Floristic survey of flowering plants in a tropical coastal ecosystem in Veracruz, Mexico

Abstract

Mexico is a megadiverse country and Veracruz is one of the states with the highest floristic diversity. The reserve of La Mancha in central coastal Veracruz comprises several vegetation types. In this site we conducted for a year, monthly surveys of flowering or fruiting plants in six vegetation types, considering the frequency of occurrence of different species. We found a total of 147 species (131 genera and 63 families). The families most represented were Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Verbenaceae. In addition, we found nine species that had not been reported in previous floristic studies. The highest taxonomic richness was observed in the tropical deciduous flood forest with wetland (59 species), while the highest diversity was found in tropical deciduous forest (SDI = 0.9562). We also found that the most similar vegetation types based on the composition and frequency of species were, coastal dune scrub, tropical deciduous forest and pioneer dune vegetation. The dominant plant biological form in La Mancha were herbs (40.41 %) followed by shrubs (23.97 %), vines-lianas (18.49 %) and trees (17.12 %). This study is the first to consider the frequency-occurrence of flowering and fruiting plants in La Mancha, covering six vegetation types through one year. The more relevant results of this study show the diversity of plants in different environments using the frequency of each species based on reproductive events. This information could be useful in future researches that evaluate plant-animal interactions, like pollination and seed dispersal.