Phytogeographic patterns of the Atlantic Forest in the Rio Doce River Basin, the dart versus arrow debate, and quorum sensing in bacteria.

The Atlantic forest is a terrestrial biome that extends along the Brazilian coast and has been subject of intense deforestation for decades. There are presently several efforts to try to preserve the flora and fauna of what remains from this region (e.g., Coco et al. 2014, Maciel-Silva et al. 2014, Missagia et al. 2014), but several questions on how the distinct floristic units of this biome are structured is still to be understood. In this issue of the AABC, Saiter et al. (2015) have studied the occurrences of different tree species and related them to distinct geoclimatic data in the Rio Doce River. As known, geographic distribution of plants is highly complex and there are several variables to be taken into account (e.g., Rizzini 1997, Legendre and Legendre 2012). With this study, Saiter et al. (2015) have provided a better definition of several floristic units and aimed to establish better parameters that could help in the development of more effective conservation measurements. However, as everyone knows, a recent incident in the town of Mariana (Minas Gerais State) where a dam of a mining company failed caused serious effects on the biota of this area. Perhaps follow-up studies of the work of Saiter and colleagues might be paramount to revise several conservation actions in this region.