Floristic composition in deciduous tropical forest to west of Irapuato, Guanajuato

The flora of Irapuato has been poorly explored, because it is an area dedicated to agriculture and there are few strains of tropical deciduous forest and subtropical scrubland. The objectives of the study were to know the floristic composition in Cerro del Veinte, compare the richness of species with other locations that have the same type of vegetation and determine the conservation status of the species according to NOM-059 SEMARNAT-2010. The sampling was through free transects of approximately 1 km in the Barrancas La Escondida and El Paiste. A total of 59 families, 137 genera, 171 species and four varieties were obtained. The best represented families are Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Pteridaceae. According to the Chao 2 estimator, the sampling effort in the study area was 87%. Floristic affinity in Cerro del Veinte was greater with the Hoya de Rincón de Parangueo (38%) and Sierra de Pénjamo (32%). In addition, there are three new species reported for Guanajuato, Govenia lagenophora and Sacoila lanceolata (Orchidaceae) and Solanum edmundoi (Solanaceae). The taxa Cedrela odorata and Erythrina coralloides are included in NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010.

Notes on the diversity and floristic affinity of mosses (Musci, Bryophyta) from Zambales Mountain Range, Luzon island, Philippines

The moss flora of Zambales Mountain Range of Luzon Island, Philippines is updated based on recent and herbarium collections and is found to consist of 268 species in 126 genera. The Zambales collections yield Ectropothecium sp., a probable new species and six new records for the Philippine moss flora: Ectropothecium callichroides, E. filicaule, E. planulum, Neckeromnion calcutense, Papillidiopsis stissophylla, and Splachnobryum oorschotii. Likewise, Gammiella tonkinensis, Gymnostomiella longinervis, Leucobryum arfakianum, and Rhaphidostichum bunodicarpum are new records for Luzon Island. Additionally, the affinity of mosses in Zambales Mountain Range to other known floristically distinct areas and islands in the archipelago is discussed.

A floristic comparison of three Northern Coastal Forests differing in disturbance history

Background: The impacts of disturbance history on the floristics of Northern Coastal Forest (NCF; South Africa) are unknown.Objectives: This study compared the floristics of three remnant patches of NCF (in KwaZulu-Natal) with contrasting disturbance histories: a primary forest with low levels of disturbance (Hawaan), a primary forest with high levels of disturbance (Umdoni) and a secondary forest (Twinstreams) that was rehabilitated with presently low disturbance levels.Method: Transects and quadrats were used to assess species composition and diversity at each site.Results: Collectively, 688 species, 400 genera and 113 families were found, but only 21.95% of the species were shared by the three forests. The most speciose families were Fabaceae Asteraceae Rubiaceae. The species richness was highest at the disturbed primary forest and notably lower at the primary forest. Diversity indices exhibited a similar trend. Cluster analyses and ordinations indicated that the secondary forest was intermediate between the two primary forests, with the disturbed primary forest and secondary forest being more similar.Conclusion: The disturbed and secondary forests maintained a NCF floristic affinity. The dissimilarity between Hawaan and other forests is most likely the product of differing disturbance histories and rehabilitation efforts. The findings suggested that NCF patches are likely to be different in richness, but not in structure and affinity. Anthropogenic related pressures and disturbance appear to be major causes of floristic differences amongst patches. This leads to higher levels of richness by accommodating opportunistic, atypical and alien species, and possibly the creation of novel NCF types.

Biogeography of the savanna-like vegetation in hot dry valleys in southwestern China with reference to their floristic origin and evolution

Savanna-like vegetation and dry thickets occur in hot dry valleys across southwestern China. Here, the flora and biogeography of these vegetations are studied. Native seed plants of 3,217 species from 1,038 genera in 163 families are recorded from the hot dry valleys in SW China. The biogeographical elements with a tropical distribution contribute 57.18%, but the ones with a temperate distribution contribute 36.45% of the total genera of the flora. This shows that the flora has proliferated by temperate elements via their evolution, although the flora occur in tropical habitats in the hot dry valleys. Floristic divergence across these hot dry valleys is obvious. The floras in the Yuanjiang (the upper reaches of the Red River) and the Nujiang (the upper reaches of the Salween River) valleys are dominated by tropical elements (77.26% and 74.49 of the total genera, respectively), but the flora of the Jinshajiang (the upper reaches of the Yangtze River) valley is composed of half tropical (47.27%) and half temperate (44.96%) genera. Regarding floristic similarities, the Jinshajiang shows the highest similarity to the Yuanjiang although these river valleys are located a great distance from each other. Our results could be well explained from the geological events since the Cenozoic, such as the uplift of Himalayas, the extrusion of Indochina, the river capture of the Jinshajiang separating from the Yuanjiang, and the northward movement of the Burma Plate. Further floristic comparison between the flora in hot dry valleys of SW China and southern Africa supports the consideration that the flora of savanna-like vegetations of SW China could have floristic affinity to African savannas over the course of its evolutionary history by the Indian Plate from southern Africa colliding with Eurasia in the Cenozoic.

The Hepatic Flora and Floristic Affinity of Hepatics Around Takakia Lake, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia

The known hepatic flora of the Takakia Lake area consists of 66 species, 2 subspecies, and 2 varieties, in 30 genera and 18 families. Thirty-seven taxa (51.8%) of the total 70 taxa present are boreal in distribution. Seven taxa (10.1%) are western North American and Amphi-Pacific elements. This clearly demonstrates that the greatest diversity of western North American hepatics occurs between 45°–55°N and between 120°–135°W which includes the lake (Hong 1988). Other distribution patterns include a taxon which is a North American boreal endemic and one which is a North American temperate endemic; two are cosmopolitan and disjunct montane; three are circumtemperate and circum-montane; six are temperate disjunct; eight are arctic and alpine; fourteen are boreal disjunct and twenty-three are circumboreal.

Biogeography of palawan mosses

The moss flora of Palawan was updated and consists of 192 species in 88 genera. Because of the dry, semi-deciduous forest, Palawan has a relatively depauperate moss flora compared with the flora of moist forest on other islands of similar area. The number of species is higher in riverine forest than in inland forest, and highest at mid-mountain elevation. Its flora is mainly an extension of the Philippine moss flora, showing little influence from Borneo. Likewise, its floristic affinity is with the moss floras of the Philippine archipelago, Java, and Lesser Sundas, but not with the Bornean moss flora. Additionally, the role of Palawan Island as a refugium for the survival of a past, xeric moss flora in South-East Asia is discussed on the basis of evidence from moss distribution. Clastobryum asperrimum (Dix.) Tan was proposed as a new combination and Leucoloma mittenii Heisch. was considered to be a new synonym of L. walkeri Broth.