Since the 16th century, South American biodiversity has been cataloged, investigated, and economically exploited. Over the centuries, many naturalists have contributed to the knowledge of the region’s extraordinary flora, comprising more than 82000 species. One of these naturalists was Alexander von Humboldt, who, alongside the botanist Aimé Bonpland, traveled to the Americas on a 5-year voyage and collected more than 6000 plant species. Works such as "Plantes Équinoxiales" and "Monographie des Melastomacées", as well as Humboldt’s American travel journals, and Bonpland’s Journal Botanique have been analyzed in search of ethnobotanical data. Using historical documentation from these naturalist research efforts (travel journals, books, magazines, letters, herbarium tags, etc.), Leopoldo C. Baratto’s (Faculty of Pharmacy, Laboratory of Applied Pharmacognosy, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)) research group has gathered ethnobotanical information to understand the relationship between plants, people, and biodiversity. Additionally, the research group focuses on other naturalists and their works, including Maria Sibylla Merian, Joan Nieuhof, Baron de Santa-Anna Nery, Carl A. M. Lindman, Hamilton Rice, and others. Baratto will present some examples of South American useful plants and their historical and current importance for bioprospecting new herbal drugs in the field of pharmacognosy and for the local bioeconomy, as well as strategies for biodiversity conservation.
Eine Veranstaltung der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin und des Akademienvorhabens "Alexander von Humboldt auf Reisen – Wissenschaft aus der Bewegung" im Zentrum "Preußen – Berlin" der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.