Check List 10(3): 529–549, 2014 © 2014 Check List and Authors Chec List ISSN 1809-127X (available at www.checklist.org.br) Journal of species lists and distribution PECIES S Northeast Brazil OF Checklist of the flora of the Restingas of Sergipe State, Eduardo Vinícius da Silva Oliveira *, Jéssica Ferreira Lima, Tatiane Costa Silva and Myrna Friederichs ISTS L Landim Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Departamento de Biologia, Cidade Universitária Prof. José Aloísio de Campos, Av. Marechal Rondom, s/n, Jardim Rosa Elze. CEP 49100-000, São Cristóvão, SE, Brasil. * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: State. The results show considerable plant diversity, encompassing, as a whole, 831species, belonging to 439 genera and 124 families. Using The mostherbarium representative records, familiesthis study were was Fabaceae held to evaluate (99 species), the floristic Cyperaceae composition (61), and of Myrtaceae the restingas (57). of The Sergipe most diverse genera were Myrcia DC. (15 species), Rhynchospora Vahl (14), Chamaecrista Moench (12), Eugenia L. (11) and Cyperus L. (10). Herbs comprise the predominant habit (325 species, 39%). DOI: 10.15560/10.3.529 Introduction comprise geographically restricted surveys (Almeida Jr. et Coastal ecosystems are dynamic environments subject al. to natural processes, such as deposition of marine sediment surveys and herbarium collection, on the restingas of Ceará and wind action (Holzer et al. 2004), being among the most state, 2009), by Santos-Filho with the exception et al. (2011). of the review of two floristic devastated by human occupation and by theextraction of It is necessary to continue studies on these formations resources, which are frequent in the Brazilian ecosystems in order to improve our knowledge about the Brazilian (Sacramento et al. 2007). restingas (Almeida Jr. et al. 2009). This is essential to In the sandy coastal plains, the restinga vegetation support land use and occupation of the coastal region consists of a mosaic of plant communities subject to marine (Queiroz 2007), which is particularly important to protect the few areas along the Brazilian coast that are still distinct (CONAMA Resolution No. 07/1996). It is a occupied by remnants of native vegetation. and fluvial-marine influence, though physiognomically In Sergipe, Northeast’s smallest state, published composition (Assis et al. 2004). The physiognomies found works in areas of restinga are still scarce, featured mayvery peculiarvary from ecosystem, psammophylous-reptant diverse in structure herbaceous and flora only by Santos et al. (2011). However, some studies, communities, in the region close to the seashore, to coastal monographs and dissertations have already donebeen, forests, formed by shrub and tree species, in more distant (2011) in Santo Amaro das Brotas, on the north coast of 1993). theas thestate. floristic survey accomplished by Nascimento, Jr. areasThe ofthe restinga ocean vegetation influence plays(Oliveira-Filho a primary and role Carvalho in the Although there are protected areas in the region (one consolidation of the substrate, and provides food resources Biological Reserve, on the northern coast of the state, for resident and migratory wildlife (Scherer et al. 2005). and one Environmental Protection Area, on the southern Despite its importance, its composition is not well known, coast), the increased occupation of Sergipe’s coast is requiring further studies (Pereira et al. 2001), particularly raising concerns about the threats to the conservation of in Northeastern Brazil (Sacramento et al. 2007). In this these environments and their diversity. region, the restingas comprise a strip of sandy substrate, This work presents a list of species of Angiosperms that goes from Bahia state to the mouth of the Parnaíba collected in the restingas River, between the states of Maranhão and Piauí (Almeida the research gap of the restingas in this area. Jr. et al. 2007). of Sergipe state, in an effort to fill Despite the high diversity of species in the restingas of Materials and Methods the Northeast (Almeida Jr. et al. 2007), there are still few Study site studies done in this region, in comparison with the South Situated in the Northeast Region, the state of Sergipe and Southeast regions of the country, maybe because of has an area of 21,918,354 km2, with a population of its largerseashore extension. Published studies found in 2068,017 inhabitants (IBGE 2010). Located between the the Northeast Region include Freire (1990), Cabral-Freire and Monteiro (1993), Oliveira-Filho and Carvalho (1993), it is limited in the north by the state of Alagoas, in the east, Matias and Nunes (2001), and, more recently, Sacramento bycoordinates the Atlantic 9°30′ Ocean, and 11°30′and in S,the and south 36°20′ and and west, 38°00′ by the W, et al. (2007). Besides being scanty, most of the works state of Bahia (Figure 1). 529 Oliveira et al. | Flora of the Restingas of Sergipe, Brazil Figure 1. Municipalities in Sergipe located on the coastal plains, presenting restingas areas with floristic inventories. Despite being the smallest state of Brazil, its coastline Specieslink extension is 168 km, with 1,942,867 km2 in coastal plains collected in the coastal plain of the state were considered, (SEMARH/SRH 2011), extending from the mouth of the comprising websitethe municipalities (CRIA 2012). ofAracaju, At first, allBarra registers dos São Francisco River to the mouth of the Real River (UFS/ Coqueiros, Brejo Grande, Estância, Ilha das Flores, SEPLAN 1979). This area, formed by quaternary sediments, Indiaroba, Itaporanga D’Ajuda, Pacatuba, Pirambu, Santa mostly from the Holocene, with predominance of marine Luzia do Itanhy, andSanto Amaro das Brotas. However, dystrophic quartz sands and podzolic soils (Santos and restingas of Sergipe state Andrade 1992), in which are inserted the tracks of beaches, database, all vouchers should clearly indicate where they beach ridges, and dune formations (RADAMBRASIL 1983), werefor inclusion collected, in if inthe areas flora of of restinga , sand dunes or along is covered by restinga vegetation (SEMARH/SRH 2011). the coastal plain. All vascular plant species were listed, In the coastal region of the state, there are two distinct excluding exotic species. climatic zones, differing in humidity and temperature Subsequently, the vouchers were checked at the levels (SEPLAG 2011). The East Coast (Megathermal Herbarium of the Federal University of Sergipe (ASE), to Barra dos Coqueiros, Brejo Grande, Estância, Indiaroba, ItaporangaWet), encompassing D’ajuda, Santa seven Luzia municipalitiesdo Itanhy e Santo (Aracaju, Amaro andconfirm the habitor complement was obtained its taxonomicfrom the data determination. of the exsiccate The das Brotas), has more than 1,600 mm of rainfall annually. species classification follows the APG II System (2003), The Agreste (Megathermal Sub-Humid to Dry), covering (2007). four municipalities (Pirambu, Pacatuba, Brejo Grande e labels,Among following all the the exsicates definitions found, of a Gonçalves voucher was and sellected Lorenzi Ilha das Flores), has an annual rainfall between 1,000 to 1,200 mm. The climate on the coast is humid, with average specialist, and deposited at the collection of the Herbarium temperatures between 24°C and 26°C (UFS/SEPLAN ASEfor each(exsiccates species, registered preferably in other the Herbariaones identified were also by part a 1979). of the original database). Species names have been revised and updated according to the databaseof the Botanical Data sampling and analysis Garden of Rio de Janeiro (Lista de Espécies da Flora do Brasil 2013). restingas of Sergipe state was carried out from October 2011The to data July compilation 2013, by consultingfor the Angiosperm the platform flora ofof the Results Reference Center on Environmental Information at the Altogether, 831 species in 439 genera and 124 families 530 Oliveira et al. | Flora of the Restingas of Sergipe, Brazil were recorded in restingas of Sergipe (Table 1). The The herbaceous species were predominat among families with the largest number of species (Figure 2) restingas of Sergipe (325 species; 39% were Fabaceae (99 species), Cyperaceae (61 species), and of the total), followed by shrubs (265 species; 32%), Myrtaceae (57 species). treesthe flora (155 of species; the 19%), and climbers (70 species; 8%). The nine most important families (with 16 or more Epiphytes and parasites, considered together, are not very species), account for 45% of the total species and 7% of representative habits, portrayed by16 species (2%). the total families. On the other hand, 38 families presented only one species each, corresponding to 5% of the total Discussion species and 31% of the families. No endemic species were found in the restingas of The genera with the highest number of species (Figure Sergipe. In fact, there have not been established yet a 3) were Myrcia DC. (15 species), Rhynchospora Vahl (14 species), Chamaecrista Moench (12 species), Eugenia L. of the restingas (Almeida Jr. et al. 2007), possibly due to (11 species), and Cyperus L. (10 species), representing 7% set of unique species that could characterize the flora of the total species. neighboring ecosystems, as Mata Atlântica, Tabuleiro and Some specimens could not have their taxonomic itsCaatinga wide latitudinal(Freire 1990). gradient and to the influence by the Fabaceae was also found as the family with more number low quality of the vouchers. This conservative approach of species in the restingas of the states of Ceará (Santos- wasdetermination adopted evenconfirmed for specimens to the species belonging level dueto generato the Filho et al. 2011), Maranhão (Cabral-Freire and Monteiro with only one species referred to Brazil, as was the 1993), Rio Grande do Norte (Almeida Jr. and Zickel 2009; case of Psilotum sp. (Costa 435, ASE), Langsdorffia sp. Freire 1990) and Piauí (Santos-Filho unpublished data), (Landim 733, ASE), and Mammea sp. (Landim 1618, ASE), being the second most important family in inventories in wherein each one of those genera has only one species Pernambuco (Silva et al.