Noel Kempff Mercado National Park - Flora

Flora

It is estimated that the park is home to approximately 4.000 species of vascular plants, including bromeliads, passion flowers, heliconias, aroids, and palms. There are also important woods like the "Mara" (mahogany). The area encompasses five important ecosystems ranging from Amazonian rain forest, gallery forest and semi-deciduous tropical forest to flooded savanna and dry cerrado. The diversity among vascular plant species in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park is noteworthy. So far, 2705 different species of plants have been identified. Because there is such a wide range of different habitats that exist in the park, this number is split into different sections of the park. 1500 of the 2705 plants exist in moist forest, 800 in cerrado, 700 in dry forest, 500 in savanna wetlands, and another 500 in aquatic and disturbed habitats, and rock outcrops. In addition to the 2705 plants that have already been identified, there are still 6000 being evaluated (RAP 1998). The most diverse family out of all the taxa in the national park is the Leguminosae family. This family occurs in all ecosystems and in virtually all life forms except as epiphytes. As mentioned before, there are many different habitat ecosystems encompassed within the national park. This means that there are certain families of species that thrive in all habitats such as the Rubiaceae, Melastomataceae, Bignoniaceae, and the Apocynaceae. Other species do better in specific habitats such as the cerrado (Gramineae, Cyperaceae, Labiatae, and Compositae) or in savanna wetlands (Lythraceae, Stercurliaceae, Onagraceae, Eriocaulaceae, and Xyridaceae). Most species reach their greatest diversity in evergreen forests (RAP 1998). A study on pollen cores has shown though that the evergreen forests found in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park did not always exist in that form. Data collected from pollen core samples has shown that what is now semideciduous/evergreen forest used to be savanna/semideciduous forest. The reason for this change in the mid-holocene was due to a gradual increase in mean annual precipitation and a decrease in the length and severity of the dry season.