This paper examines patterns of foredune vegetation along an embayment in southern Brazil and the relationships between variations in percent cover and diversity, and environmental factors such as beach/surfzone type and exposure to wind and wave energy. The study was conducted on Moçambique Beach, Brazil, which displays significant alongshore variations in exposure to the prevailing winds and waves, beach/surfzone morphodynamic type, type and dimensions of the dune systems and foredune vegetation cover and diversity. Two vegetation surveys were carried out in contiguous 1 m 2 quadrats across the foredune. The presence/absence, percent cover of the species, diversity and similarity between the vegetation of the profiles surveyed and their relation with environmental conditions are examined. The results show that the vegetation cover decreases from south to north, possibly reflecting the increasing exposure to wind and wave energy. Distinct patterns of species distributions occur along Moçambique beach, such that different plant species are dominant on the southern, middle and northern ends of the beach. A cluster analysis demonstrated two associations: the first one is represented by the profiles located in the lower energy zone of the beach, and the second association is represented by the profiles more exposed to wind and wave energy, sediment deposition and salt spray. The diversity of species decreases northwards, possibly influenced by the surfzone type, number of breaking waves and degree of aeolian transport. The presence/absence of the species and the vegetation cover on the foredune reflect the varying levels of exposure of the beach and foredune to the winds and waves and also reflect the volume of sediment deposition on the foredune and the beach mobility determined by the morphodynamic beach/surfzone type.

The aim of this work is to propose a regionalization of southern Conceição Lagoon subsystem, located at the Santa Catarina Island-SC, based on its grain size, compositional and physiographic characteristics. The subsystem is part of a chocked lagoon, being connected to the remaining lagunar body by a narrow 3.5 m deep channel on its northern portion. It is surrounded by granitic rocks at west and by quaternary sedimentary deposits at east, north and south. Sediment samples were sampled at 16 regularly distributed points and were processed to determinate biodetritic carbonate, organic carbon content and conventional grain size parameters. Continuous surfaces of the variables were obtained through kriging interpolation. A bathymetric map resulted from the interpolation of 2.464 depth points digitalized from charts at the scale of 1:2.000 m. Individual sectors were identified based on data integration and spatial analysis of sedimentologic and bathymetric parameters. The integration of the variables through cluster analysis yielded the regionalization of the subsystem, were three depositional environments were defined: a predominantly sandy, a sand-muddy and a muddy environment. Besides these three, a fourth transitional environment situated between the banks and deeper areas was recognized. The muddy environment was subdivided in three distinct sub environments: deep muddy, sheltered muddy and organic muddy. Their limits were set through the analysis of the spatial behavior of sediment descriptors and bathymetry. From the results it is possible to conclude that the spatial and cluster analysis of morpho-sedimentological descriptors was efficient on the regionalization of the environment in study, even considering the small number of sediment samples.

Resumo Este trabalho visa analisar a variabilidade morfológica de perfis de praia obtidos na praia do Pântano do Sul, sul da ilha de Santa Catarina. Três perfis de praia foram analisados, mensalmente, entre agosto de 2002 e agosto de 2003. Um perfil extra foi realizado para elucidar a presença de megacúspides. Características de onda na zona de surf foram medidas através da observação visual a cada perfil. Durante o período de amostragem dos perfis de praia, o regime de ondas em águas profundas também foi monitorado, através de dados coletados por um ondógrafo direcional localizado a cerca de 35 km da ilha de Santa Catarina. As variações morfológicas dos perfis ocorreram em decorrência de quatro principais fatores: (i) Do grau de exposição dos diferentes trechos da praia às ondas incidentes. Quando mais exposta à ação de ondas, a praia tendeu a apresentar maiores variações no estoque sedimentar; (ii) Da ação de ondas de alta energia na praia, caracterizada pela incidência de ondulações de sul-sudeste com período de pico de onda acima de 10 s e altura significativa acima de 4 m, em águas profundas, condição que gera erosão da porção subaérea da praia; (iii) Da ação de ondas de baixa energia na praia, que geralmente acarreta deposição sedimentar da praia subaérea; (iv) Da própria morfologia rítmica da praia, que pode gerar variações locais na declividade e no volume entre perfis medidos sobre pontas ou embaiamentos das megacúspides.

As restingas do município do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, estão cada vez mais sofrendo com os impactos ambientais oriundos de atividades antrópicas, logo, é de suma importância a produção de mudas de restinga para a recuperação de áreas degradadas e para reflorestamento visando o cumprimento de medidas compensatórias. No Horto restinga foram registradas 47.390 mudas, as quais todas são nativas e cerca de 55% das espécies observadas são consideradas endêmicas do Brasil. Dentre as 75 espécies identificadas, 15 estão categorizadas segundo o grau de ameaça de extinção nas fontes consultadas. Destaca-se a espécie Inga maritima Benth, endêmica das restingas do Rio de Janeiro, que é classificada como ameaçada de extinção em todas as listas analisadas, devido à degradação do seu habitat que já é naturalmente restrito.