How many different types of plants are in the Amazon rain forest? This is an astonishingly hard question to answer. The number is clearly in the range of “really quite a lot,” but scientists have long debated what “a lot” really means.
Estimates derived from different types of models range from the tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands.In a new report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists from institutions around the world have come up with a number that represents all plant species that are definitely known to exist in the Amazon rain forest. In total, they report, humans have identified 14,003 species of plants. Most of those plants—52 percent—are shrubs, small trees, lianas, vines, and herbs. The list also includes 6,727 tree species.
To come up with these…
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