Cavallin Evelin K S, Munhoz Cássia B R, Harris Stephen A, Villarroel Daniel, Proença Carolyn E B
Departamento de Botânica, Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, Postal Code 4457, CEP 70910-970, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB UK.
Am J Bot. 2016 Nov;103(11):2000-2012. doi: 10.3732/ajb.1600120. Epub 2016 Nov 8.
By convention, scientific naming of angiosperm species began in 1753; it is estimated that 10-20% of species remain undescribed. To complete this task before rare, undescribed species go extinct, a better understanding of the description process is needed. The South American Cerrado biodiversity hotspot was considered a suitable model due to a high diversity of plants, habitats, and social history of species description.
A randomized sample of 214 species (2% of the angiosperm flora) and 22 variables were analyzed using multivariate analyses and analysis of variance.
Plants with wide global distributions, recorded from many areas, and above 2.6 m were described significantly earlier than narrowly distributed, uncommon species of smaller stature. The beginning of the career of the botanist who first collected the species was highly significant, with an average delay between first collection and description of 29 yr, and between type collection and description 19 yr; standard deviations were high and rose over time. Over a third of first collections were not cited in descriptions. Trends such as scientific specialization and decline of undescribed species were highlighted. Descriptions that involved potential collaboration between collectors and authors were significantly slower than those that did not.
Results support four recommendations to hasten discovery of new species: (1) preferential collecting of plants below 2.6 m, at least in the Cerrado; (2) access to undetermined material in herbaria; (3) fieldwork in areas where narrow-endemic species occur; (4) fieldwork by knowledgeable botanists followed by descriptive activity by the same.
按照惯例，被子植物物种的科学命名始于1753年；据估计，仍有10%-20%的物种未被描述。为了在珍稀的未描述物种灭绝之前完成这项任务，需要更好地理解描述过程。由于植物多样性高、栖息地多样以及物种描述的社会历史，南美洲塞拉多生物多样性热点地区被视为一个合适的模型。
使用多变量分析和方差分析对214个物种（占被子植物区系的2%）的随机样本和22个变量进行了分析。
分布广泛、在许多地区有记录且高度超过2.6米的植物比分布狭窄、体型较小的罕见物种被描述的时间要早得多。首次采集该物种的植物学家职业生涯的起始时间具有高度显著性，首次采集到描述之间的平均延迟为29年，模式标本采集到描述之间的平均延迟为19年；标准差很高且随时间增加。超过三分之一的首次采集在描述中未被引用。突出了科学专业化和未描述物种减少等趋势。涉及采集者和作者之间潜在合作的描述比没有合作的描述要慢得多。
研究结果支持加快新物种发现的四项建议：（1）优先采集高度低于2.6米的植物，至少在塞拉多地区；（2）获取标本馆中未鉴定的材料；（3）在窄域特有物种出现的地区进行野外工作；（4）由知识渊博的植物学家进行野外工作，随后由其进行描述性工作。
