The aquatic macrophyte flora of the Pandeiros River Wildlife Sanctuary, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

The São Francisco River forms one of the main Brazilian hydrographic basins of ca. 645,000 km2. The Pandeiros River is a tributary situated on the left margin of the São Francisco and is considered a strategic component for conservation of biodiversity of that hydrographic basin. An inventory of the aquatic macrophyte flora of the Pandeiros River Wildlife Sanctuary was carried out, using collections of botanical samples and examination of specimens at the BHCB Herbarium. Aquatic environments in the study area were classified as follows: the Pandeiros riverbed, floodplains, oxbow lakes, and swamps. A total of 101 species was inventoried, distributed in 37 families (1 charophytes, 1 liverworts, 3 ferns and 32 angiosperms) and 71 genera. The species were classified into seven life forms, with the amphibian and rafted plants the more representative. The area shows a high diversity in its aquatic macrophytes and has an important role in the conservation of biodiversity of the region.

The Plants associated with aquatic and marshy environments in the state of Paraíba, northeastern Brazil

“…The notable presence of synanthropic species is associated with the fact that many aquatic environments are close to anthropogenic environments, such as cities, areas of animal husbandry, generally linked to pastures, which may have favored a high number of species of Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae and Fabaceae (Henry-Silva, Moura & Dantas, 2010;Xavier, Araújo, Nascimento & Pereira, 2012;Pivari, Viana & Leite, 2013;Machado-Filho, Couto, Bezerra & Melo, 2015;Sabino, Araújo, Cotarelli, Siqueira-Filho & Campelo, 2015).…”

Late Holocene in central Brazil: vegetation changes and humidity variability in a tropical wetland

“…From 3600 to 3100 cal a bp , the increase in organic matter content, the absence of M. flexuosa and the presence of Ludwigia and Polygonum – which are indicators of flooded environments (Rodrigues et al , 2009; Pivari et al ; 2013) – suggest the formation of a marsh, i.e. of a wetland dominated by herbaceous plants (Keddy, 2010).…”

“…In the next phase, which starts at approximately 1600 cal a bp , the palm swamp is again replaced by a marsh, as indicated by the sharp decrease in M. flexuosa and the presence of aquatic plants such as Echinodorus , Polygonum , Sagittaria and Ludwigia . The family Alismataceae ( Echinodorus and Sagittaria ) is in fact associated with flooded areas by several studies on the Pandeiros wetland (Barbosa, 2010; Pivari et al , 2013) and by Araújo et al (2002) in the Triângulo Mineiro region. At approximately 900 cal a bp , our data indicate that the marsh dried up since all humidity‐related taxa were absent.…”

“…The Pandeiros wetland is characterised by the presence of diverse aquatic and semiaquatic environments, such as temporary and perennial lakes, abandoned meanders and oxbow lakes, marshes and palm swamps. Pivari et al (2013) inventoried 101 aquatic macrophyte species on flood plains, oxbow lakes and swamps of the Pandeiros wetland; the most representative families were Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Plantaginaceae, Pontederiaceae, Alismataceae, Onagraceae and Rubiaceae; the most diverse genera were Bacopa, Cyperus, Ludwigia, Borreria, Echinodorus and Polygonum .…”

Diversity of macrophytes in the Amazon deforestation arc: information on their distribution, life-forms and habits

“…Life-forms were classified according to Esteves (2011), which divides macrophytes into seven groups: amphibious, emergent, epiphyte, floating-leaved, free-floating, free-submerged and rooted-submerged. They were also determined according to specialized literature (Pott & Pott 2000;Amaral et al 2008), and national macrophyte checklists containing life-form information (Moura Júnior et al 2013Pivari et al 2013;Abe et al 2015), along with field observations. Additionally, we calculated the frequency of occurrence of each species (the number of sites where a species was recorded) and recorded the type of waterbodies where they were found (stream, pond and lake).…”