Floristic composition of an urban coastal forest fragment at the State University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

Abstract

The urban areas have suffered with the loss in their biodiversity along the years due to the decrease of green areas by civil construction or by the urban population growth. Therefore, this work aimed at registering the angiosperms diversity in an urban forest fragment at the Itaperi Campus of the State University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil. The sampling was carried out from May/2018 to April /2019 through walks during the rainy and dry seasons. 160 species distributed in 128 genera and 49 families were registered. Fabaceae (27 spp.), Asteraceae (13 spp.), Convolvulaceae and Malvaceae (11 spp. each), Rubiaceae e Poaceae (9 spp. each), and Euphorbiaceae (8 spp.) were the richest families, accounting for 55% of the sampled flora. The herbaceous plants (36.65%) were the most represented habit after which the sub-shrubs and shrubs (17,50% each), arboreal (16,25%) and climbing plants (13.12%) were classified. Among the total species 94.37% are natives, 15,62% are endemic to Brazil and 5,62% are exotic. Of the identified species, 10 spp. are in the Red List of the Flora Conservation National Center and 30 spp. are in the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. It can be concluded that the studied fragment has an important richness of plant species in an urban area, therefore it is necessary to create a Conservation Unity and a management plan in order to guarantee the conservation of the area.