Floristic and phytogeographic pattern of native field in southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The waterlogging of soils creates selective environments for plant species. The frequency and duration of flooding influence the responses to ecological processes, determining the structure and floristic composition of vegetation formations. We investigated the relationship between floristic composition and environmental heterogeneity of native field, one physiognomic type found interspersed with semideciduous forest in the plains in the northern part of the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil, which is characterized by varying degrees of waterlogging. Our results indicate that the differentiation of physiognomic types of native field is related to the frequency and duration of waterlogging to which each is subjected, resulting in a somewhat shared flora, dominated by phanerophytes. Flooding was also found to account for differences between the areas analyzed in terms of the soil pH, which ranged from strongly acid to extremely acid. The geographic proximity between the native field studied and areas of muçununga (or mussununga, a coastal forest ecosystem associated with the Atlantic Forest) did not increase the floristic similarity between the two.

Open-Source Processing and Analysis of Aerial Imagery Acquired with a Low-Cost Unmanned Aerial System to Support Invasive Plant Management

“…These vegetation patches are spread out in a matrix of Eucalyptus plantation and Brazilian Atlantic Forest (IBGE, 2004) having rounded to amoeboid shapes which greatly vary in size (less than one to hundreds of hectares). Mussununga vegetation is strictly associated with nutrient-poor, acidic, sandy soils formed through podzolization as a consequence of high humidity and hydromorphism (Saporetti-Junior et al, 2012;Ferreira et al, 2014). Our Mussununga study area was dominated by grasses and monocots with scattered patches of dwarf shrubs and small trees (Figure 2A).…”

“…The climate is classified as Tropical with no dry season (Af) in the Köppen classification system (Alvares et al, 2013), with annual mean precipitation around 1750 mm (Saporetti-Junior et al, 2012), and mean temperature around 26 • C. Vegetation in the region is highly fragmented and predominantly composed of Atlantic rainforest remnants, Mussununga, eucalyptus plantations, pasture and crops. Mussununga is a heterogeneous savanna-type formation of different physiognomies, from grasslands, dominated by few species of monocots; savanna, composed of one layer of herbaceous plants and another layer of scattered woody plants; and woodland formed by a closed canopy (Saporetti-Junior et al, 2012;Ferreira et al, 2014;Lima et al, 2015). These vegetation patches are spread out in a matrix of Eucalyptus plantation and Brazilian Atlantic Forest (IBGE, 2004) having rounded to amoeboid shapes which greatly vary in size (less than one to hundreds of hectares).…”

Dinâmica dos Espodossolos, da vegetação e do clima durante o Quaternário tardio na região nordeste do estado do Espírito Santo

“…Embora Urticaceae/Moraceae, Alchornea/Aparisthmium, Cecropia, Chrysophyllum, Coussapoa, Borreria, Blechnaceae e Polypodiaceae tenham apresentado frequências relevantes na precipitação polínica moderna, tais táxons não foram encontrados no levantamento florístico realizado nas proximidades dos coletores, e também não estão presentes no levantamento realizado por Ferreira et al (2014) na mesma área.…”

“…Descrição mais detalhada da vegetação pode ser encontrada no item 5.2.1 desse trabalho e no estudo de Ferreira et al (2014). O substrato é classificado como Espodossolo ferrihumilúvico, com a transição entre os horizontes E e B espódico localizada em profundidades variando de 60 a 90 cm (SECRETTI, 2013).…”

“…Em sua margem norte ocorre transição abrupta para a mata de tabuleiro. A composição florística e a fitossociologia do Nativo da Mantegueira são apresentadas em Ferreira et al (2014).…”