Lycophytes of the Chapada das Mesas National Park, Cerrado, Maranhão, Brazil

Abstract

Despite an increase in studies involving lycophytes and ferns in recent years, Maranhão is still one of the northeastern states with a poorly known flora, mainly due to low sampling. For Chapada das Mesas National Park, a protected conservation unit in the Cerrado maranhense with phytophysiognomies that favor floristic diversity, there are no floristic studies about lycophytes. This study aimed to conduct the floristic inventory and taxonomic study of lycophytes in Chapada das Mesas National Park. Three collection expeditions, of three days each, were made between March 2017 and June 2018. Three families of lycophytes represented by three genera and six species were identified in the study area. The most diverse family was Selaginellaceae with four species: Selaginella conduplicata, S. erythropus (Mart.) Spring, S. radiata (Aubl.) Baker and S. simplex Baker. The other two families, Isoëtaceae and Lycopodiaceae, had one species each, Isoëtes sp. and Palhinhaea cernua (L.) Franco & Vasc. This study also reports two new record for the Brazilian Cerrado phytogeographic domain, S. conduplicate and S. radiata, of which the first is a new record for Maranhão State. Most specimens were found in riparian forest on rocky outcrops.

Ferns and lycophytes in Chapada das Mesas National Park and surroundings, Maranhão State, Brazil

“…Despite the considerable number of studies conducted, the greatest diversity recorded was 21 species for the municipality of Caxias, which includes the Inhamum Environmental Protection Area (Área de Proteção Ambiental do Inhamum) (Fernandes et al 2007(Fernandes et al , 2010. Among the studies published, only two were conducted in completely protected PAs: an inventory of ferns and lycophytes in Mirador State Park (Parque Estadual do Mirador) (e.g., Conceição & Rodrigues 2010), which is the largest protected area in Maranhão State (437,000 ha); and an inventory of lycophytes conducted in Chapada das Mesas National Park (Parque Nacional da Chapada das Mesas) (e.g., Almeida et al 2020).…”

“…Despite being created over 15 years ago and possessing diverse phytophysiognomies of the Cerrado domain, including large areas of field and savanna formations, the management plan of the park lacks data about the floristic diversity (MMA 2012, ICMBio 2021). Further, studies about the plant diversity of the area are recent (e.g., ) and only one is about vascular plants (e.g., Almeida et al 2020).…”

Pteridaceae in remnants of Cerrado in Maranhão state, Brazil

“…For the Cerrado domain in Maranhão, studies that have included Pteridaceae species are floristic works that were conducted mainly in the Caxias microregion in eastern Maranhão (Fernandes et al 2007(Fernandes et al , 2010Conceição et al 2015;Silva et al 2017). For the southern Maranhão, three studies have been published on the ferns or lycophytes: Conceição and Rodrigues (2010), Almeida et al (2020), andFernandes et al (2022). The first study was conducted in Parque Estadual do Mirador, which is the largest conservation unit in the state (766,781 ha) (Maranhão 2009), and only seven species (one Pteridaceae) of ferns and lycophytes were recorded there.…”

Expansion of the geographic distribution of a Brazilian endemic, Encyclia gonzalezii L.C. Menezes (Orchidaceae, Epidendroideae), to the Cerrado of Maranhão and the Northeast Region of Brazil

“…The predominant phytogeographic domain in the area between the municipalities of Riachão and Carolina is the Cerrado in transition with the Amazon Region. The predominant phytophysiognomy in the area of the Chapada das Mesas region, where the Prata waterfall is located, consists of the Cerradão and riparian forests (Pereira et al 2011;Almeida et al 2020;INMET 2021). This region has intense tourist activity with access trails to the Cachoeira do Prata, and it has been impacted by deforestation and fires due to surrounding agrarian activities (Silva et al 2017).…”