Biogeografia e diversidade funcional do cerrado sensu stricto

Abstract

Among the urgently needed areas to characterize biodiversity patterns are the world's hotspots. The Cerrado, a tropical biome, is highlighted in this list. The existing biogeographical classifications for the Cerrado delimit regionalizations. However, floristic gradients and their structuring factors, and functional classifications on a macroecological scale are unknown for this biome. From a database with 335 arboreal floristic inventories in cerrado sensu stricto (s.s), together with data from four functional attributes of the species, 27 climatic and 8 edaphic variables, we verified how the floristic composition of the cerrado s.s and functional differences vary over time. along environmental gradients. We used variance partitioning methods, linear regressions and multivariate analyses. Our results demonstrated that there are two floristic gradients along the distribution of the cerrado s.s, latitude appearing as a primary gradient and longitude as a secondary one. Climate is the main environmental predictor of the compositional structure of communities. There are two gradients along the latitude, the central-northern savannahs are grouped together due to higher annual temperatures and greater severity of water deficit; the central-south communities have the seasonality of temperature and frost days as the main environmental predictors. Functionally these communities are also distinct, the central-northern cerrados have a higher dry mass of leaves and a higher seed mass, while the central-southern cerrados exhibit species with denser woods and greater specific leaf area, varying significantly in latitude.