Biodiversity Data Journal :
Research Article
|
Corresponding author: Erica Pereira Campos (erica.campos@ufr.edu.br)
Academic editor: Quentin Groom
Received: 11 Aug 2021 | Accepted: 23 Oct 2021 | Published: 10 Nov 2021
© 2021 Erica Campos, Massimo Bovini, Ariane Peixoto
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Campos EP, Bovini MG, Peixoto AL (2021) The flora of south-eastern Mato Grosso State (Brazil): a review of herbarium collections. Biodiversity Data Journal 9: e72907. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.9.e72907
|
|
The diversity and richness of the Brazilian flora are documented in herbarium collections. When areas are deforested, but not documented, we lose both flora and the opportunity to know which species occupied those areas. The south-eastern mesoregion of Mato Grosso State, comprising 22 municipalities, has undergone the loss of native vegetation cover, accelerated by the substantial expansion of agribusiness. For an in-depth look at the consequences and the current state of the flora in that mesoregion, we consulted both speciesLink and JABOT databases. More specifically, we carried out a comprehensive study of herbarium collections by municipality and compiled data including scientific name, collection date, collection locality, collector name and observations made during collection. We obtained 5,861 records of angiosperms, ferns and lycophytes of 160 families, 770 genera and 1,792 species. The specimens are deposited in 80 herbaria of which the Herbarium of Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT) hosts the largest collection. Rondonópolis was the most sampled municipality, whereas 50% of the municipalities were poorly sampled and one showed no collection records at all. Amongst the species occurring only in Mato Grosso, eleven were collected only in that mesoregion and twenty species were under some degree of threat. Our study recommends increasing collection and identification efforts to enable effective conservation actions and improve richness estimates for the State of Mato Grosso and the Cerrado, in general, before more of the flora is lost to deforestation.
biodiversity database, Cerrado, collection effort, endangered species, flora of Brazil
Brazil is recognised as one of the richest countries in plant diversity. The Brazilian Flora has recorded the occurrence of approximately 38,676 species of vascular plants and bryophytes of which Angiosperms correspond to over 90% of the total (
Specimens records are documents that certify flora diversity and richness of a given region or country and are deposited in botanical collections. These collections exist of living or herbarium material and their associated data (
According to
Besides documenting the country’s biological diversity, the specimens deposited in herbaria keep part of the history of regions previously covered by natural vegetation, which are now occupied by cities, various enterprises or which are now deforested (
Without the existence of voucher materials in herbaria, it is impossible to verify whether observations are correctly identified, to assess the geographic distribution, carry out species distribution modelling analysis, study the phylogeny or even define the conservation status of a species (
According to
In Brazil, 216 active herbaria are distributed in all states of the Federation. In the Midwest region, there are 21 herbaria and for the State of Mato Grosso, six active herbaria (
The south-eastern mesoregion of Mato Grosso is composed of 22 municipalities (
Owing to the rapid loss of native vegetation cover and the scarcity of studies (
Thus, the following questions guided our study:
Mato Grosso consists of 903,329.7 km2 and occupies 56.23% of the Brazilian Midwest region, bordering the States of Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul and sharing its borders with Bolivia (
Vegetation consists of elements from the Amazon phytogeographic region, which occupies approximately 53.5% of Mato Grosso’s territory, followed by the Cerrado and Pantanal biomes with 39.7% and 6.8%, respectively (
The State is currently divided into five geographic mesoregions: north, north-eastern, south-western, mid-southern and south-eastern (
The soils of the south-eastern mesoregion vary between Dark-Red and Red-Yellow Latosols, Red-Yellow Podzolic, Cambisols and Quartz Sands (
The databases from speciesLink (http://inct.splink.org.br) and JABOT (Botanical collections management system of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden - JBRJ) (http://jabot.jbrj.gov.br) networks, with records up to December 2019, were consulted. Data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (
For each of the 22 municipalities studied, we surveyed the herbaria containing records and compiled information from these records, including family, scientific name, collection date, collection locality, collector name, geographic coordinates and observations made during collection. Indigenous lands located within these municipalities were also assessed.
We created a spreadheet in EXCEL (version 2016) to facilitate information organisation, checking and editing duplicate records; 186 records were discarded, which included only the name of the state, but no information about the municipality or location that could support the inclusion of the sample in one of the municipalities in the south-eastern mesoregion of Mato Grosso. We also excluded 269 records containing no date and followed the same procedure for samples without specific determination. We used ESRI ARCGIS, v.10.5 and ARCVIEW GIS 3.2 software to prepare maps.
Herbaria with fifty or more records of the studied area were considered significant (Table
Twenty main herbaria surveyed in this research with their respective acronyms according to
HERBARIUM CODE |
INSTITUTION |
CEN |
EMBRAPA Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia - EMBRAPA Cenargen |
CGMS |
Fundação Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul |
CNMT |
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso – Campus Sinop |
CPAP |
EMBRAPA |
ESA |
Universidade de São Paulo – Campus Piracicaba |
HPL |
Jardim Botânico Plantarum |
HUEFS |
Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana |
ICN |
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul |
INPA |
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia |
MBM |
Museu Botânico Municipal |
NYBG |
New York Botanical Garden |
PACA |
Instituto Anchietano de Pesquisas/UNISINOS |
RB |
Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro |
SJRP |
Universidade Estadual Paulista - Campus São José do Rio Preto |
SP |
Instituto de Botânica |
SPF |
Universidade de São Paulo |
UB |
Universidade de Brasília |
UEC |
Universidade Estadual de Campinas |
UFG |
Universidade Federal de Goiás |
UFMT |
Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso |
Families were listed following APG IV (
The presence of endangered species was verified by accessing the Brazilian National Center for Flora Conservation website (CNC Flora) (www.cncflora.jbrj.gov.br/portal), a national reference for the conservation of endangered Brazilian flora.
The inventory showed a total of 5,861 records of angiosperms, ferns and lycophytes distributed amongst 160 families, 770 genera and 1,792 species and infraspecific categories (Suppl. material
The ten families with the highest number of occurrence records and the highest richness were those already recorded in other studies in Cerrado areas (
The data confirmed that these ten families are amongst the largest families in the Brazilian flora in number of species, as well as in the Cerrado (
The most abundant genera are Paspalum (27), Eugenia (23), Myrcia (23), Byrsonima (21) and Rhynchospora (18). Except for Byrsonima (
The most collected angiosperm species were Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex A. Juss.) Müll. Arg (64 occurence records observed), Duguetia furfuracea (A. St.-Hil.) Saff. (38), Byrsonima intermedia A. Juss. (24), Kielmeyera coriacea Mart. & Zucc. (21), Palicourea coriacea (Cham.) K. Schum. (21), Myrcia guianensis (Aubl.) DC. (20), Rauvolfia weddeliana Müll. Arg. (19), Davilla elliptica A. St.-Hil. (18), Xylopia aromatica (Lam.) Mart. (17), Eugenia aurata O. Berg (16), Manihot cezarii M. Martins (16) and Miconia albicans (Sw.) Steud. (16). Ferns were represented by Pityrogramma calomelanos (L.) Link (20) and lycophytes by Palhinhaea camporum (B. Øllg. & P.G. Windisch) Holub (17). Our data also showed that 57.8% of species were collected only a single time, revealing the need for a significant increase in fieldwork to collect and identify the material deposited in collections.
It is worth highlighting that the species with the highest number of collections, H. brasiliensis (rubber tree), is mainly native to the states of northern Brazil with no natural occurrence in Mato Grosso (
The records of flora species from the south-eastern mesoregion of Mato Grosso are deposited in eighty herbaria in Brazil and abroad. The Herbarium of the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT) contains the largest collection (744 records), both in number of records and species diversity of the studied area. The second-largest collection is housed in the Municipal Botanical Museum of Curitiba (MBM) (495 records) and the third is in the Herbarium of the University of Brasília (UB) (395 records) (Fig.
The botanist Gerdt G. Hatschbach, founder of the MBM, was the primary collector in Brazil, as well as amongst the most prominent in the number of collections. His records in the region cover the period between 1966 and 1998.
The oldest collection record in the region is a fern species with wide distribution in the country, Didymoglossum punctatum (Poir.) Desv. (Hymenophyllaceae), collected in the Alto Araguaia region by Carl August Wilhelm Schwacke in 1877 and deposited in the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro Herbarium (RB - barcode 00650249) (
All records between 1920 and 1929 occurred in 1926, comprising 19 Poaceae and one Apocynaceae species. All collections were made by Marshal Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon (1865-1958).
Between 1900 and 1930, the Rondon Commission was created, responsible for constructing telegraph lines all over Brazil (
The Rondon Commission played an important role in the natural history of the State of Mato Grosso, which, at the time, occupied much more territory. According to
The following decades saw a significant recovery in collections, which started in the 1960s, but peaked between 1990 and 1999. With the consolidation of undergraduate and graduate courses in several institutions, it is likely that academics from UFMT and researchers from Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA- Pantanal) went into the field to carry out their studies, resulting in an increase in records deposited in herbarium collections (Fig.
The Municipality of São Pedro da Cipa was the only one with no collection. Rondonópolis, the largest municipality in the region, was sampled the most (1,116 collection records), followed by Alto Araguaia (956), which borders the state of Goiás and Itiquira (502), which borders the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. The three municipalities have a good highway network, providing easy access.
Considering a minimum number of 200 records per municipality, it was possible to evaluate a rather high percentage of municipalities (50%) having a poorly-collected area, i.e. less than 200 samples deposited in collections (Fig.
The Rondonópolis region is strategically located at the junction of highways BR-163 and BR-364, connecting the northern and southern regions of Brazil. Thus, the easy access, good infrastructure and the Biological Sciences course of the Federal University of Rondonópolis may have contributed to the higher number of records (Fig.
Most collections in the south-eastern mesoregion of Mato Grosso occurred along roads, followed by those along watercourses. Protected areas represent 1.47% of the total records with 13 species collected exclusively in these areas (Table
Collections in protected areas in the south-eastern mesoregion of Mato Grosso.
Protected areas | City | Area (km2) | Management | Number of specimens |
R.P.P.N. Parque Ecológico João Basso | Rondonópolis | 42.63 | Private |
81 (11 exclusive species) |
A.P.A Parque Municipal Natural Nascentes do Rio Taquari | Alto Taquari | 0.87 | Municipal | 01 |
Estrada Parque Cachoeira da Fumaça | Jaciara | 6.98 | State | 01 |
Terra Indígena - Tadarimana | Rondonópolis | 97.85 | Federal |
03 (02 species exclusive) |
Overall | - | 148.33 | - | 86 |
According to
However, the number of records found in the present study (of 0.081 specimens/km2) is lower than those cited by either
Of the 166 species mentioned in
In addition, we found twenty species under some degree of threat (Table
Endangered species found in the south-eastern mesoregion of Mato Grosso. Threat Categories: Endangered (EN), Vulnerable (VU) and Near Threatened (NT) (CNC Flora 2020).
Species |
Threat categories |
Number of specimens |
Alstroemeria brasiliensis Spreng. (Alstroemeriaceae) |
EN |
1 |
Anemopaegma arvense (Vell.) Stellfeld ex de Souza (Bignoniaceae) |
EN |
8 |
Apuleia leiocarpa (Vogel) J.F.Macbr. (Fabaceae) |
VU |
1 |
Blepharodon hatschbachii Fontella & Marquete (Apocynaceae) |
EN |
2 |
Bowdichia virgilioides Kunth (Fabaceae) |
NT |
6 |
Chamaecrista dumalis (Hoehne) H.S.Irwin & Barneby (Fabaceae) |
NT |
1 |
Cyrtopodium caiapoense L.C.Menezes (Fabaceae) |
VU |
1 |
Diplopterys amplectens (B.Gates) W.R.Anderson & C.C.Davis (Malpighiaceae) |
NT |
3 |
Habenaria achalensis Kraenzl. (Orchidaceae) |
VU |
1 |
Handroanthus impetiginosus (Mart. ex DC.) Mattos (Bignoniaceae) |
NT |
1 |
Hyptis frondosa S.Moore (Lamiaceae) |
VU |
3 |
Hyptis hamatidens Epling & Játiva (Lamiaceae) |
VU |
1 |
Micropholis gnaphaloclados (Mart.) Pierre (Sapotaceae) |
NT |
1 |
Pterandra hatschbachii W.R.Anderson (Malpighiaceae) |
VU |
7 |
Seemannia sylvatica (Kunth) Hanst. (Gesneriaceae) |
NT |
1 |
Sinningia defoliata (Malme) Chautems (Gesneriaceae) |
VU |
2 |
Strophopappus bicolor DC. (Asteraceae) |
EN |
1 |
Strophopappus ferrugineus (Baker) R.Esteves (Asteraceae) |
EN |
1 |
Talisia subalbens (Mart.) Radlk. (Sapindaceae) |
VU |
2 |
Tibouchina papyrus (Pohl) Toledo (Melastomataceae) |
NT |
1 |
The present study indicates Blepharodon hatschbachii Fontella & Marquete (Apocynaceae) as a priority species for conservation. Besides being endangered (EN), it has confirmed occurrence only in Mato Grosso with collections in two municipalities of the south-eastern mesoregion in the years of 1973 and 1974 (
The south-eastern mesoregion of Mato Grosso is composed of 22 municipalities and shows a remarkable species richness and diversity, as documented in herbarium collections. Therefore, we want to stress the importance of inventorying and characterising local flora species and their populations. The consulted herbarium collections contained 1,792 species of this region, with many undetermined collections. Unfortunately in this study, a large number of municipalities showed scarce records and locality information.
Therefore, we want to stress the importance of increasing the efforts to collect and identify species in the region to improve estimates of flora richness for the south-eastern mesoregion, the entire State of Mato Grosso and the phytogeographic domain of the Cerrado. The data we found indicate that poorly-collected municipalities, i.e. those with less than 200 plant samples recorded in herbarium collections, corresponded to 50% of the municipalities in the south-eastern mesoregion of Mato Grosso.
Poor knowledge of the vegetation of protected areas in the region still characterises herbaria collections in the region, making it difficult to assess the conservation status for endangered and endemic species. In fact, this difficulty is emphasised by the elevated proportion of species (~ 58%) with only one record observed for the south-eastern mesoregion of Mato Grosso. Studies with these taxa are needed to develop better conservation strategies.
The increase in floristc projects for this region, associated with the increase in qualified professionals in the area, is fundamental for conservation decision-making. In addition, the low collection rate, together with the high percentage of collections carried out by only a few collectors, demonstrates the urgency for increasing human resources to collect and identify plants.
We thank the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden Research Institute (JBRJ) for providing the physical infrastructure and staff needed to carry out the present study, in particular Rafael Ribeiro from the Geoprocessing Laboratory of the JBRJ. We also thank Lucas Alencar da Silva Nogueira, from Empresa Geo Florestal MT, for making the maps. We are grateful to the taxonomists who helped to resolve taxonomic difficulties. We are also grateful to Dora Ann Lange Canhos from the Environmental Information Reference Center (CRIA) for helping us initially with managing the database and the Federal University of Rondonópolis for granting leave to the first author for a postdoctoral internship.
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest related to this publication.