Plant Life-Forms and Biogeographic Relations of the Flora of Lagunillas (30 | circS) in the Fog-Free Pacific Coastal Desert

Abstract

The coastal desert of north-central Chile supports a rich but poorly known flora. Here, we document the importance of the annual and perennial habits in the flora of Lagunillas (30°S), at the southern transition from the desert to the mediterranean climate region, and discuss the origin of the desert flora by examining the geographic distribution of the taxa at the level of genus. The distribution was used to assign the species to six biogeographic elements. Annual plants represent 41% of the total flora (191 species) and are the most important life form. Excluding non-native weeds, however, decreases the importance of annuals to 33%. This value is higher than that for high-altitude deserts, but lower than for most other, less-equitable, lowland deserts both in North America and eastern Asia (...)