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

Abstract

In Brazil, the number of floristic inventories involving ferns and lycophytes in the Cerrado domain is considerable. However, most of the diversity is recorded for states in the Central-West Region. In addition to the Cerrado domain, Maranhão State contains part of Amazonia and a small portion of the Caatinga. However, for this state, ferns and lycophytes are poorly sampled in floristic studies and data related to the diversity of these species are insufficient. Due to the scarcity of data about these groups, conducting floristic inventories in the state is extremely important, mainly in protected areas that contain regional vegetation near primary vegetation. Thus, the objective of the present study was to conduct a floristic inventory of the fern and lycophyte species in Chapada das Mesas National Park. We identified 86 species: 69 species of ferns, distributed in 35 genera and 17 families; and 17 species of lycophytes, distributed in five genera and three families. Among the species identified, five are new records for the Northeast Region of Brazil, twenty-one are new records for Maranhão State and eleven are new records for the Cerrado; until now, these were only recorded for Amazonia and the Atlantic Forest. The most representative families were Pteridaceae with 14 species, Selaginellaceae with 12 species, Thelypteridaceae with 11 species, and Anemiaceae, Hymenophyllaceae and Dryopteridaceae with six species each. The rupicolous life form was predominant. The new occurrence records for the Cerrado, Northeast Region and Maranhão are evidence that floristic research of ferns and lycophytes is still insufficient in these areas, and a greater sampling effort is needed to increase what is known about the diversity of these plants.

Selaginella P.Beauv. (Selaginellaceae) in the state of Maranhão, northeastern, Brazil: A floristic survey and a new record for the Cerrado domain

“…Various recent floristic studies confirm that Maranhão is undercollected (Ferreira et al 2017, Ferreira et al 2018, Ferreira et al 2019a, b, Ferreira et al 2022, Gomes et al 2021, Guarçoni et al 2018a, b, Guarçoni et al 2020, Oliveira et al 2021, Scatigna et al 2020. There are few surveys of the fern and lycophyte species in Maranhão (Almeida et al 2020, Silva Junior et al 2020, Fernandes et al 2022, suggesting the need for new botanical studies in the state to update the Flora e Funga do Brasil database, which currently only lists five Selaginella species.…”

“…The representatives of Selaginella in Maranhão mainly occur in the Cerrado region where there are nine recorded species (Fernandes et al 2022); there is only one recorded species in the Amazonian region (Silva Junior et al 2020, Goés-Neto et al 2023. The first record of S. gynostachya for the Cerrado domain in Brazil shows that this region is under-collected, as noted by Fernandes et al (2022) in a floristic study of ferns and lycophytes in the region of Chapada das Mesas. The occurrence of S. gynostachya in the ecotonal zone in Maranhão also demonstrates that individuals of this species can adapt and colonize a greater diversity of microenvironments and microclimates.…”

“…Almeida et al (2020) also recorded S. conduplicata and S. radiata for the first time for the Cerrado phytogeographic domain in Brazil, and S. conduplicata was a new record for Maranhão. Another study about ferns and lycophytes in Maranhão, which was also conducted in the region of Chapada das Mesas (Fernandes et al 2022), recorded 17 species of lycophytes, including 12 species of Selaginella (three not identified). Of these, three were new records for Maranhão: Selaginella convoluta (Arn.)…”

“…The Brazilian Cerrado is notoriously under-collected for all groups of plants, including those in protected areas. For Maranhão, recent studies have increased the number of known Selaginella from five (Góes-Neto et al 2023) to nine species, most of which occur in the Cerrado (Almeida et al 2020, Fernandes et al 2022.…”

“…Studies about the genus in Brazil have mainly been concentrated on the Atlantic Forest and Amazonia (Bautista 1974a, b, Castellani & Freitas 1992, Hirai & Prado 2000, Prado & Freitas 2005, Prado & Hirai 2008, Heringer et al 2016, Valdespino 2015a, b, Valdespino et al 2015, Valdespino et al 2018a, b, Valdespino 2020). Nevertheless, records from the Cerrado vegetation have been reported in the flora of the Distrito Federal (Hirai 2007), Minas Gerais (Heringer et al 2016), and recent inventories in Maranhão (Almeida et al 2020, Fernandes et al 2022.…”