Breaking the misconception of a dry and lifeless semiarid region: the diversity and distribution of aquatic flora in wetlands of the Brazilian Northeast

Abstract

The semiarid region of northeastern Brazil possesses a set of wetlands characterized by hydrographic basins with deficient drainage networks, a few large and permanent lotic systems and several permanent and temporary lagoons. Aquatic plants are widely distributed in these wetlands and the present study aims to determine if those of Ceará state have similar species compositions and differences in species richness. We hypothesized that lentic ecosystems would have more species and different growth forms of aquatic angiosperms than lotic ecosystems. A total of 1619 records of aquatic angiosperms in 43 wetland areas were analysed. The most representative families were Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Alismataceae, Malvaceae, Nymphaeaceae and Pontederiaceae. Most of the species are helophytes and bottom-rooted emergent hydrophytes. Permanent lentic ecosystems had the highest number of exclusive species (27.85 %), followed by temporary lentic ecosystems (20.54 %). Contrary to our hypothesis, the different aquatic ecosystems were found to possess distinct species compositions and different proportions of growth forms, and all wetland types contributed to the macrophyte richness of the study area, although they differ in species richness. Therefore, conservation plans for the native aquatic macrophyte biota should include all wetland ecosystems in the semiarid state of Ceará.

Relationship between pollination syndromes, pollen morphology and plant ecology in Quaternary deposits of the Cerrado

“…Ecological information: helophyte herb dependent on water availability (Matias et al 2021), commonly observed in sparse woody cerrado, wet grassland and, when associated with vereda , on the edge or in intermediate areas such as water tables near the soil surface (Araujo et al 2002; Sano et al 2008).…”

“…Ecological information: herbaceous heliophyte usually growing in habitats with high edaphic moisture. It is observed in moist open cerrado (Munhoz and Felfili 2008) and swamp ( veredas ) (Matias et al 2021). In the Cerrado biome, common in wet grassland, marsh, vereda and less common in gallery forest (Sano et al 2008; Felfili et al 2015).…”

“…For each pollen taxon, ecological information, including pollination syndrome, plant life form, vegetation physiognomy and stratum, was obtained from botanical studies of the Cerrado phytophysiognomies, with a focus on vegetation assemblages close to our study areas (Lombardo 1996;Felfili 1997aFelfili , 1997bvan den Berg and Oliveira-Filho 2000;Lorenzi 2002;Martins and Batalha 2006;Felfili et al 2007Felfili et al , 2015Wersal 2010;Moreira et al 2011;Martinelli and Moraes 2013;Santos and Munhoz 2014;Vieira 2020;Matias et al 2021;Vieira et al 2022).…”

Hands-off, artificial construction, or penalty? How to deal with the increasingly polluted coastal wetland ecosystem in China

“…Li B et al (2021) studied the effects of climate, soil properties, and topography on wetlands in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China. Matias et al (2021) studied the impact of the lack of drainage systems on wetlands in northeastern Brazil. These studies mainly introduced the influencing factors of wetland ecosystems from aspects of human factors, such as law and artificial facilities, and also natural factors, such as insects, climate, terrain, and drainage systems.…”

Estimated degradation of the Caatinga based on modern pollen rain deposited in reservoirs

“…Pollen counts were also converted into percentages; the total pollen sum used to calculate the percentage is represented by the sum of all pollen taxa except aquatic or water-level related taxa (Agalinis, Cleome, Cuphea, Cyperaceae, Echinodorus, Ludwigia, Salvinia, Typha, Utricularia) (Matias et al 2021). Pollen frequencies are presented in diagrams drawn with C2 software (Juggins 2007).…”