Composição florística no Parque Estadual da Serra do Cabral: preenchendo lacunas em OCBILs na porção norte da Serra do Espinhaço, Minas Gerais

Abstract

The rupestrian grasslands were included in the so-called OCBILs (environments formed by ancient, climatically protected and infertile landscapes), which have a wide distribution. In Brazil, studies in these environments are more focused on the southern portion of the Serra do Espinhaço in Minas Gerais. Thus, we carried out floristic surveys, with the objective of evaluating the data on occurrence, distribution and level of extinction risk of the species, and the phylogenetic diversity between areas of the Serra do Cabral State Park, in the northern portion of the Serra do Espinhaço, Minas Gerais. The walking and active search technique was carried out between the years 2023 to 2024, to collect plants in the reproductive stage, on four different trails. Cluster analysis was performed to evaluate the differences in the composition of the species on each trail. Metrics were calculated to assess phylogenetic alpha diversity, phylogenetic diversity, phylogenetic endemism, mean pairwise diversity (MPD) and mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD); and phylogenetic beta diversity, community mean pairwise distance (COMDIST) and community mean nearest taxon distance (COMDISTNT) and the phylogenetic index of beta diversity (Phylosor). A total of 184 species were identified, from 57 families and 135 genera. The Fabaceae family was the richest, followed by Rubiaceae and Malpighiaceae. Of our list, 128 species have not yet been assessed in relation to the degree of threat of extinction. Regarding the results of the phylogenetic analyses, according to the weight that each analysis attributed to a variable, the way in which the trails were related changed. The results obtained corroborate other studies, which reveal the floristic and phylogenetic diversity in OCBIls areas, highlighting the Serra do Cabral State Park as an important location for scientific research and one of the priority areas for conservation actions in these ecosystems.