The flora and vegetation in an area of the Caatinga in Taperuaba, Sobral, Ceará state, Brazil

The Caatinga, covering about 800.000 km2, is the predominant vegetation type of the semi-arid region of Brazil. The Caatinga biome comprises several phytophysiognomies and floristic compositions, with many endemic species, especially in Fabaceae, Cactaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Bignoniaceae e Combretaceae. Despite considerable advances, the Brazilian semi-arid needs more studies and inventories of biodiversity, especially the Ceará state. On the basis of these considerations, the present study aims to identify the flora and vegetation, in order to characterize the phytophysiognomy in an area of the Caatinga, in locality of Taperuaba, municipality of Sobral, Ceará, Brazil. Field work was conducted in March 2015 and 2016 respectively, in three transects. The life-forms were established in accordance of Raunkiaer´s system. The floristic list is composed of 87 species, distributed in 66 genera and 36 families. The flora comprises 22 Brazilian endemic species. The most representative family was Fabaceae with 15 species, followed by Malvaceae (7) Convolvulaceae (6), Euphorbiaceae (5) and Poaceae (5). The biological spectrum had a high proportion of therophytes (29,9%), chamaephytes (29,9%) and phanerophytes (26,4%). In the area were identified two phytophysiognomies: outcrops communities highlighting succulent phanerophytes (Pilosocereus chrysostele (Vaupel) Byles & G.D. Rowley subsp. cearensis P.J. Braun & Esteves and P. gounellei (F.A.C. Weber) Byles & Rowley), chamaephytes (Encholirium spectabile Mart. ex Schult. & Schult. f. and Lepidaploa chalybaea (Mart. ex DC.) H. Rob.) and therophytes (Mitracarpus baturitensis Sucre), mixed with communities including small trees and shrubs on deeper soil, composed of Cereus jamacaru DC., a succulent phanerophyte, and many woody phanerophytes, such as Cordia oncocalyx Allemão, Crateva trapia L., Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth., M. tenuiflora (Willd.) Poir., Poincianella bracteosa (Tul.) L.P. Queiroz and P. pyramidalis (Tul.) L.P. Queiroz.

Diversidade de espécies das famílias fabaceae e poaceae em São João do Cariri (PB), Independência (CE) e Sertânia (PE).

A presença de grande número de espécies da família Fabaceae faz a Caatinga um diversificado ambiente pastoril que tem sido enriquecido com a presença de espécies naturalizadas da família Poaceae, garantindo maior oferta de forragem em época de escassez. O objetivo desse estudo foi identificar os gêneros e espécies dessas duas famílias botânicas.

Produção de serapilheira de árvores e arbustos de sistemas agrossilvipastoris da caatinga em Sobral, CE.

O conhecimento da deposição de serapilheira e da ciclagem de nutrientes de espécies nativas da Caatinga é de grande importância, principalmente, para a verificação do aporte de nutrientes em sistemas agrossilvipastoris em região semiárida. Com isso objetivou-se avaliar a produção total de serapilheira de árvores e arbustos de um Sistema Agrossilvipastoril em área de Caatinga. O ensaio foi desenvolvido no Sistema Agrossilvipastoril da Embrapa Caprinos e Ovinos, em Sobral ? CE. As espécies avaliadas foram: catingueira (Poincianela pyramidalis), jucá (Libidibia ferrea), jurema-preta (Mimosa tenuiflora), marmeleiro (Croton sonderianus), mofumbo (Combretum leprosum), pau-branco (Auxemma oncocalyx), pereiro (Aspidosperma pirifolium) e sabiá (Mimosa caesalpiniaefolia).

Quantification of storage proteins during seed imbibition of native species from the brazilian Caatinga vegetation.

Poincianella pyramidalis (Fabaceae), Schinopsis brasiliensis (Anacardiaceae) and Sideroxylon obtusifolium (Sapotaceae) are native species of the Caatinga vegetation from Northeastern Brazil and have both biological importance and potential economic uses. Little is known about the water uptake and degradation of storage proteins during seed germination of these species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the imbibition and quantify the amount of storage proteins during seed germination of P. pyramidalis, S. brasiliensis and S. obtusifolium. Two lots of S. obtusifolium seeds with different vigour were used. Four replicates of 20 seeds of P. pyramidalis, S. brasiliensis and S. obtusifolium, were sown onto gerboxes with blotting paper soaked in distilled water and incubated during 72, 200 and 624 hours. Before and after imbibition seeds were weighed and frozen at until the sequential extraction and analysis of the seed storage proteins. Based on our results, we conclude that seed germination of P. pyramidalis, S. brasiliensis and S. obtusifolium has a well-defined triphasic imbibition. All storage proteins content of P. pyramidalis and S. brasiliensis seeds degraded along with the seed imbibition. Likewise, the content of albumins, globulins and glutelins decreased as S. obtusifolium seeds absorbed water