Biodiversity, biogeography, conservation and restoration of isolated rock outcrop vegetation in the dry biomes of Latin America

The dry biomes of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay are regarded as a hotspot for biodiversity conservation because of their species-rich, unique biota. For example, the savannas in the Brazilian "cerrado" contain >11000 flowering plant species, more than the Brazilian Amazon rain forest. 30% of these species are found nowhere else, but massive industrial agriculture expansion has destroyed 50% of the cerrado in the past five decades. High diversity in neotropical savannas and dry forests is a function of landscape heterogeneity, with small areas of vegetation on different substrates contributing to total biodiversity. Within the dry forests of the Bolivian Chiquitania and Brazil's cerrado savannas, "inselbergs" - raised metamorphosed sandstone and granitic rock - house large numbers of endemic species. This project will document inselberg floras and their biogeographic history, knowledge that is lacking but essential to prioritise conservation and restoration. It will therefore contribute to determining the conservation value and scope for restoration in some of the most species-rich, yet poorly known, neotropical habitats. Aim: To understand the conservation value and scope for restoration of vegetation formations on inselbergs in the Chiquitania dry forest and cerrado through evaluating the distribution, diversity and evolutionary history of plants across inselbergs in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. Objectives: 1.To map the occurrence and distribution of inselbergs in the Bolivian Chiquitania and Brazilian cerrado; 2.Determine the variation in climatic and soil conditions which exist across inselbergs; 3.Evaluate plant species diversity and distribution across inselbergs; 4.Use DNA-based phylogeography to investigate the genetic diversity and evolutionary history of inselberg species; 5.Apply different approaches and biodiversity metrics for ranking the conservation value of inselbergs; 6. Determine scope for active versus passive restoration on inselbergs