Morpho-ecological characterization and composition of rocky fields bryophytes in Brazilian Cerrado.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide information about ecological relations and floristic composition of bryophytes community in Brazilian Cerrado rocky fields in Minas Gerais state. There are few works of bryophyte communities and their relation with this environment for Brazilian Cerrado, besides this, these environments are submitted to several intense treats. For this study nine transects of 50 m with total of 45 plots were randomly sampled in order to analyze the composition and morpho-ecological traits of bryophytes communities. The diversity measures were performed using the PAST and EstimateS software to perform the clustering of the species found between the tree different areas of rocky fields. We found 176 occurrences of 47 bryophytes species in the area of rock fields. The richest family for mosses was Leucobryaceae (Bryophyta) with seven species and Lepidoziaceae (Marchantiophyta) for liverworts with nine species. Hornworts were not found. According to PCoA (Principal Coordinates Analysis), the floristic composition of bryophytes community in rocky fields is homogeneous, without differences between studied plots. The community has predominance of terrestrial and longtime colonizer species tolerant to direct sunlight and desiccation. These characteristics are related to their life cycle.