An update on the knowledge of aquatic macrophytes in Northeast Brazil

Abstract

We updated the first checklist of aquatic macrophytes from Northeast Brazil (First Flora), which included data collected up to 2010, with a new checklist based on data from works published between 2011 and 2017 (New Flora). Together, these checklists record 637 species of 89 families, with an emphasis on strictly amphibious or emergent species, with 392 and 115 species, respectively. We found differences in observed richness between New Flora and First Flora, with an increase of 106 species in the New Flora. The rarefaction curve shows that a considerable increase in collection effort is necessary to determine the aquatic flora of the studied region. From the compiled data, we suggest new perspectives for floristic inventories of aquatic macrophytes, highlighting the prioritization of poorly studied areas; the exploration of ecological information of the species (e.g., endemism, rarity, threat of extinction or invasive potential); and the promotion of projects on a regional scale.

Macrófitas Aquáticas Do Parque Nacional Serra De Itabaiana, Sergipe, Brasil

“…A família com maior número de registros foi Lentibulariaceae com 16 (15,09%), seguida por Cyperaceae com 11 (10,4%) e Eriocaulaceae com nove (8,5% A família Cyperaceae também foi a mais abundante em outros estudos (Matias et al, 2003;Moura-Júnior et al, 2009;Moura-Júnior et al, 2011;Araújo et al, 2012;Moura-Júnior e Cotarelli, 2019). Este aspecto pode estar ligado a características intrinsecas das espécies dessa família, como reprodução vegetativa e ciente e xação efetiva das plantas ao substrato através de sistemas radiculares complexos formados por tubérculos, bulbos e rizomas (Goetghebeur, 1998).…”

Macrophytes communities associated to soil bioengineering techniques for erosion control in riverbanks

“…Moura-Junior (2012), conducting the studies in the Cursai and Tapacurá reservoirs, state of Pernambuco, also identified the maintenance of these species in two distinct periods of hydrological changes. These species have morphophysiological plasticity, which allows them to occupy continental ecosystems and brackish water (Moura Júnior & Cotarelli 2019).…”

Advances in the knowledge of the natural history of aquatic plants in the Neotropics

“…Studies with this approach can be applied to interpret a species' biogeographical or ecological niche on a local or regional scale and conservation of this group of plants on macroscales (O'Hare et al 2018). Species richness and distribution patterns or the selection of environmental predictors for the occurrence of aquatic plants in different spatial scales are approaches that have recently caught the interest of ecologists (Moreira et al 2015;Lopes et al 2016;Moura-Júnior & Cotarelli 2019;Oliveira et al 2019;Pulzato et al 2019;Murphy et al 2020;Moura-Júnior et al 2021a). Three manuscripts published in this ABB issue report investigations on some of these approaches.…”

“…The virtual platform was launched in 2018 (https://sites.icb.ufmg.br/plantasaquaticasbrasil/), together with the publication of the data from Southeastern Brazil (Pivari et al 2019). The first census of aquatic plants of Northeastern (Moura-Júnior et al 2013), Northern (Moura-Júnior et al 2015, and Southern Brazil (Oliveira et al 2019), as well as the updated list for the Northeastern region (Moura-Júnior & Cotarelli 2019), are amongst the publications associated with the data repository project.…”