Disclaimer: The Field Museum's online Botanical Collections Database
may contain specimens and historical records that are culturally sensitive. Some records
may also include offensive language. These records do not reflect the Field Museum’s
current viewpoint but rather the social attitudes and circumstances of the time period
when specimens were collected or cataloged.
We welcome feedback. The web database is not a complete record of the
Museum’s botanical holdings, and documentation for specimens will vary due to
when and how they were collected as well as how recently they were acquired. While
efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of the information available on this website,
some content may contain errors. We work with communities and stakeholders around the
world to interpret the collections in order to promote a greater understanding of global
heritage and, through consultation, will revise or remove information that is inaccurate
or inappropriate. We encourage and welcome members of communities, scholars,
and others to contact us to confirm or clarify data found here.
Non-Discrimination Statement
Close this window
Floristic Inventory of the Alto Mayo Cuenca, San Martin, Peru
Description:

The eastern Amazonian rain forests comprise over 60% of Peru's total area and represent an important natural resource. The Department of San Martín in northeastern Peru is home to extensive upper elevation montane forests where the ceja de la montaña or the eyebrow of the forest give way to the lowland rain forests of the Amazon basin. The forests in this zone are termed Selva Alta or pre-montane forests (500-1500 m). The population of northeastern Peru is growing rapidly and this growth has resulted in the exploitation of unprotected forest.
In 1986, the Peruvian government set aside 182,000 hectares of these forests under the protected status of Bosque de Protección Alto Mayo, an area roughly representing the cuenca or watershed of the Río Alto Mayo in extreme northwestern San Martín. The forests of the Bosque de Protección Alto Mayo represent the largest remaining tract of Selva Alta in northeastern Peru. With partial support of the National Geographic Society (Grant 5791-96), collecting expeditions were conducted between 1995 – 2000 by Michael Dillon and Field Museum Research Associate, Isidoro Sánchez Vega, Universidad Nacional de Cajamarca.
The dataset currently contains over 2000 records and represents the floristic inventory that yielded 125 plant families, 405 genera, and no fewer than 750 species. A set of collections is deposited at the Universidad Nacional de Cajamarca (CPUN), Cajamarca, Peru, a second set at the Museo de Historia Natural (HAO), Trujillo was destroyed in a fire, and the third set is at the Field Museum (F), Chicago, Illinois, USA. Duplicates were distributed to over 66 national and international taxonomic experts as 'gifts-for-determination'.
Credits: Images of herbarium sheets from a reference collection of Alto Mayo plants at Field Museum were made and associated with their database records. We acknowledge the support of Field Museum Woman’s Board 'Field of Dreams' program.