O cerrado não é um bioma

Abstract

BATALHA, M.A. The Brazilian cerrado is not a biome. Biota Neotrop. 11(1): http://www.biotaneotropica.org. br/v11n1/en/abstract?inventory+bn00111012011. Abstract:It is important to define correctly a given concept, because there may be immediate and practical implications. Two important concepts to be accurately defined are "cerrado" and "biome". As used in Brazil, the concept of biome has erroneously acquired a floristic meaning. As a matter of fact, the concept of biome is close to that of vegetation form, but takes into account the association between the vegetation and the animals and microorganisms. Thus, on the one hand, the concept of biome is physiognomic and functional, that is, it takes into account the general aspect of the vegetation, growth patterns, and reproduction patterns; on the other hand, it is not floristic, that is, the taxonomic affinities of the species that occur in different regions of the same biome are irrelevant. To be coherent with international literature and use accurately the concept of biome, we should consider the Brazilian cerrado as being composed of three biomes: tropical grassland (campo limpo), savanna (campo sujo, campo cerrado, and cerrado sensu stricto), and seasonal forest (cerradão). Resumo: É importante definirmos corretamente um termo, porque pode haver implicações práticas e imediatas. Dois conceitos importantes para serem definidos acuradamente são os de "cerrado" e de "bioma". Da maneira como vem sendo usado no Brasil, o conceito de bioma adquiriu erroneamente uma conotação florística. Na verdade, o conceito de bioma é similar ao de formação vegetal, mas leva em conta a associação da vegetação com a fauna e com os microrganismos. Assim, por um lado, o conceito de bioma é fisionômico e funcional, isto é, levam-se em conta a aparência geral da vegetação e aspectos como os ritmos de crescimento e reprodução; por outro, o conceito não é florístico, isto é, a afinidade taxonômica das espécies que aparecem em várias unidades de um mesmo bioma é irrelevante. Para sermos coerentes com toda a literatura internacional e usarmos o conceito de bioma acuradamente, devemos considerar o cerrado sensu lato como formado por três biomas: o campo tropical (campo limpo), a savana (campo sujo, campo cerrado e cerrado sensu stricto) e a floresta estacional (cerradão). Palavras-chave: fisionomia, savana, terminologia, formação vegetal.

Phanerogamic flora and vegetation of Itacolomi State Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…They occur from an altitude of 900m above sea level and upwards, mainly along the Espinhaço Range, in the States of Minas Gerais and Bahia, and with disjunct parts of the same chain, between latitudinal limits of 21º10' and 10º S (Giulietti & Pirani 1988). Phytogeographically, the campos rupestres are classified into the Cerrado domain (Coutinho 2006, Batalha 2011), a kind of savanna, where plants grow in a wide variety of substrates including rock outcrops of quartzite, sandstone or ironstone, along with sandy, stony and waterlogged grasslands (Silveira et al 2016). Campos rupestres also harbor several endemic and threatened species from different groups of organisms (Echternacht et al 2011, BGF 2015, Silveira et al 2016.…”

Tree species composition in areas of Atlantic Forest in southeastern Brazil is consistent with a new system for classifying the vegetation of South America

“…These impressive figures show that conservation strategies require rigorous and well-defined criteria for vegetation classification, because the correct and incorrect use of language still has serious implications for conservation issues (Oliveira-Filho & Fontes 2000;Coutinho 2006;Batalha 2011). Since the first attempt, by Martius in 1824, to classify the vegetation of Brazil, several systems have been proposed (Veloso et al 1991;Fernandes 2000).…”

Towards a New Ecophysiological Approach to Understand Citrus Crop Yield Under Abiotic Stresses Mirroring in the Brazilian Savanna Genetic Resources

“…The cerrado is a mosaic of biomes (Batalha, 2011) that occupies approximately 21% of the Brazilian territory (Figure 1). The cerrado is considered to be one of the last agricultural frontiers in the world (Borlaug, 2002).…”