Acta Botânica Brasílica (Nov 2018)

New initiatives for Brazilian aquatic plant data management

  • Marco Otávio Dias Pivari,
  • Pablo Hendrigo Alves de Melo,
  • Filipe Soares Souza,
  • João Renato Stehmann,
  • Edson Gomes de Moura Júnior,
  • Suzana Neves Moreira,
  • Vali Joana Pott,
  • Arnildo Pott,
  • Aline Lopes,
  • Maria Cecilia Chiara Moço,
  • Lukiel dos Santos Oliveira,
  • Alba Lucia de Almeida Lins,
  • Rafael Arruda,
  • Isa Lucia de Morais,
  • Gustavo Santos Silva,
  • Régis Moreira Ferreira

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-33062018abb0280
Journal volume & issue
no. 0

Abstract

Read online

ABSTRACT Initiatives directed at managing information on aquatic plants can support different areas of scientific research, educational practices and political decisions for sustainable management and protection of wetlands and natural resources, as well as reveal knowledge gaps regarding aquatic plants and wetlands. Furthermore, such initiatives can contribute directly to consolidating wetland classification systems in Brazil. The objectives of this work are to present and explore the use of a data repository and online platform created specifically for the management of data on aquatic plants in Brazil. The data repository for aquatic plants was developed to store information on species occurrence records in a standardized form considering: systematics, taxonomy, habit, life form, geographic distribution, hydrographic basin, wetland, bibliographic references and herbarium material. A total of 3,903 records referring to the Southeast Region of Brazil were generated for the data repository. This total encompassed 1,036 species distributed among 132 families and 466 genera. Our results illustrate the diversity of information available regarding aquatic plants, circumscribe this group of species and serve as a source of data about them. Similar databases and electronic infrastructures can be developed for other flora in the future.

Keywords