Plant diversity patterns in neotropical dry forests and their conservation implications

Abstract

Seasonally dry tropical forests are distributed across Latin America and the Caribbeanand are highly threatened, with less than 10% of their original extent remaining in manycountries. Using 835 inventories covering 4660 species of woody plants, we show markedfloristic turnover among inventories and regions, whichmay be higher than in other neotropicalbiomes, such as savanna. Such high floristic turnover indicates that numerous conservationareas across many countries will be needed to protect the full diversity of tropical dry forests.Our results provide a scientific framework within which national decision-makers cancontextualize the floristic significance of their dry forest at a regional and continental scale.