Floristic survey of vascular plants of the Pantanal Park Road in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

The Pantanal is one of the largest floodplains and the most extensive tropical wetland in the world, covering approximately 139,000 km². It is located in central South America, covering areas in Bolivia, Paraguay, and the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Flora inventories of the Pantanal have shown a varied species richness, ranging from 1,872 to 2,567 species. The Pantanal Park Road (PPR) is an area of special tourist interest located within the Pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul and covers 6,700 km², passing through the municipalities of Corumbá and Ladário. This data paper plays a crucial role in organizing and disseminating essential information on local flora, recognizing the value of floristic surveys for understanding regional biodiversity and informing conservation efforts. It aimed to provide information to guide public policies for preserving local biodiversity. The floristic survey was generated by combining data from field expeditions with botanical databases, such as JABOT and SpeciesLink. Additional information included life form, substrate type, conservation status, and species distribution across Brazilian biomes and states, obtained from Flora e Funga do Brasil using the flora package. Data from Flora e Funga do Brasil were also used to identify new occurrences among the listed species. The vascular plant list of the PPR included 755 species. Most species throughout the PPR were classified as herbs, followed by shrubs or subshrubs, climbers, and trees. Thirty species with a known response to fire were identified, of which eight are fire-sensitive, two are fire-tolerant, and 21 are fire-stimulated. Of the total species recorded, 710 are native to Brazil, with eight species endemics to Mato Grosso do Sul, ten to the Pantanal, and four specifically to the Pantanal in Mato Grosso do Sul. According to the Red List Category from the National Center for Plant Conservation in Brazil, the PPR contains two species classified as Data Deficient (DD), 71 as Least Concern (LC), three as Near Threatened (NT), four as Vulnerable (VU), four as Endangered (EN), and one as Critically Endangered (CR).