Flora of Baturité, Ceará: a Wet Island in the Brazilian Semiarid

Abstract

The biota of the humid mountain ranges of the Brazilian semiarid is still poorly understood. In order to fill this scientific gap, we carried out an extensive survey along altitudinal ranges (400m-1,000 m) on both the windward and the leeward slopes of the Baturité Mountain Range, in the state of Ceará state. We registered 400 plant species and 92 families. The Myrtaceae (36 spp.), Fabaceae (25 spp.), Rubiaceae (20 spp.) and Bromeliaceae (15 spp.) families predominated on the windward slope; while Fabaceae (19 spp.), Myrtaceae (14 spp.) and Euphorbiaceae (11 spp.) were the most abundant on the leeward slope. As we expected, the species richness of trees, shrubs, subshrubs, epiphytes and terrestrial herbs was positively correlated with the altitude (R 2 > 0.60). Above 800 m, we registered 273 species exclusive to the windward slope, 81 exclusive to the leeward slope, and 46 shared species. Therefore, management actions must consider the spatial heterogeneity, distribution and taxa richness.

Flora and Annual Distribution of Flowers and Fruits in the Ubajara National Park, Ceará, Brazil

“…and Myrtaceae (11 spp.). These data are in accordance to the same studies performed in other montane forests of the northeastern Brazil (Rodal & Nascimento, 2002;Nascimento et al, 2012;Silveira et al, 2019). All other families had 10 or less species each.…”

A new species of the Dendropsophus decipiens Group (Anura: Hylidae) from Northeastern Brazil

“…nov. is only known from two areas along in Northeastern Brazil: (1) the type locality, municipality of São Lourenço da Mata, Pernambuco State, and (2) the municipality of Guaramiranga, Ceará State (Fig 1), a region characterized by relictual forest enclaves in high altitudinal areas (also known as Brejo de altitude or "wet islands", reaching up to~1100 m a.s.l. [52]) within the Baturité mountain range, located approximately 590 km northwest from the type locality.…”