Impact of Melinis minutiflora (Poaceae) on the diversity of vascular plants of grasslands of the sandstones of Misiones (Argentina)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31055/1851.2372.v58.n1.38517

Keywords:

endemic species, exotic, invasion, Melinis minutiflora

Abstract

Background and aims: The invasion of natural ecosystems by alien species represents a major concern in the context of global conservation. In the fields of Teyú Cuaré, in the department of San Ignacio, Misiones, there is a high level of endemism with at least eight species of microendemic vascular plants. These grasslands are considered the only Cerrado fragments present in Argentina and are being invaded by Melinis minutiflora (Poaceae). The aim of this work was to evaluate how this adventitious grass affects the composition and diversity of the vegetation, and to determine the progress in the period 2015-2017.

M&M: To measure the impact, the vegetation was sampled using 25 random plots of 1x1m in areas with and without invasion. Phytosociological parameters and diversity indices were calculated. For the measurement of progress, perimeter walks were carried out with GPS.

Results: We found that areas free of this exotic grass had a higher total number of species (81), and a higher number of species exclusively present only in these sites (51), as well as very different values for phytosociological parameters. The area analysis showed an increase from approximately 9,744 m² to 23,396 m².

Conclusions: Our results indicate that the advance of M. minutiflora populations is vertiginous and that it exerts a significant pressure on grassland structure and diversity by occupying the ecological niche of native herbs and subshrubs.

References

AIRES, F. S., T. G. BARROS, S. B. SILVA, A. C. G. SÁ, M. N. SATO, S. M. ANDRADE & H. S. MIRANDA. 2005. Queimada em área de Cerrado invadido por capim-gordura (Melinis minutiflora Beauv.) no Parque Nacional de Brasília. En VII Congreso de Ecología de Brasil, Caxambu, Minas Gerais.

ALVAREZ, M., S. CÓRDOBA, F. ESCOBAR, F. GIOVANNY, F. GAST, H. MENDOZA & H. VILLAREAL. 2004. Manual de métodos para el desarrollo de inventarios de biodiversidad. Instituto de Investigaciones de Recursos Biológicos Alexander Von Humboldt, Bogotá.

CHAO A., K. H. MA, T. C. HSIEH & CHUN-HUO CHIU. 2016. SpadeR: Species-Richness Prediction and Diversity Estimation with R. R package version 0.1.1. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=SpadeR

CABRERA, A. 1976. Fitogeográficas de la República Argentina. Bol. Soc. Argent. Bot. 14: 1-41.

CASSEY, P., P. GARCÍA-DÍAZ, J. L. LOCKWOOD, T. M. BLACKBURN, J. JESCHKE & T. HEGER. 2018. Invasion biology: searching for predictions and prevention, and avoiding lost causes. En: JESCHKE, J. M. & T. HEGER (eds.), Invasion biology: hypotheses and evidence, pp. 3-13. CAB International, Wallingford.

CASTILLO, M., A. B. VALLADARES, M. I. GONZÁLEZ, R. MATA & P. C. ÁLVAREZ. 2014. Biología del pasto rosado Melinis repens (Willd.) e implicaciones para su aprovechamiento o control. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Pecu. 5: 429-442.

CASTRO-DÍEZ, P., F. VALLADARES & A. ALONSO. 2005. La creciente amenaza de las invasiones biológicas: Ecosistemas 13: 61-68.

https://www.revistaecosistemas.net/index.php/ecosistemas/article/view/532

CHAO, A. & L. JOST. 2015. Estimating diversity and entropy profiles via discovery rates of new species. Methods Ecol. Evol. 6: 873-882. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12349

CHAO, A., N. J. GOTELLI, T. C. HSIEH, E. L. SANDER, K. H. MA, R. K. COLWELL & A. M ELLISON. 2014. Rarefaction and extrapolation with Hill numbers: a framework for sampling and estimation in species diversity studies. Ecol. Monogr. 84: 45-67.

https://doi.org/10.1890/13-0133.1

COLWELL, R. K. EstimateS: statistical estimation of species richness and shared species from samples. Version 9.1.0. 2013. University Connecticut, USA. Disponible en: http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/estimates/

CORNWALL, W. 2022. Fiery invasion. Sciencie. 377: 568-571.

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ade2171

DEBLE, L. P., H. A. KELLER & F. D. S. ALVES. 2017. Resurrection and epitypification of Butia poni (Arecaceae), a neglected palm micro-endemic in the grasslands of Misiones, Argentina. Phytotaxa 316: 171-180. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.316.2.6

DUBOSCQ-CARRA, V.G., R. D. FERNANDEZ, P. J. HAUBROCK, R. D. DIMARCO, E. ANGULO, L. BALLESTEROS-MEJIA, C. DIAGNE, F. COURCHAMP & M. A. NUÑEZ. 2021. Economic impact of invasive alien species in Argentina: a first national synthesis. En: Zenni, R. D. et al. (eds.), The economic costs of biological invasions around the world. NeoBiota 67: 329-348. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.67.63208

DUTRA SILVA, S., R. A MATHEUS, V. BRAZ & J. PEIXOTO. 2015. Fronteira do gado e a Melinis Minutiflora P. Beauv. (Poaceae): A história ambiental e as paisagens campestres do Cerrado goiano no século XIX. Sustentabilidade em Debate 6: 17-32. https://doi.org/10.18472/SustDeb.v6n2.2015.15469

ELLENBERG, D. & D. MUELLER-DOMBOIS. 1974. Aims and methods of vegetation ecology. Wiley, New York.

FARINACCIO, M. A. & H. A KELLER. 2014. Novelties in Oxypetalum (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae) for the Argentine Flora. Phytotaxa 184: 109-114.

https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.184.2.3

FREITAS, G. K. & V. R. PIVELLO. Ameaça das gramíneas exóticas à biodiversidade. 2002. En: PIVELLO, V. R. & E. M. VARANDA (eds.), O cerrado Pé-de-Gigante: ecología e conservação-Parque Estadual de Vassununga, pp. 283-296. Ecología e Conservação, São Paulo.

HOFFMANN, W. A. & M. HARIDASAN. 2008. The invasive grass, Melinis minutiflora, inhibits tree regeneration in a Neotropical savanna. Austral Ecol. 1: 29-36.

HSIEH, T.C., K. H. MA & A. CHAO. 2016. iNEXT: an R package for rarefaction and extrapolation of species diversity (Hill numbers). Methods Ecol. Evol. 7: 1451-1456. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12613

JEFFREY, B. A. 2021. ggthemes: Extra Themes, Scales and Geoms for 'ggplot2'. R package version 4.2.4. Disponible en: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=ggthemes

JOST, L. 2019. What do we mean by diversity? The path towards quantification. Mètode Science Studies Journal 9: 55-61. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.9.11472

KELLER, H. A. 2015. Austrochthamalia teyucuarensis (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae), una nueva especie endémica de Misiones, Argentina. Lilloa 52: 40-45.

http://www.lillo.org.ar/journals/index.php/lilloa/article/view/334

KELLER, H. A. & S. L. CROCKETT. 2015. Hypericum robsonii spec. nova sect. Trigynobrathys (Hypericaceae) from the Misiones Province in Argentina. Phyton 55: 17-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.12905/0380.phyton55(1)2015-0017

KELLER, H. A. & S. G. TRESSENS. 2016. Hedeoma teyucuarensis (Lamiaceae), nueva especie de Misiones. Darwiniana, nueva serie 4: 5-11.

https://doi.org/10.14522/darwiniana.2016.41.692

LIGIER, H., H. MATTEIO, H. POLO & J. ROSSO. 1990. Atlas de suelos de la República Argentina: Provincia de Misiones. INTA, Buenos Aires.

MACK, M. C. & C. M. D’ANTONIO. 1998. Impacts of biological invasions on disturbance regimes. TREE 13: 195-198. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5347(97)01286-X

MARTÍNEZ CROVETTO, R. 1963. Esquema fitogeográfico de la Provincia de Misiones (República Argentina). Bonplandia 3: 171-223. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41941088

MARTÍNEZ CROVETTO, R. 1977. Notas sobre las fanerógamas de la flora Argentina. Bonplandia 5: 1-6.

MARTINS, C. R., L. L. LEITE & M. HARIDASAN. 2004. Capim-gordura (Melinis minutiflora P. Beauv.), uma gramínea exótica que compromete a recuperação de áreas degradadas em unidades de conservação. Árvore 28: 739-747.

https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-67622004000500014

MARTINS, C. R., J. D. V. HAY, B. M. T. WALTER, C. E. B. PROENÇA & L. J. VIVALDI. 2011. Impacto da invasão e do manejo do capim-gordura (Melinis minutiflora) sobre a riqueza e biomassa da flora nativa do Cerrado sentido restrito. Rev. Bras. Bot. 34: 73-90.

https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-84042011000100008

MORANDI. M., S. ZALBA, L BELFER, C. G. NOWAK & Y. CUEVAS. 2020. Las especies exóticas y la economía. Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura, Argentina.

PIVELLO, V. R., C. N. SHIDA & S. T. MEIRELLES. 1999a. Alien grasses in Brazilian

savannas: a threat to the biodiversity. Biodivers. Conserv. 8: 1281-1294.

https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008933305857

PIVELLO, V. R., V. M. C. CARVALHO, P. F. LOPES, A. A. PECCININI & S. ROSSO. 1999b. Abundance and distribution of native and alien grasses in a “cerrado” (Brazilian savanna) Biological Reserve. Biotropica 31: 71-82. https://doi.org/10.2307/2663960

QUANTUM GIS Development Team. 2016. Quantum GIS Geographic Information System. Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project. http://qgis.osgeo.org

R Core Team (2022). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Disponible en: https://www.R-project.org/

ROSSI, R. D., J. E CORTES FIGUEIRA & C. R. MARTTINS. 2010. Capim-gordura, invasão biológica, conservação do cerrado e regime de fogo. MG Biota 3: 4-27.

ROSSI, R. D., C. R. MARTTINS, P. L. VIANA, E. L. RODRIGUES, J. E CORTES FIGUEIRA. 2014. Impact of invasion by molasses grass (Melinis minutiflora P. Beauv.) on native species and on fires in areas of campo-cerrado in Brazil. Acta bot. bras. 28: 631-637. https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-33062014abb3390

SALARIATO, D. L. 2012. Poaceae. En: ZULOAGA, F. O. & M. J. BELGRANO (eds.), Flora Vascular de la República Argentina, vol. 3: 163-205. Estudio Sigma S.R.L., Buenos Aires.

SCHUTTLER, E. & C. S KAREZ. 2009. Especies exóticas invasoras en las Reservas de Biósfera de América Latina y El Caribe. Informe Técnico Programa sobre el Hombre y la Biósfera. Editorial Unesco, Montevideo.

SIMBERLOFF, D., J. L. MARTIN, P. GENOVESI, V. MARIS, D. A. WARDLE, J. ARONSON, F. COURCHAMP, B. GALIL, E. GARCÍA-BERTHOU, M. PASCAL, P. PYŠEK, R. SOUSA, E. TABACCHI & M. VILÀ. 2013. Impacts of biological invasions: what’s what and the way forward. TREE 28: 58-66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2012.07.013

SORIA, A. 1996. Fundamentos técnicos para la ampliación del Parque Provincial Teyú Cuaré (Provincia de Misiones). Delegación Técnica Regional Nordeste Argentino. Administración de Parques Nacionales, Iguazú.

TERUGGI, M. E. 1970. Bosquejo geológico del Paraguay y la Provincia de Corrientes. Bol. Soc. Argent. Bot. 1: 1-15.

VELAZCO, S. J. E., F. GALVÃO, H. A. KELLER & N. A. BEDRIJ. 2018a. Cerrados in Argentina? Structure, diversity and biogeography of the woody component of a savanna in the Misiones Province. Rodriguésia 69: 335-349. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-7860201869206

VELAZCO, S. J. E., H. A. KELLER & F. GALVÃO. 2018b. Pequeños pero importantes: las comunidades de vegetales leñosa de los afloramientos de arenisca de Teyú Cuaré (Misiones, Argentina). Bol. Soc. Argent. Bot. 53: 421-433.

https://doi.org/10.31055/1851.2372.v53.n3.21315

VILÀ, M. & P. E. HULME. 2017. Non-native species, ecosystem services, and human well-being. En: VILÀ, M. & P. E. HULME (eds.), In impact of biological invasions on ecosystem services, pp. 1-14. Springer Cham, Suiza. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45121-3

WICKHAM. H. 2016. ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. Springer-Verlag, New York. Disponible en: https://ggplot2.tidyverse.org

WILLIAMS, D. G. & Z. BARUCH. 2000. African grass invasion in the Americas: ecosystem consequences and the role of ecophysiology. Biological invasions 2: 123-140. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010040524588

ZALBA, S. M., Y. A CUEVAS & R. M. BOÓ. 2008. Invasion of Pinus halepensis Mill. following a wildfire in an Argentine grassland nature reserve. J. Environ. Manage. 88: 539-546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.03.018

ZULOAGA, F. O., M. J. BELGRANO & C. ZANOTTI. 2019. Actualización del Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Cono Sur. Darwiniana, nueva serie 7: 208-78.

https://doi.org/10.14522/darwiniana.2019.72.861

Published

2023-03-23

Issue

Section

Special Issue: Ecology

How to Cite

“Impact of Melinis Minutiflora (Poaceae) on the Diversity of Vascular Plants of Grasslands of the Sandstones of Misiones (Argentina)”. 2023. Boletín De La Sociedad Argentina De Botánica (Journal of the Argentine Botanical Society 58 (1). https://doi.org/10.31055/1851.2372.v58.n1.38517.

Similar Articles

111-120 of 441

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.