The Atlantic Forest is one of the most threatened biomes in the world. Despite that, this biome still includes many areas that are poorly known floristically, including several protected areas, such as the "Floresta Nacional do Rio Preto" ("Flona do Rio Preto"), located in the Brazilian State of Espírito Santo. This study used a published vascular plant species list for this protected area from the "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil" as the basis to synthesise the species richness, endemism, conservation and new species occurrences found in the "Flona do Rio Preto".
The published list of vascular plants was based on field expeditions conducted between 2018 and 2020 and data obtained from herbarium collections available in online databases. Overall, 722 species were documented for the "Flona do Rio Preto", 711 of which are native to Brazil and 349 are endemic to the Atlantic Forest. In addition, 60 species are geographically disjunct between the Atlantic and the Amazon Forests. Most of the documented species are woody and more than 50% of these are trees. Twenty-three species are threatened (CR, EN and VU), while five are Data Deficient (DD). Thirty-two species are new records for the State of Espírito Santo. Our results expand the knowledge of the flora of the Atlantic Forest and provide support for the development of new conservation policies for this protected area.
Pitcairnia azouryi is a species of Bromeliaceae restricted to Atlantic Forest inselbergs of southeastern Brazil. Since the species was first described, populations of P. azouryi have been observed from three locations in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. Here we report four new populations discovered after extensive fieldwork during a period of three years on 21 inselbergs in the states of Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With the discovery of these four new populations from the inselbergs Pedra Lisa, Pedra do Jacu, Pedra Três Irmãs e Pedra Parada Cristal (all located in the State of Espírito Santo), the number of locations where P. azouryi is known to occur has increased to seven. The analysis of these new samples allowed the evaluation of within species morphological variation, compared to the protologue description of plant height and leaf dimensions. We classify Pitcairnia azouryi as endangered (EN). This classification is based on the species’ extension of occurrence (1,470 km2), area of occupancy (ca. 53 km2), number of known populations (7), and the fact that none of its occurrence sites are within a protected conservation areas.
Stigmatodon Leme, G.K.Br. & Barfuss is one of the most representative Bromeliaceae genera that grow on the steepest slopes of the inselbergs of southeastern Brazil. Inselberg environments are characterized as islands due to their restricted, disjunct distribution and geographical isolation. These features make these sites interesting models for evolutionary and population genetic studies. In this study we report, the cross-species transferability of nuclear microsatellite markers, originally developed for other Bromeliaceae, to four Stigmatodon species: Stigmatodon brassicoides, S. costae, S. goniorachis and Stigmatodon sp. nov. Twenty-four microsatellite markers were tested, and 12 of these were successfully amplified in the four studied species. In S. brassicoides and S. costae, 10 markers showed amplification with polymorphism, and in Stigmatodon sp. nov and S. goniorachis, all 12 markers showed polymorphisms. The number of alleles ranged from two to four in S. brassicoides; from two to three in S. costae; from two to six in Stigmatodon sp. nov; and from two to seven in S. goniorachis. H O values ranged from 0.05 (P2P19 locus) in S. brassicoides to 0.689 (VgA04 locus) in S. goniorachis. The set of amplified microsatellite markers described in this study will be a useful tool for addressing various evolutionary, ecological and conservation aspects of Stigmatodon species.
ABSTRACT.The Alcantarea patriae is a Bromeliaceae endemic to the inselbergs of the Atlantic Forest. This taxon, described in the year of 2007 by Versieux & Wanderley, presents restricted and fragmented distribution outside conservation units. Studies to evaluate the genetic structure of its populations can contribute to the conservation and management strategies for the species. In this study, 31 microsatellite markers, descriptive to six different Bromeliaceae species, were evaluated by cross-amplification tests in 20 individuals of A. patriae. The individuals were collected in the district of Vila Cruzeiro, in the municipality of Jerônimo Monteiro. Twelve markers were polymorphic and 10 monomorphic, with an amplification success rate of 71%. The displayed polymorphism information content was considered high, indicating that the selected markers are informative. The values found for the fixation index were positive and indicated the occurrence of inbreeding. The mean number of alleles was 4.66 (3-6), the mean expected and observed heterozygosities were 0.6605 and 0.4618, respectively. The detection of polymorphic markers was important for future studies of diversity and genetic structuring of natural populations and for germplasm bank creation aiming to contribute to in situ and ex situ conservations of A. patriae.
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