A brief history of research in campo rupestre: Identifying research priorities and revisiting the geographical distribution of an ancient, widespread Neotropical biome

Abstract

Few ecologists and evolutionary biologists are familiar with the ecology and evolution of the campo rupestre, an ancient azonal peinobiome characterized by a fire-prone, nutrient-impoverished, montane vegetation mosaic, home to thousands of endemics and climate refugia. With the goal of providing a synthetic view of the campo rupestre, we provide a brief historical account of the biological research, revisit its geographical distribution and identify knowledge gaps. The azonal campo rupestre is distributed as isolated and naturally fragmented sky islands, mostly in Central and Eastern Brazil and in the Guyana Shield, with significant areas across the Amazon, Cerrado, Atlantic Forest, Caatinga and Pantanal. Our proposal to elevate campo rupestre to the level of biome is expected to improve communication among scientists and consolidate the use of the term campo rupestre in the ecological and evolutionary literature, as is the case for analogous ecosystems, such as kwongan, fynbos, páramos and tepuis. Based on the identification of knowledge gaps, we propose a research programme comprising ten key topics that can foster our understanding of the ecology and evolution of campo rupestre and, potentially, support conservation strategies.