Check-List of Vascular Plant Communities on Ironstone Ranges of South-Eastern Brazil: Dataset for Conservation
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Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e27032 doi: 10.3897/BDJ.6.e27032 Taxonomic Paper Check-list of vascular plant communities on ironstone ranges of south-eastern Brazil: dataset for conservation Flavio Fonseca do Carmo‡, Rubens Custódio da Mota‡, Luciana Hiromi Yoshino Kamino‡, Claudia Maria Jacobi§ ‡ Instituto Pristino, Belo Horizonte, Brazil § Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil Corresponding author: Flavio Fonseca do Carmo (carmo.fl[email protected]) Academic editor: Luis Cayuela Received: 28 May 2018 | Accepted: 10 Jul 2018 | Published: 12 Jul 2018 Citation: Carmo F, da Mota R, Kamino L, Jacobi C (2018) Check-list of vascular plant communities on ironstone ranges of south-eastern Brazil: dataset for conservation. Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e27032. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.6.e27032 ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FD628780-B5F9-49D6-89EA-4E680F15C7D9 Abstract Background Ironstone ranges are considered hotspots for higher plants α and β diversity. The lack of studies and the intense degradation of the ironstone ranges, due to mining, motivated us to compile, for the first time, a list of vascular plants collected on iron-rich derived substrates from ancient landscape of south-eastern Brazil. All existing records in the Brazilian Virtual Herbarium of Flora and Fungi for each of the 43 municipalities containing ironstone ranges were downloaded, resulting in 17,954 vouchers identified to the species level. We found 2,933 species belonging to 160 families and 818 genera. © Carmo F et al. 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. 2 Carmo F et al New information For the first time, we identified 148 species mentioned in endangered flora official lists and 48 narrow endemic species. Collecting efforts must still be supported to properly sample the vegetation since, for 143 sites, less than 10 records/site were found. This dataset will assist with the indication of dozens of plant species whose threat criteria must be urgently assessed to subsidise public policies on the use and conservation of the Brazilian flora. Keywords canga, collection gaps, endemic plants, metallophytes Introduction Ironstone ranges occur mainly in Brazil, Australia, South Africa and India and are predominantly comprised of rock blocks of banded iron formations - BIF - from the Archean and Paleoproterozoic ages (Souza and Carmo 2015, Hagemann et al. 2016). Flora knowledge of these ancient ecosystems is still incipient. Yet, some sites such as Quadrilátero Ferrífero and the Carajás Range (Brazil) and the Pilbara and Yilgarn Cratons (Australia) are considered hotspots (sensu Gibson et al. 2010) for higher plants α and β diversity. In Brazil, covering the highest parts of iron mountains and, therefore, with even more restricted insular distribution, there are duricrusts known as cangas. These duricrusts originated from the intense weathering of BIF rock blocks and other lithotypes with high metal content. Some canga outcrops can be about 20-30 m thick, with records of origin that started at ca. 50 Ma, thus representing one of the oldest landscapes in Brazil (Dorr 1969, Monteiro et al. 2014, Salgado and Carmo 2015). Plants in ironstone ranges are frequently subjected to abiotic stressors such as acid substrates, daily temperature variation, very shallow soils with reduced water availabilityand anomalous metal contents. In sites characterised by substrates (rock and soil) with natural anomalous metal contents, outstanding plant communities can be found, called metallophytes, which are able to tolerate metal toxicity (Baker et al. 2010). Due to these characteristics and their disjunct distribution, ironstone ranges are sources of taxonomic novelties and various endemic species (Jacobi et al. 2015, Gibson et al. 2015a). In some Brazilian ironstone ranges, the mineralogical constitution of the rock outcrops can reach 90% of iron oxides – haematite Fe2 O 3 – and hydroxides – limonite FeO(OH).nH2 O, in addition to high manganese and aluminium contents (Jacobi et al. 2015, Schaefer et al. 2015). Soils developed in these systems are practically deprived of exchangeable nutrients, the result of both intense lixiviation and the oxidic nature of the rocks, characterising an environment with extreme oligotrophy. When associated with forest formations, the soils Check-list of vascular plant communities on ironstone ranges of south-eastern ... 3 have higher organic matter values, but the prevailing carbon is recalcitrant and, therefore, very resistant to microbial cycling (Schaefer et al. 2015). These conditions represent a restrictive environmental filter, determining the establishment of specialised plant communities (Gibson et al. 2015a, Carmo and Jacobi 2015, Silveira et al. 2015). Carmo and Kamino (2015) researched reference databases (Scientific Electronic Library Online and Portal de Periódicos da Capes) with keywords associated with ironstone ranges and found that, out of 189 articles produced in 31 countries, published between 1962 and 2015, only 10% of the content were related to Botany works. On the other hand, 77% of the articles addressed Geology issues. The authors pointed out that this imbalance between contents could generate inadequate public policies regarding use of natural resources and biodiversity conservation programmes. Intense loss and degradation of areas in ironstone ranges are associated with the exploitation of natural resources, since they are home to the largest global reserves of iron ore, in addition to manganese and bauxite (aluminium). This geo-economical peculiarity favours a concentration of megastructures for ore extraction, generating an enormous environmental liability (Butcher et al. 2008, Jacobi et al. 2011, Sonter et al. 2014). The consequences for plant populations, in addition to the massive habitat losses, have yet to be properly assessed. In view of the lack of studies and rapid degradation of these unique ecosystems, the purpose of this study was to assemble, for the first time, a list of vascular plants collected on Fe-rich derived substrates from ancient ironstone ranges in south-eastern Brazil, updating their taxonomic nomenclature, indicating life forms and highlighting endemic taxa and threat categories. Additionally, we identified the main vegetation types and highlighted locations where inventory efforts must be encouraged. Materials and methods Geographical context In south-eastern Brazil, ironstone ranges spread non-continuously over a 500 km-long north-south axis, in 43 municipalities distributed over three mineral provinces: Quadrilátero Ferrífero (QF) in the south; Serra da Serpentina-Morro do Pilar region (SS-MP) at the centre; and the Peixe Bravo River Valley region (VPB) in the north (Fig. 1). In the QF and SS-MP ironstone ranges, there is a prevalence of the subtropical highland climate (Cwb) according to Köppen’s classification, characterised by dry winters and rainy summers (Davis et al. 2005, Souza and Carmo 2015). The vegetation matrix is comprised mainly of Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, one of the most megadiverse and endangered rainforests in the world (Stehmann et al. 2009). In the VPB, dry weather with rainy summers (BSw) prevail. In these semi-arid conditions, the matrix is comprised predominantly by Cerrado, the Brazilian savanna, although there are still some spots of Brazilian Atlantic Forest. VPB is also in close contact with Caatinga, the largest seasonally 4 Carmo F et al dry tropical area of South America (Carmo et al. 2011). Comparisons between some of the physical and geographical variables can be seen in Table 1. Figure 1. Ironstone ranges, south-eastern Brazil (orange polygons) as related to the Atlantic Rainforest and Cerrado phytogeographical domains. QF: Quadrilátero Ferrífero; SS-MP: Serra da Serpentina-Morro do Pilar; VPB: Peixe Bravo River Valley. Table 1. Physical and geographical variables of ironstone ranges in south-eastern Brazil. QF: Quadrilátero Ferrífero; SS-MP: Serra da Serpentina-Morro do Pilar; VPB: Vale do Rio Peixe Bravo. Ironstone Geological Group (age) Maximum Yearly Original Drainage Basin Ranges elevation rainfall Area average QF Itabira/Cauê Formation 1,800 m 1,400 mm 980 km2 São Francisco and (Paleoproterozoic) Doce Rivers SS-MP Serra da Serpentina 1,100 m 1,400 mm 250 km2 Doce River (Paleoproterozoic) VPB Macaúbas, Nova Aurora Formation/ 1,000 m 800 mm 350 km2 Jequitinhonha and Membro Riacho Poções Pardo Rivers (Neoproterozoic) A peculiar feature of these ironstone ranges is the high physical heterogeneity, represented by regolithic materials and various types of outcrops (Fig. 2). The pronounced topographic heterogeneity in cangas may influence the proportion of functional plant groups, depending on the variation of substrate roughness (Carmo et al. 2015). Check-list of vascular plant communities on ironstone ranges of south-eastern ... 5 Figure 2. Heterogeneity of outcrops in ironstone ranges. A-C. Canga types (iron duricrusts); D. Specular hematite; E-F. Banded Iron Formations (BIF). The white bar represents 10 cm. Vascular plants dataset All existing records in the Virtual Herbarium of Flora and Fungi (INCT 2017) for each of the 43 municipalities containing ironstone ranges were downloaded. We selected only the records of specimens collected in canga areas, banded iron formations and soils developed from ferruginous rocks. For the vouchers without