RBGE’s Tropical Diversity team is working on a project in Peru, to document plant diversity and discover new species in the incredible Marañón valley.
The Río Marañón is a major tributary of the Amazon River, the upper reaches of the river run through a dry inter-Andean valley in northern Peru.
The valley is renowned for its high number of restricted endemic species. Previous work has shown that the seasonally dry tropical forests found in the valley are particularly rich in endemic species and that much of the valley remains under-collected by scientists. In addition, the forests in the valley have a key role in maintaining water provision and soil stabilisation benefiting human populations in the Andes and ensuring the health of the Amazon River downstream. However, the forests in the Marañón valley are under severe anthropogenic pressure due to their accessibility and fertile soils, and are in need of protection.
During the Newton funded project, Increasing knowledge of dry and montane ecosystems across Peru, RBGE and our Peruvian partners will be producing the first checklist of seed plants for the dry forests of the upper Marañón watershed. This project will involve collecting new specimens, cataloguing specimens already present in local herbaria, and helping our local partners get this specimen data online for use by the wider scientific community.
The RBGE Tropical Diversity team has a long history of working in the dry forests of Peru, and is continuing to develop projects with our Peruvian partners.
