Caracterização florística de áreas de nascentes na sub-bacia hidrográfica do Rio Piauitinga, Sergipe, Brasil

Abstract

The riparian forest has functions such as protecting the banks of watercourses and improving water quality. Considering the importance of the springs, this paper aimed to analyze the floristic composition, the structure of the vegetation, the ecological groups and the dispersion syndromes of the species, in the remnant of the main springs of the River Sub-basin Piauitinga to support future ecological restoration projects. Previously, were carried out vegetation analysis in the countiesthat makesup this planning unit: Lagarto, Salgado, Boquim and Estância. From there, a complete checklist of the identified species was elaborated. Were analyzed the diversity, dispersion syndromes and floristic similarity between the study areas, indicating, at the end, measures for the vegetation restoration. Concerning to the floristic composition of the 57 springs, 139 species were identified, distributed in 100 genera and 47 botanical families. The most speciose families were Fabaceae (27 spp.) and Myrtaceae (18 spp.). About the dispersion syndrome, there was a predominance of zoochory, observed in 103 species; while in the successional group was observed a higher occurrence ofinitial secondary species followed by pioneer species. The Jaccard similarity values were considered low, i.e. less than 50%, and the areas that showed the greatest similarity among them were Salgado and Boquim springs (40%), forming a subgroup. The greatest floristic dissimilarity in relation to the other counties was of the springs located in Estância. Despite of the fragments were anthropized, they have significant richness in the floristic composition.