Aquatic Macrophytes Diversity in the Lower Doce River Basin, Espírito Santo, Brazil

Abstract

Macrophytes are plant organisms that live partially or totally submerged in water, being fixed and free. The Doce River is one of the main rivers in southeastern Brazil and, in 2015, it was hit by ore tailings from the Fundão dam burst in Mariana, Minas Gerais. This work aims to provide a floristic survey of macrophytes in the lower Doce River basin and to compare the species composition between lentic and lotic environments. Expeditions were carried out monthly from October 2018 to September 2019, in five stations in lotic and six in lentic environments. A total of 105 species belonging to 33 families of vascular plants were recorded, among them 14 are new occurrences for Espírito Santo state. Richest families were Poaceae (23 spp.) and Cyperaceae (22 spp.). Amphibious/emerging plants were the most representative (46 spp.). NMDS analysis revealed that the composition of the lotic and lentic environments are different.