Diversity and indicator species in the cerrado biome, Brazil

Abstract

The Cerrado biome has high species richness, endemism and spatial heterogeneity. Knowing the main characteristics and peculiarities of the flora is essential to adequately protect the species richness of the Cerrado. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the species richness, alpha diversity and beta diversity of four vegetation types in the Paracatu River Basin (15°30’/19°30’S and 45°10’/47°30’W), Paracatu-MG. The four vegetation types cerrado (stricto sensu, “cerradão” or Savannah woodland, deciduous seasonal forest and riparian forest) were sampled following the Manual for Monitoring Permanent Plots of the Cerrado and Pantanal Biomes. Alpha diversity was assessed using the Simpson (Ds´) and Shannon & Wiener (H’) indexes, and beta diversity using the Sørensen and Jaccard similarity indexes. The “cerradão” vegetation type had the highest number of species (106) and highest alpha diversity (3.83nats.ind-1). The cerrado stricto sensu had the lowest species richness (54 species) and alpha diversity value (2.65 nats. ind -1). Beta diversity was high (low Jaccard and Sørensen similarity) except between cerrado stricto sensu and “cerradão”. The initial hypothesis of this study was rejected, because although the phytophysiognomies are located on the same land system, the beta diversity is high, except for the cerrado stricto sensu and "cerradão”, which had similar diversity.