Of these, between 6,000 and 16,000 species are predicted to be trees reaching ≥10 cm stem diameter at breast height (DBH) ( 5, 14). The Amazon basin has been estimated to host up to 50,000 plant species, depending on which model is used and how the region is defined ( 5). Long-standing debates about the number and identity of seed plant species found in the region remain unresolved. The exceptional species diversity of these forests, here referred to collectively as the Amazon rain forest, has long captured the attention of scientists and explorers alike aiming to understand the origins, evolution, and ecology of this rich biota and the processes that created and now maintain its hyperdiverse communities ( 1– 13). The Amazon is renowned for harboring the world’s largest expanse of rain forest, which spreads across the Amazon, Orinoco, and Atlantic North Coast river basins (including Essequibo and Cuarantyne), as well as the Tocantins and the Western Atlantic hydrological basins (including Mearim). Much remains unknown about Amazonian plant diversity, but this taxonomically verified dataset provides a valid starting point for macroecological and evolutionary studies aimed at understanding the origin, evolution, and ecology of the exceptional biodiversity of Amazonian forests. Based on the known proportion of tree species in neotropical lowland rain forest communities as measured in complete plot censuses, and on overall estimates of seed plant diversity in Brazil and in the neotropics in general, it is more likely that tree diversity in the Amazon is closer to the lower estimates derived from nonparametric models. These figures are similar to estimates derived from nonparametric ecological models, but they contrast strongly with predictions of much higher tree diversity derived from parametric models. Our list comprises 14,003 species, of which 6,727 are trees. Here we collate taxonomically verified checklists to present a list of seed plant species from lowland Amazon rain forests. Recent debates on the number of plant species in the vast lowland rain forests of the Amazon have been based largely on model estimates, neglecting published checklists based on verified voucher data. Zartman, and Rafaela Campostrini Forzza -40 Authors Info & Affiliations Taylor, Marcelo Trovó, Cássio van den Berg, Henk van der Werff, Pedro Lage Viana, Charles E. Prance, Luciano Paganucci de Queiroz, Alessandro Rapini, Ricarda Riina, Carlos Alberto Vargas Rincon, Nádia Roque, Gustavo Shimizu, Marcos Sobral, João Renato Stehmann, Warren D. Pennington, José Rubens Pirani, Ghillean T. Mori, Teonildes Sacramento Nunes, Terry D. Michelangeli, John Mitchell, Peter Moonlight, Pedro Luís Rodrigues de Moraes, Scott A.
Machado, Rubens Manoel dos Santos, Renato Mello-Silva, Fabián A. Kelloff, Sandra Knapp, Haroldo Cavalcante de Lima, Anderson F. Giacomin, Renato Goldenberg, Gustavo Heiden, João Iganci, Carol L. Amorim, Volker Bittrich, Marcela Celis, Douglas C. Domingos Cardoso, Tiina Särkinen, Sara Alexander, +40, André M.
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