Plant species diversity in a Neotropical wetland: patterns of similarity, effects of distance, and altitude

Abstract

The Brazilian Pantanal is an extensive wetland with heterogeneous habitats, primarily due to the riverfloodplain system and plants with differential adaptations and reproductive strategies. Factors such as altitude, distance among plant formations, and flood pulse must be considered to better understand its diversity. Aiming to assess the influence of biogeographic patterns in this system, we analyzed the floristic composition of six areas along the Paraguay River, including residual relieves, verifying the pattern of similarity, and effects of distance and altitude. We recorded 356 species in 87 families, mostly perennial (75%), and some annuals (15%) and pluriannuals (5%). Herbaceous plants were the most represented (48%), followed by arboreal (23%), shrubby (15%) and epiphytic (14%) habits, only 12% being endemic to Brazil. The studied areas showed low floristic similarity, but higher resemblance of species between neighboring areas, and no relation with altitude. The upper Paraguay River is diverse, with high spatial variability of species, predominantly perennial. The river-floodplain connectivity may be a determinant factor in species richness and occurrence of endemic species.

New initiatives for Brazilian aquatic plant data management

“…To date, publications on aquatic plants have addressed a variety of different subjects but initially included data regarding systematics, taxonomy and ecology (Esteves 1988;Irgang & Gastal-Júnior 1996;Pedralli 2000;Pott & Pott 2000). More recent publications have expanded the range of data on species by presenting results of surveys of aquatic plants at regional (Pott & Pott 2000;Amaral et al 2008;Bove & Paz 2009;Pivari et al 2011;Moura-Júnior et al 2013;2015;Bao et al 2018) and larger scales, such as comparing information from the literature and from Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) for the South American continent (Lozano et al 2017). Nevertheless, the knowledge produced over the years regarding aquatic plants in Brazil has not been consolidated in a systematic manner.…”

Conservation priorities and distribution patterns of vascular plant species along environmental gradients in Aberdare ranges forest

“…Specimens were identified to species level using varied taxonomic monographs and botanical guide books (FTEA 1952–2012; Blundell 1992; Agnew and Agnew 1994; Beentje et al 1994; Agnew 2013). Plant species were further categorized into their life forms, including (i) herbs (plants less than 50 cm or less than 100 cm but annual), (ii) shrubs (plants between 50cm to 5 m tall), (iii) climbers (plants with twining herbaceous or woody stems), and (iv) arboreal (plants taller than 5m) (Raunkiaer 1934, Schmitt 1991, Bao et al 2018). Finally, the dried voucher specimens were deposited in the East African Herbarium (EA), Nairobi, and Wuhan Botanical Garden herbarium (HIB), China.…”

Seasonal Diversity Of vegetation Structure Of veredas, Mato Grosso Do Sul, Brazil

“…Studies carried in the Pantanal (Amador et al 2012, Bueno et al 2014, Bao et al 2017a and in Veredas (Munhoz & Felfili 2008) indicate differences in the herbaceous component in areas under moisture seasonality, i.e., with variation in soil water content. However, such fluctuation is yet scarcely known about Veredas.…”