Sistemas sexuais e reprodutivos em veredas sob diferentes niveis de secamento

Abstract

Plants exhibit a great diversity of sexual and reproductive systems, which can vary according to growth form, environment, and even abiotic factors, such as constant changes in the landscape. Therefore, the way plant species are distributed in the ecosystem determines the reproductive aspects of the plant community. Wetlands have suffered significant loss of their original vegetation due to various types of anthropogenic impacts, thus altering the natural conditions of these environments and compromising their structure and composition. In this work, we aimed to identify the sexual and reproductive systems found in species occurring in wetlands with different levels of drying. We selected species according to a phytosociological study, using plots distributed in two different environments of wetlands: hygrophilous forest and open areas. Data were collected in situ and from the literature. Flowers were classified according to floral types, color classes, sexual systems, and reproductive systems. Hermaphroditism was the most widely distributed sexual system between the two areas, of all the wetlands studied. While dioecy was more frequently found among species in hygrophilous forest areas, and andromonoecy was only present in the open area of ​​the wetland with a high level of degradation. The results showed that allogamous species were more representative in the hygrophilous forest compared to open areas. Autogamous and apomictic species were more representative in the open area. We expected a high number of autogamous and apomictic species in wetlands exhibiting landscape degradation due to the degree of drying, as they would be more susceptible to the absence of biotic pollination vectors. However, most species have some barrier that prevents self-pollination, being dependent on the action of pollinating agents to promote cross-pollination.