Vascular plant species richness and distribution in the Rio de la Plata grasslands

Effective scientific efforts and conservation actions transcend political boundaries, encompassing entire ecological units. We compiled a vascular plant species list for the Rio de la Plata grassland ecoregion, one of the largest continuous grassland ecosystems, in the Americas. Our list is based on existing regional plant lists, online databases and published literature, is taxonomically verified and is complemented by additional information on species distribution in the three countries (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay) and on the origin of the species. We compiled 4864 accepted species names belonging to 194 families. About eight percent of the species are endemic; naturalized non-native species comprise slightly > 10% of the dataset. This dataset will be useful in supporting conservation planning in the region and scientific efforts in understanding species distribution patterns and processes.