Biodiversity Data Journal :
Data Paper (Biosciences)
|
Corresponding author: Tatiana T Carrijo (tcarrijo@gmail.com)
Academic editor: Quentin Groom
Received: 28 Sep 2021 | Accepted: 10 Jan 2022 | Published: 19 Jan 2022
© 2022 Anderson Alves-Araújo, Marina Moreira, Tatiana Carrijo, Lúcia Lohmann, Adriana Lobão, Alana Scheidegger, Aline Firmino, Aline de Melo Silva, Álvaro Nepomuceno, Amélia Tuler, André Amorim, André Moreira, Braz Cosenza, Brenno Sossai, Christian Silva, Claudia Lopes, Daniele Monteiro, Dayvid Couto, Duane Lima, Eduardo Dalcin, Eliana Ramos, Elton Lírio, Fatima Salimena, Felipe de Oliveira, Fernanda Fraga, Filipe Torres-Leite, Guilherme Antar, Gustavo Shimizu, Haroldo Lima, Herison Medeiros, Jaquelini Luber, Jheniffer Christ, João Lanna, João Paulo Zorzanelli, Joelcio Freitas, José Pastore, José Melo, Juliana Paula-Souza, Juliana Oliveira, Leandro Pederneiras, Leandro Freitas, Leandro Giacomin, Leonardo Meireles, Luis Silva, Luiz Pinto, Luiz Menini Neto, Marcelo Trovó, Mário Garbin, Marli Morim, Michel Ribeiro, Nelson Pena, Paulo Labiak, Pedro Cardoso, Pedro Viana, Pedro Moraes, Quélita Moraes, Raquel Zorzanelli, Renara Amaral, Renata Asprino, Renato Goldenberg, Ricardo Magnago, Ricardo Couto, Sandrine Dutra, Saúl Hoyos-Gómez, Tamara Vieira, Thiago Flores, Valquíria Dutra, Víctor Miranda, Vitor Manhães, Rafaela Forzza
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:
Alves-Araújo A, Moreira MM, Carrijo TT, Lohmann LG, Lobão AQ, Scheidegger AF, Firmino AD, de Melo Silva AV, Nepomuceno Á, Tuler AC, Amorim AM, Moreira AL, Cosenza BA, Sossai BG, Silva C, Lopes CR, Monteiro D, Couto DR, Lima DF, Dalcin EC, Ramos E, Lírio EJ, Salimena F, de Oliveira FA, Fraga FR, Torres-Leite F, Antar GM, Shimizu GH, Lima HC, Medeiros H, Luber J, Christ JA, Lanna J, Zorzanelli JPF, Freitas J, Pastore JF, Melo JI, Paula-Souza J, Oliveira JR, Pederneiras LC, Freitas L, Giacomin LL, Meireles LD, Silva LA, Pinto LJ, Menini Neto L, Trovó M, Garbin ML, Morim MP, Ribeiro M, Pena NT, Labiak PH, Cardoso PH, Viana PL, Moraes PL, Moraes QS, Zorzanelli RF, Amaral RN, Asprino RC, Goldenberg R, Magnago R, Couto RS, Dutra SC, Hoyos-Gómez SE, Vieira TA, Flores TB, Dutra VF, Miranda VS, Manhães VC, Forzza RC (2022) Floristic survey of vascular plants of a poorly known area in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Flona do Rio Preto, Espírito Santo). Biodiversity Data Journal 10: e75910. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.10.e75910
|
The Atlantic Forest is one of the most threatened biomes in the world. Despite that, this biome still includes many areas that are poorly known floristically, including several protected areas, such as the "Floresta Nacional do Rio Preto" ("Flona do Rio Preto"), located in the Brazilian State of Espírito Santo. This study used a published vascular plant species list for this protected area from the "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil" as the basis to synthesise the species richness, endemism, conservation and new species occurrences found in the "Flona do Rio Preto".
The published list of vascular plants was based on field expeditions conducted between 2018 and 2020 and data obtained from herbarium collections available in online databases. Overall, 722 species were documented for the "Flona do Rio Preto", 711 of which are native to Brazil and 349 are endemic to the Atlantic Forest. In addition, 60 species are geographically disjunct between the Atlantic and the Amazon Forests. Most of the documented species are woody and more than 50% of these are trees. Twenty-three species are threatened (CR, EN and VU), while five are Data Deficient (DD). Thirty-two species are new records for the State of Espírito Santo. Our results expand the knowledge of the flora of the Atlantic Forest and provide support for the development of new conservation policies for this protected area.
conservation, endemism, new records, threatened species
The Atlantic Forest houses one of the highest levels of species diversity and endemism in Brazil (
Unique in its occupation history, the State of Espírito Santo is completely inserted within the Atlantic Forest and exhibits, from the coast to the mountains, contrasting vegetation types (
Six vegetation types are recognised in Espírito Santo: (i) dense and open ombrophilous forests, (ii) seasonal semi-deciduous forests, (iii) savannahs, (iv) "restingas", (v) mangroves and (vi) ecological refuges (
Floristic inventories were produced for the State of Espírito Santo during the last 30 years (e.g.
The "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil" (https://catalogo-ucs-brasil.jbrj.gov.br/) was launched online in 2018 to contribute to the knowledge of the Brazilian protected areas. This digital platform provides comprehensive lists of land plants from the Brazilian protected areas, providing information about species correct names, conservation status, native/non-native status and digital images. The catalogue currently contains plant lists from 18 conservation units located in different Brazilian phytogeographic domains (e.g. Caatinga, Cerrado, Atlantic Forest and Amazon). The checklist of the vascular plants of the "Parque Nacional do Itatiaia" (
The "Flona do Rio Preto" was officially created in 1990 and is located in the northern portion of Espírito Santo (
During this project, we undertook field expeditions to the "Flona do Rio Preto" fortnightly or monthly, from March 2018 to February 2020. Sampling covered all physiognomies (Fig.
In addition to the data collected in the field, we also downloaded information from three online databases: JABOT ("Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro," JBRJ, http://www.jbrj.gov.br/jabot), REFLORA ("Herbário Virtual Reflora," http://reflora.jbrj.gov.br) and Splink ("INCT Herbário Virtual da Flora e dos Fungos," http://inct.splink.org.br) (Fig.
To obtain a list of species with currently accepted nomenclature, we manually selected all specimens identified to the species level, which led to the following: Search 1: JABOT determined = 5,237, undetermined = 2,174; REFLORA determined = 14,024, undetermined = 4,362; and Splink determined = 16,525, undetermined = 3,586; Search 2: JABOT determined = 10,057, undetermined = 3,079 (Fig.
Life forms
We obtained information on life forms from the Flora do Brasil 2020 (http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br) through the function get_lifeform of the flora package (
Endemic and threatened species
We classified all species as native or non-native and endemic or non-endemic to Brazil using information from the Flora do Brasil 2020 (http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br). Threat categories were assigned according to the Brazilian National Red List (CNCFlora; http://www.cncflora.jbrj.gov.br/portal). For binomials not included in the Flora do Brasil 2020, their native/non-native or endemic/non-endemic status was obtained from taxonomists and experts in those groups. We considered as non-native all species indicated as cultivated or naturalised within the Flora do Brasil 2020 (http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br). We classified species as endemic to the Atlantic Forest when their distribution was classified as restricted to this phytogeographic domain in the Flora do Brasil 2020 (http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br). We obtained this information using the function get_domains of the flora package (
The "Floresta Nacional do Rio Preto" ("Flona do Rio Preto") is located in the Municipality of Conceição da Barra, in the northern portion of the Brazilian State of Espírito Santo (ES), in south-eastern Brazil (
-18.445 and -18.342 Latitude; -39.874 and -39.817 Longitude.
The list of vascular plants of the "Flona do Rio Preto" contains a total of 722 species (683 angiosperms, 38 ferns and one lycophyte) belonging to 425 genera (398 angiosperms, 26 ferns and one lycophyte) and 126 families (111 angiosperms, 14 ferns and one lycophyte). We found no records for gymnosperms at the study site during fieldwork nor in the online databases.
The vascular plant list of the "Flona do Rio Preto" exhibits levels of taxonomic richness that are similar to those documented in other floristic inventories conducted in the northern portions of Espírito Santo. For example, a study conducted in an area of alluvial floodplain of the Doce River found 408 angiosperm species (
Overall, the "Flona do Rio Preto" houses approximately 11% of the vascular plants that occur in Espírito Santo (
Life forms
In total, 447 species (61.9%) occurring in the "Flona do Rio Preto" are woody (trees, shrubs and subshrubs, excluding climbers), of which 219 are trees. Herbs (excluding climbing plants) are represented by 164 species (22.7%) and climbers (herbaceous or woody) are composed of 111 species (15.4%). The richest woody families are Fabaceae (82 spp.), Myrtaceae and Rubiaceae (26 spp. each), Sapotaceae (25 spp.), Melastomataceae (18 spp.) and Lauraceae (14 spp.). The richest families of herbs are Poaceae (15 spp.), Marantaceae (13 spp.), Arecaceae (9 spp.), Asteraceae (8 spp.) and Cyperaceae (7 spp.). The most diverse liana families are Bignoniaceae (19 spp.), Fabaceae (12 spp.), Apocynaceae (11 spp.), Passifloraceae (10 spp.), Malpighiaceae and Sapindaceae (9 spp. each). In total, 682 species (94.5%) are terrestrial, followed by aquatic, epiphytes, hemi-epiphytes, mycoheterotrophic plants and hemiparasites which together comprise 40 species (5.5%). Bromeliaceae (8 spp.) and Cyperaceae (3 spp.) emerged as the richest families amongst epiphytes and aquatic plants, respectively.
Endemic and threatened species
The list of the "Flona do Rio Preto" includes 711 native and 11 non-native species to Brazil. Some non-native species were found in the "Flona do Rio Preto," but were not included in the final list because no herbarium records were found, such as Mangifera indica L. (Anacardiaceae); Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae); Terminalia catappa L. (Combretaceae); Acacia mangium Willd. and Acacia auriculiformis A.Cunn. ex Benth. (Fabaceae); Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (Moraceae); Eucalyptus L’Hér. spp., Psidium guajava L., Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels and Syzygium malaccense (L.) Merr. & L.M.Perry (Myrtaceae). Despite that, we highlight the occurrence of these taxa in the "Flora do Rio Preto" as the occurrence of these species represents important information for the establishment of sound management policies (
Brazilian endemic species recorded in the "Flona do Rio Preto". Photos by SGV/UFES.
Brazilian endemic species recorded in the "Flona do Rio Preto". Photos by SGV/UFES.
Brazilian endemic species recorded in the "Flona do Rio Preto". Photos by SGV/UFES.
Thirty-five percent of the species that occur in the "Flona do Rio Preto" are endemic to the Atlantic Forest. Another 60 species that occur in the studied area (8.3%) have a known geographical distribution that is disjunct between the Atlantic and Amazon Forests. Amongst the plant families with the highest number of Amazon-Atlantic Forest disjunct species are the Fabaceae (6 spp.), Pteridaceae (6 spp.), Sapindaceae (4 spp.), Euphorbiaceae (3 spp.) and Moraceae (3 spp.). In addition, 46 of the species recorded in the "Flona do Rio Preto" are disjunctly distributed between the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado, while 17 species are disjunctly distributed between the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga. The remaining 346 species (48%) are widely distributed throughout Brazil.
Overall, the final list of vascular plants includes 55 species not cited in the Flora do Brasil 2020 for Espírito Santo (Suppl. material
Based on the Brazilian National Red List, the "Flona do Rio Preto" includes 76 species considered as Least Concern (LC), 11 as Endangered (EN), 11 as Vulnerable (VU), 12 as Near Threatened (NT), one as Critically Endangered (CR) and five as Data Deficient (DD). In other words, the "Flona do Rio Preto" houses 23 threatened species (CR, EN and VU) and five Data Deficient species (Table
Threatened and Data Deficient species of plants occurring in "Flona do Rio Preto," Brazil with their respective groups, families and Red List category according to the Brazilian National Red List - CNCFLORA (CR = Critically Endangered, VU = Vulnerable, EN = Endangered and DD = Data Deficient).
Species | Red List category |
Angiosperms | |
Acanthaceae | |
Stenostephanus lobeliiformis Nees | DD |
Arecaceae | |
Euterpe edulis Mart. | VU |
Asteraceae | |
Piptocarpha robusta G.M.Barroso | EN |
Bignoniaceae | |
Handroanthus arianeae (A.H.Gentry) S.O.Grose | EN |
Handroanthus riodocensis (A.H.Gentry) S.O.Grose | EN |
Burseraceae | |
Protium heptaphyllum (Aubl.) Marchand | DD |
Chrysobalanaceae | |
Couepia belemii Prance | VU |
Couepia schottii Fritsch | EN |
Exellodendron gracile (Kuhlm.) Prance | EN |
Fabaceae | |
Apuleia leiocarpa (Vogel) J.F.Macbr. | VU |
Inga leptantha Benth. | DD |
Melanoxylon brauna Schott | VU |
Lauraceae | |
Williamodendron cinnamomeum van der Werff | CR |
Lecythidaceae | |
Cariniana legalis (Mart.) Kuntze | EN |
Marantaceae | |
Saranthe composita (Link) K.Schum. | VU |
Meliaceae | |
Cedrela fissilis Vell. | VU |
Myristicaceae | |
Virola bicuhyba (Schott ex Spreng.) Warb. | EN |
Myrtaceae | |
Myrcia isaiana G.M. Barroso & Peixoto | EN |
Rubiaceae | |
Melanopsidium nigrum Colla | VU |
Palicourea fulgens (Müll.Arg.) Standl. | VU |
Standleya kuhlmanni Brade | EN |
Sapotaceae | |
Manilkara bella Monach. | EN |
Manilkara elata (Allemão ex Miq.) Monach. | DD |
Manilkara multifida T.D.Penn. | VU |
Pouteria bullata (S.Moore) Baehni | EN |
Pouteria coelomatica Rizzini | VU |
Pouteria macrocarpa (Mart.) D.Dietr. | VU |
Pradosia glaziovii (Pierre) T.D.Penn. | DD |
Temporal and spatial coverage
The taxonomists, associated with this project, verified a total of 1,959 specimens. These specimens are deposited in nine Brazilian Herbaria (BHCB, CEN, CESJ, ESA, HUEMG, RB, SAMES, VIC and VIES) with VIES hosting 80% (1,572) of these specimens (acronyms follow
Field sampling in the "Flona do Rio Preto" started in 1953, even before its creation and extended until 2020. The years of 2019 (1,015 specimens), 2018 (257 specimens), 2020 (184 specimens) and 1995 (156 specimens) were the most intensively sampled. Collections conducted between 2018 and 2020 highlight the importance of the project "Rediscovering species threatened with extinction: Basis for management and information access," for increased knowledge about the flora of the "Flona do Rio Preto."
Column label | Column description |
---|---|
fieldNotes | Name of the National Conservation Unit |
Grupos | Taxonomic group |
family | Botanical families names |
genus | Botanical genus names |
specificEpithet | Botanical species epithet names |
scientificNameAuthorship | Species authors' names |
scientificName (according to Flora do Brasil 2020) | Táxon according to Flora do Brasil 2020 project |
barcode | Barcode of the specimen |
Banco de Origem | Database of origin |
otherCatalogNumbers | Catalogue number of the specimen |
collectionCode | Acronym of the collection |
recordedBy | Name of the specimen collector |
recordNumber | Collector number |
Conclusions and prospects
The list of the vascular plants of the "Flona do Rio Preto" expands the knowledge of the flora of the Atlantic Forest and provides important data for the development of sound conservation policies. Our study documented 253 endemic Atlantic Forest taxa at the "Flona do Rio Preto" and 32 new records of angiosperms for the State of Espírito Santo. The small number of epiphytes found in the studied area suggests that the "Flona do Rio Preto" has a vegetation type that does not match an Ombrophilous Dense Forest, the phytophysiognomy under which it was previously classified. The species list, provided here, contributes important information for an improved vegetation classification.
The authors thank the “Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade” (ICMBio), the “Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico” (CNPq 421276/2017-7) and the "Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Espírito Santo" (FAPES 34/2018) for joint research grant (CNPq/ICMBio/FAPs 18/2017; "Pesquisa em Unidades de Conservação da Caatinga e Mata Atlântica"); the managing team of the "Flona do Rio Preto" for support during fieldwork; the "Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro" and the "Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo" for logistical support. We also thank the curators of all the herbaria who agreed to provide images for their collections and publish them on Reflora Virtual Herbarium. Amorim AMA, Carrijo TT, Forzza RC, Freitas L, Garbin ML, Goldenberg R, Labiak PHE, Lohmann LG, Melo JIM, Moraes PLR, Pastore JFB and Trovó M are also grateful to CNPq for their Pq grants ("Bolsa de produtividade em Pesquisa"); TT Carrijo, ML Garbin and A Alves-Araújo are grateful to FAPES for research grants ("Taxa de Pesquisa" #297/2021, #299/2021 and "Bolsa Pesquisador Capixaba" #525/2018, respectively). L Freitas and RC Forzza thank FAPERJ for additional funding (#E-26/202.775/2018 and #E-26/202.778/2018).
List of new species records for the State of Espírito Santo (ES), according to Flora do Brasil 2020.