Seasonal Semideciduous Forest and Cerrado Floristic composition of fragments in Serra das Flores, Ibiapaba Plateau, Ceará, Brazil

Abstract

The state of Ceará is located in the Northeast region of Brazil, which has a varied climatic condition, being predominantly formed by Caatinga vegetation, and there may also be remnants of Cerrado and other Semideciduous Seasonal Forest. The objective of this work was to carry out a floristic survey in vegetation fragments of Semideciduous Seasonal Forest and Cerrado found in the part of Serra das Flores located in the municipality of Viçosa do Ceará. Para tal, foram realizadas 12 coletas na área ao longo do ano de 2019. 220 species were recorded, belonging to 154 genera and 62 families. The most representative families in this area were Fabaceae (38 spp.), Rubiaceae (15 spp.) and Myrtaceae (nine spp.). The predominant habit were herbs and shrubs. The richest fragment was the Cerrado with 171 species, with the Typical Cerrado (104 spp.) phytophysiognomy being the most representative. Of the total species, most are native, 16 are new records for Ceará, 12 are endemic to the Caatinga domain and seven are endemic to the Cerrado. Thus, the present site presents a high heterogeneity of species, in addition to varied habits, new records and endemic species of Cerrado and Caatinga.