Paleodistribution of Neotropical species of Erythroxylum (Erythroxylaceae) in humid and dry environments

Luciana Silva Cordeiro,André Olmos Simões,Ingrid Koch,Fernando Roberto Martins,Francisca Soares De Araújo,Maria Iracema Bezerra Loiola

doi:10.1590/0102-33062017abb0053

Luciana Silva Cordeiro, André Olmos Simões + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-33062017abb0053

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Abstract

ABSTRACT Variation in environmental conditions during the Quaternary period served as important filters for the maintenance of vegetation types and for determining the composition of the current biota. We analyzed oscillations in the distributions of different vegetation types in Brazil during the Quaternary period using species of the genus Erythroxylum (Erythroxylaceae) because of the vast heterogeneity of habitats in which they occur. We hypothesized that it would be possible to observe geographically distinct distribution patterns of species of Erythroxylum as a result of the climate changes that occurred during the last glacial maximum (LGM) and in the last interglacial period (LIG) of the Pleistocene. We used bioclimatic variables to elaborate distribution models of 11 species under three scenarios: the current climate, LGM, and LIG. We found four plant distribution patterns in humid and semiarid climates. During the LIG, humid patterns were restricted to northeastern and central-western Brazil, while semiarid conditions maintained plant distributions in the same regions of Brazil where they occur today, although with additionanl occurrences in the northern and central-western portions of that country. During the LGM, all distribution patterns exhibited extensions towards the coast due to the exposure of the continental shelf.

Highlights

Plant species distributions depend on environmental conditions and the evolutionary characteristics of their lineages, which will delimit their areas of occupation (Willig et al 2003; Mittelbach et al 2007)
The geographic coordinates of the collection points not already known were obtained indirectly, using the coordinates of the municipalities where they were collected, available using the Geoloc tool. These yielded the numbers of localities of occurrence of each species: Erythroxylum amazonicum (14), E. argentinum (69), E. buxus (24), E. citrifolium (232), E. daphinites (148), E. kapplerianum (12), E. leptoneurum (25), E. macrophyllum (83), E. mucronatum (101), E. myrsinites (82), and E. squamatum (113)
This pattern was observed for the species Erythroxylum amazonicum, E. kapplerianum, and E. macrophyllum, the latter occurring in the Chacoan domain

Summary

Introduction

Plant species distributions depend on environmental conditions and the evolutionary characteristics of their lineages, which will delimit their areas of occupation (Willig et al 2003; Mittelbach et al 2007). Abrupt climate changes in the past caused variations in the relative abundances of species within each vegetation type, modifying the landscape (Antonelli & SanMartin 2011). An example of those interactions in the temperate region of North America was the replacement of trees by Arctic life forms during the Plio-Pleistocene, generating a shift from forests to the current tundra vegetation (Bennike & Boecher 1990). During that same period in the Tropical region, wet tropical forests were replaced by open-canopy vegetations such as savannas and seasonally dry tropical forests (Eiten 1972; Bueno et al 2016)

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