Abstract
Abstract Serra do Mar State Park (PESM) is located in southeastern São Paulo state, Brazil, and is the largest Atlantic Rainforest conservation area in the country. The park is divided into 10 nuclei, and the Itutinga-Pilões nucleus (NIP) was selected for study since no survey of liverworts species richness had yet been conducted there. The floristic similarities between the NIP and different areas of Atlantic Rainforest in São Paulo state were also assessed. One hundred and eighty liverworts species were identified in the three vegetation types (lowland, submontane, and montane ombrophilous forests) encountered in the NIP, distributed among 62 genera and 21 families. Lejeuneaceae showed the highest species richness with 80 species. The high number of epiphyllous species found in the study area (26% of all species) was notable. In terms of their worldwide distributions, 57% of the species are Neotropical. Clustering analysis showed that the areas of the PESM and Jureia-Itatins Ecological Station were grouped together with the highest similarity values. The liverworts flora of the NIP demonstrates the importance of that nucleus for the conservation of liverworts diversity in the Atlantic Rainforest of the São Paulo state, as well as in Brazil.
Highlights
1,550 species of bryophytes are recognized for Brazil, of which 661 are liverworts (Marchantiophyta), among 558 species are found in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, with 415 recorded for São Paulo state (Bryophytes in Flora do Brasil 2020 under construction)
Species richness A total of 831 samples were analyzed, 496 were collected in the present study (97 from lowland forest, 222 from submontane forest, and 177 from montane forest), and 335 samples were encountered housed at the SP and HUSC herbaria (112 from lowland forest, 87 from submontane forest, 47 from montane forest, and 89 with no vegetation type specified on the herbarium label)
We identified 21 families, 62 genera, 180 species of liverworts
Summary
Starting in 1989, several floristic and ecological studies were carried out in that state (Giancotti & Vital 1989; Visnadi & Vital 1989; Vital & Visnadi 1994; Rebelo et al 1995; Visnadi 1998, 2005; Santos 2011; Santos et al 2011; Visnadi 2011, 2012, 2013a,b, 2015; Carmo et al 2016), encompassing approximately 360 species of liverworts. The Serra do Mar State Park (PESM) was created in 1977 to help preserve remnants of the Atlantic Rainforest in the Serra do Mar mountain range of São Paulo state. It is the largest conservation area of Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest covering 332,000 hectares and encompassing 25 municipalities (IF 2008). The park was divided into 10 nuclei, and the Itutinga-Pilões (NIP), in the central area of the park, was selected for the present study as no survey liverworts species richness had yet been conducted there
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