The plant communities of a foredune in southeastern Brazil
Species composition, biomass and environmental characteristics of a coastal plant community of southeastern Brazil, was studied using data from 110 quadrats collected on the foredune of Barra de Maricá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Indirect and direct gradient analyses were used to describe the foredune community. Ordination by detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) indicated the existence of three vegetation groups: pioneer, embryo dunes and a zone of fixed dunes with blow out areas. The gaps observed between groups were attributed to discontinuities in environmental factors. Most of the variation in species composition was expressed by the second axis of the DCA ordination, which was correlated with the distance from the beach bank. The second axis is interpreted as a stress gradient, with high stress in the pioneer zone decreasing to fixed dunes. The coenocline analyzed by direct gradient ordination, was divided into three segments equivalent to Groups detected by DCA ordination. The important species were: Althernanthera maritima St. Hil. in the pioneer zone, and Sporobolus virginicus (L.) Kunth, Mariscus pedunculatus (R. Brown) T. Koyama, and Mitracarpus frigidum K. Sch. in the embryo dunes. The grassPanicum racemosum (Spreng) was associated with areas of fixed dune. that were also characterized by Mollugo verciticillata L. Both biomass and species richness were lower at the high stress disturbance ends of the gradient, with their maximum value in different portions of the middle range of the gradient.Key words: detrended correspondence analysis, direct gradient analysis, foredune communities, vegetation zonation.