Terrestrial and aquatic vegetation diversity of the pantanal wetland

Abstract

This chapter is a comprehensive summary and an illustrated report of our observations over 30 years of research on flora, vegetation, and geoprocessing based on intensive fieldwork throughout the Pantanal plain and highlands, associated to data compiled from the literature. There is a unique phytogeographic diversity in the Pantanal, a region of confluence of various biogeographic provinces, such as Cerrado, Amazon, Atlantic Forest, and Chaco, plus a wide distribution group and the exotic plants. The proportions of the flora are approximately 50% wide-ranging species, 30% Cerrado species, and 20% shared among other phytogeographic origins. Considering the 350 woody plants, the Cerrado group is the most numerous (66 species), followed by Cerrado and seasonal forest (47), wide distribution (31), Chaco (29), and seasonal forest (23). There is little endemism, probably due to the recent geological age of the Pantanal. So far, the Pantanal is yet the most conserved biome in Brazil. The vegetation is very resilient, flexible, and adapted to wet-and-dry seasonal and decadal cycles, including fire, and shall remain diverse as long as the hydrological balance is not disrupted by homogenization toward either an entirely dry or a fully wet system.