Anathallis guimaraensii

The main threats to the Araucaria moist forests are deforestation to make way for agriculture, pastures and settlement. Only 35,000 km² original forest remains, which equates to 13% of the original area, and only 0.62% is protected (WWF 2001). The Cerrado, too, is severely threatened: over 50% of the area has been converted to pasture and agriculture in the last 35 years, and only 2.27% has legal protection (Klink and Machado 2005). There is still great pressure on the remaining vegetation. The majority of the land immediately surrounding the specimen is cultivated, although there is also a significant portion of forested land. However, it is possible that much of the habitat that was suitable for Anathallis guimaraensii has now been destroyed, so there may be only a very small area in total in which it may reside, within its native range. The fact that only one specimen has been found could be due to the fact that there has been a lack of survey effort of Orchidaceae in that area; still, it could be that A. guimaraensii is rare, in which case it could be highly threatened.

There is only one protected area of land within a 400 km radius of the specimen locality. This is the Southeast Atlantic Forest Reserves network, 130 km eastwards. There is a high level of protection here, but it is not known whether or not the taxon inhabits this area. Research into the species and its distribution is urgently needed, as is the establishment of new protected areas. It is not known to be cultivated anywhere, but it is listed (as part of Orchidaceae) under Appendix II of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It is not part of any conservation project specifically, however the Parana Biodiversity Project, approved in 2002 (Carroll 2002) is focussing partly on the Araucaria Forest and aims to improve education, biodiversity management and conservation, and coordination of local and regional management committees, to increase the biodiversity of the region.