Amazon Trees – 300 Years Needed to Catalog all Amazon Tree Species

The fact that the Amazon Forest is recognized as the greatest natural treasure on earth is not news to anyone. But for at least once in your life, have you ever wondered how many different species of trees there are in the area? Think beyond. Discover now a number that represents all the number of examples of trees that are part of the Amazon. Of course, an account almost impossible to make.

According to a study by the Naturals Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands, more than 11,000 tree species have been identified in the biome. Another curious fact raised by the researchers is that to catalog all the trees of the Amazon would require the impressive 300 years of studies.

As a basis for the claims, the Dutch institution was based on an analysis that records from 1707 to 2015, which identified the existence of more than 530,000 samples of trees, the equivalent of 11,676 species, 1,225 genera and 140 families.

Despite the extensive list of trees recorded so far, researchers believe that the forest’s biodiversity includes more than 16,000 species – which would represent a period of at least three centuries until everything could be properly cataloged. It is important to remember that the survey of the Dutch was based on the entire territory of the forest, including areas not belonging to Brazil.

“With 7,696 species of trees collected, 61% of the estimated number of tree species came from the Brazilian Amazon,” according to the study published in the journal Nature. The national average is 6.8 collections per 100 square kilometers.