Briófitas urbanas de Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais (Brasil)

Abstract

The bryophytes are cryptogamic plants having a simple structure due to the absence of vascular system and lignin, they commonly present a small size and a single life cycle among the terrestrial plants, with the dominance of the gametophytic generation, which is haploid, thallose or foliose with clorophyll; the sporophytic generation is ephemeral, diploid and dependent on the gametophyte. The study of urban bryophyte is important to analyse: the geographical distribution; species that are tolerant to human occupation; the use of bryophytes as bioindicators of air quality and to create a culture of urban biodiversity preservation. In Brazil, there are few studies. Thus this study aimed to identify and describe the bryophytes that exist in Juiz de Fora (MG), besides of analyzing the relationship among species and the substrate they are found, comparing these results to other data about Brazilian urban bryophytes and increasing the knowledge of bryophytes in Minas Gerais state. The bryophytes were collected between September of 2009 and August of 2010 in three places of the city (Juiz de Fora Federal University campus-UFJF;Halfeld Park and Municipal Lajinha Park), considering forestal fragments and areas having human interference. They were randomly and manually withdrawn or with the aid of a spatula, placed in paper bags and taken to the Laboratory of Bryophytes (UFJF) to be dried out on environment temperature and identified using specialized literature. We analyzed 773 specimens of bryophytes in a total of 128 species, 80 genera, 45 families and 19 orders, distributed in three groups: hornworts (seven specimens in three species, three genera, two families and one order), liverworts (238 specimens in 44 species, 25 genera, 16 families and seven orders) and mosses (528 specimens in 81 species, 54 genera, 27 families and 11 orders). The most representative families of liverworts were Lejeuneaceae and Frullaniaceae and for mosses were Bryaceae and Pottiaceae. We found 27 new registers of bryophytes species for the state of Minas Gerais. Concerning to the substrates where the plants were found, living trunk was the most representative, followed by soil, dead trunk, rock, artificial substrate and leaf. In Halfeld Park, we collected 64 specimens in 16 species; in UFJF Campus, 336 specimens were identified in 85 species and in Lajinha Park, 373 specimens were identified in 81 species.