in the country and is very useful for us to know where we must collect, principally, Asteraceae,” says Mara Magenta, professor at Universidade Santa Cecília.

According to the researcher, during the course of the project “Guidelines for conservation and restoration of biodiversity in São Paulo State,” conducted under the auspices of the BIOTA-FAPESP program, it became clear that the collection of plant species in the State is uneven.

The researchers participating in the project found that collections are lacking in the São Paulo cerrado areas, precisely where the Asteraceae are concentrated. Moreover, trees and bushes are collected more frequently than the Asteraceae due in part to the difficulty of identifying Asteraceae species.

“There is a need to focus the collection of Asteraceae on São Paulo State, especially in cerrado areas, which have been rapidly degraded by agriculture. If we do not rush to catalogue the biodiversity of plants in this region, it could be too late,” he warned.