Species richness in restinga vegetation on the eastern Maranhão State, Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

The State of Maranhão comprises the second largest coastline in Brazil. Nonetheless, few floristic surveys on restinga vegetation have been performed in Northeastern Brazil. This study aimed to survey floristic in a restinga of Maranhão, and to assess its similarity to other restingas in the states of Pará and Piauí. Botanical specimens were sampled at Sítio Aguahy, in the municipality of São José de Ribamar, along the eastern coast of Maranhão between June/2012 and October/2013. Species identification and life forms classification followed the usual methods employed in floristic studies. Similarities in plant composition of six sites were estimated based on cluster analysis through Bray-Curtis distance. In the studied area, we found 116 phanerogamic species, 100 genera and 52 families; 19 species were new occurrences for the restinga of Maranhão. Families with largest number of species were Fabaceae, Cyperaceae, Rubiaceae, Poaceae, Myrtaceae, Asteraceae, Malvaceae, Combretaceae, and Eriocaulaceae, which comprised 49.2% of all sampled species. We identified 41 nanophanerophytes, 34 terophytes, 15 camephytes, ten microphanerophytes, six hemicryptophytes, and five lianas. Similarity analyses indicated greater affinity between the restinga flora from the states of Maranhão and Pará than that observed for the states of Maranhão and Piauí, suggesting that the process of species colonization in the former is more likely derived from the Amazon Forest. It is expected that these results may encourage future researchers to conduct further surveys in restinga areas of the Maranhão aiming to better understand the influence of neighboring vegetation on the colonization of the coastal areas of Maranhão. KEYWORDS: Coastal sand plains, ecotone, floristic similarity, Brazilian northeast. Riqueza de espécies em uma restinga no leste do Maranhão, Nordeste do Brasil RESUMOO Estado do Maranhão possui o segundo maior litoral da costa brasileira. No entanto, poucos levantamentos florísticos foram realizados nas áreas de restinga no Nordeste do Brasil. O presente estudo teve como objetivo realizar um levantamento florístico em uma área de restinga no Maranhão e analisar a similaridade com a flora das restingas dos Estados do Pará e do Piauí. As coletas botânicas foram realizadas na restinga do Sítio Aguahy, município de São José de Ribamar, na porção oriental da Ilha do Maranhão, no período de junho de 2012 a outubro de 2013. A identificação das espécies e a classificação das formas de vida seguiu a metodologia usual em estudos florísticos. A similaridade foi realizada através de análise de cluster a partir da distância de Bray-Curtis, onde foram considerados seis estudos. Foram listadas 116 espécies fanerogâmicas, 100 gêneros e 52 famílias. Deste total, 19 espécies são apresentadas como novas ocorrências para o litoral do Maranhão. As famílias com maior número de espécies foram Fabaceae, Cyperaceae, Rubiaceae, Poaceae, Myrtaceae, Asteraceae, Malvaceae, Combretaceae e Eriocaulaceae, correspondendo a 49.2% das espécies encontra...

Vascular flora of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Maranhão State, Brazil: checklist, floristic affinities and phytophysiognomies of restingas in the municipality of Barreirinhas

“…The families with higher species richness in this research coincide with the richest families for other studies of Brazilian restingas (Araújo 2000;Pereira & Araújo 2000;Santos et al 2003;Almeida Júnior et al 2007;2017;Amaral et al 2008;Santos-Filho et al 2011;Gomes & Guedes 2014;Serra et al 2016). According to Melo Júnior & Boeger (2015), families like Fabaceae and Myrtaceae present high numbers of species in the restinga.…”

Influence of habitat heterogeneity on anuran diversity in Restinga landscapes of the Parnaíba River delta, northeastern Brazil

“…The Parnaíba River delta in northeastern Brazil is dominated by Restinga coastal vegetation with sandy soils and open herbaceous, shrubby, and arboreal plant formations ( Silva and Britez 2005 , Santos-Filho et al 2010 , Santos-Filho et al 2015 , Serra et al 2016 ) with approximately 363 known plant species belonging to 74 families ( Santos-Filho et al 2015 ) – indicating high local heterogeneity. The relationship of this presumed heterogeneity with anuran diversity in the Parnaiba River Delta, however, remains unknown ( Andrade et al 2016 , Andrade et al 2014 , Andrade et al 2012 , Loebmann and Mai 2008 ).…”

Strain of Bacillus thuringiensis from Restinga, toxic to Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (Linnaeus) (Diptera, Culicidae)

“…The cities are formed of restinga and mangrove ecosystems. Restinga are a typical kind of vegetation of the tropical and subtropical coast areas, with sandy soil (Serra et al, 2016). The mangrove is made of a vegetation with fluviomarine influence, exhibiting oily soils from estuarine regions and discontinuous dispersion (Brasil, 2018).…”