Aquatic macrophytes of Northeastern Brazil: checklist, richness, distribution and life forms [with erratum]

By

Moura Júnior, Edson Gomes De
Lima, Liliane Ferreira
Silva, Simone Santos Lira
Paiva, Raíssa Maria Sampaio De
Ferreira, Fernando Alves
Zickel, Carmen Sílvia
Pott, Arnildo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2013-4-1

Original Publication

Check list : journal of species lists and distribution

Volume

9

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

298--312

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[São Paulo, Brazil] Luís Felipe Toledo 2005-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15560/9.2.298

 

Abstract

Aquatic plants have great influence on the structure and dynamics of aquatic ecosystems, thereby contributing considerably to biodiversity. In Brazil, knowledge of the biodiversity of aquatic macroflora is still limited. We present a checklist of aquatic macrophytes occurring in the northeastern region of Brazil through a bibliographic search. We recorded a total of 412 species, 217 genera and 72 families. The most representative families were Cyperaceae (70 species), Poaceae (38), Fabaceae (27) and Asteraceae (20). The States with highest number of species were Pernambuco (370), Bahia (360), Ceará (267) and Paraíba (261). The best-represented life forms were amphibious (193 species) and emergent (100). The aquatic flora of Northeastern Brazil exhibits high species richness; however, there is a scarcity of records of aquatic macrophytes for the States of Alagoas, Rio Grande do Norte, Maranhão, Sergipe and Piauí.