Pseudolmedia hirtula

Pseudolmedia hirtula is a species of plant in the family Moraceae also known as the fig tree family. Endemic to Brazil's Atlantic rain forest,[2] it is threatened by habitat loss, caused by humans using slash and burn methods to make room for more cropland and grazing pastures.[3] It is listed as an endangered species on the IUCN red list[1]

Pseudolmedia hirtula
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Pseudolmedia
Species:
P. hirtula
Binomial name
Pseudolmedia hirtula
Kuhlmann

Description

Pseudolmedia hirtula is a flowering monoecious species so it has both male and female flowers that bloom. The male flowers are disk like in shape and have triangular, oblong, or spear shaped bract, which are leaves that have formed around the outside of a flower to help protect it. The female flowers will have triangular to oval shaped bract. Fruit from the tree is ellipsoid to oblong in shape. The leaves are oblong to spear shaped that have a tip that tapers to a point, and an acute base, they have pilose hairs, meaning that they will fall off as the leaf ages.[4][5]

Distribution

Pseudolmedia hirtula is limited to a small part of the Atlantic forest. It is found mainly in São Paulo and Paraná, two states in the southern part of Brazil.[2][5]

Conservation

Increasing fragmentation of the forests from human actions have reduced the available habitat for Pseudolmedia hirtula.[6][7] Conservation efforts are being made by non-government organizations to help protect the unique ecosystem. Their main strategy for conservation is to create wildlife corridors to combat the fragmentation, allowing wildlife to cross between the fragments of forest, promoting seed dispersal and gene flow.[8][9]

References
  1. "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
  2. Grandtner, M.M.; Chevrette, Julien (2013). Dictionary of Trees, Volume 2: South America: Nomenclature, Taxonomy and Ecology. Academic Press. p. 543.
  3. Izquierdo, Andrea E.; De Angelo, Carlos D.; Aide, T. Mitchell (2008). "Thirty Years of Human Demography and Land-Use Change in the Atlantic Forest of Misiones, Argentina: an Evaluation of the Forest Transition Model". Ecology and Society. 13 (2). doi:10.5751/es-02377-130203. ISSN 1708-3087.
  4. C. C., Berg (28 July 1972). Olmedieae, Brosimeae (Moraceae). [New York, N.Y.?]: New York Botanical Garden. pp. 1–229. ISBN 978-0893272647. OCLC 25073182.
  5. "Flora do Brasil 2020". reflora.jbrj.gov.br (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  6. Tabarelli, Marcelo; Cardoso da Silva, José Maria; Gascon, Claude (June 2004). "Forest fragmentation, synergisms and the impoverishment of neotropical forests". Biodiversity and Conservation. 13 (7): 1419–1425. doi:10.1023/b:bioc.0000019398.36045.1b. ISSN 0960-3115.
  7. Cysneiros, Vinicius Costa; Mendonça-Junior, Joaquim de Oliveira; Gaui, Tatiana Dias; Braz, Denise Monte (June 2015). "Diversity, community structure and conservation status of an Atlantic Forest fragment in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil". Biota Neotropica. 15 (2). doi:10.1590/1676-060320150132. ISSN 1676-0603.
  8. Ribeiro, Milton Cezar; Metzger, Jean Paul; Martensen, Alexandre Camargo; Ponzoni, Flávio Jorge; Hirota, Márcia Makiko (14 February 2009). "The Brazilian Atlantic Forest: How much is left, and how is the remaining forest distributed? Implications for conservation". Biological Conservation. 142 (6): 1141–1153. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.02.021. ISSN 0006-3207.
  9. Nettesheim, Felipe Cito; Menezes, Luis Fernando Tavares de; Carvalho, Daniel Costa de; Conde, Marilena Menezes Silva; Araujo, Dorothy Sue Dunn de (January 22, 2010). "Influence of environmental variation on Atlantic Forest tree-shrub-layer phytogeography in southeast Brazil". Acta Botanica Brasilica. 24 (2): 369–377. doi:10.1590/s0102-33062010000200007. ISSN 0102-3306.
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