Musgos (Bryophyta) do Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca (MG, Brasil)

Abstract

Bryophytes are cryptogamic, non-vascular plants, that have life cycle with gametophytic dominance. Actually, these plants are recognized as belonging to three divisions: Marchantiophyta (liverworts), Anthocerothophyta (hornworts) and Bryophyta (mosses). Mosses can be distinguished from other bryophytes because they have foliose gametophyte, with leaves spirally arranged on the stem, and multicellular rhizoids. In Minas Gerais, there are few recent studies concerning to the moss flora. The Ibitipoca State Park includes an area of 1448 hectare, located near Lima Duarte city and Santa Rita do Ibitipoca, situated on Zona da Mata Mineira. The Park comprises a diversified vegetation, which shows different physiognomies including: “Floresta Ombrófila Densa Altimontana”, “Floresta Ombrófila Densa Montana” and “Campos Rupestres”. Previous studies concerning to bryophytes from Ibitipoca, based on herbarium material, demonstrated that it is necessary to increase the knowledge of these plants in the area. The aims of this study include: to list moss species that occur at Ibitipoca State Park; to estimate geographic distribution of the studied species; to compare species that were found on different physiognomies and to indicate the substrate that these species occur, increasing the knowledge of moss flora in Minas Gerais. The samples were collected over the years 2008 and 2009, completing seven collects, on different physiognomies. There were collected 382 mosses specimens, identified into 24 families, 46 genera and 90 infra-generic taxa. From these taxa, 13 are new records from Minas Gerais, including two new citations to Brazilian Southeast. The most representative family was Leucobryaceae, followed by Orthotrichaceae and Sematophyllaceae. Leucobryaceae was the family with the largest infra-generic taxa number, followed by Orthotrichaceae, Pilotrichaceae and Sematophyllaceae. The physiognomy “Floresta Ombrófila Densa Altimontana” showed largest number of samples; and “Floresta Ombrófila Densa Montana”, the largest number of exclusive taxa. The type of substrate that occurs the largest number of exclusive and total infra-generic taxa was trunk.