Preliminary record of annual atmospheric deposit of fern spores from the Yungas over an environmental gradient in the middle basin of rio Perico (Jujuy, Argentina).

Abstract

Preliminary record of annual atmospheric deposit of fern spores from the Yungas over anenvironmental gradient in the middle basin of rio Perico (Jujuy, Argentina). The aim of this work was torecord the fern spores biological richness, to analyze their relative representation as well as their annualatmospheric deposit rate present in aerobiological traps, on a gradient transition in the Montane Forestof Yungas from Northwest Argentina (1900 m-2600 m a.s.l.). On the altitudinal transect, 5 Tauber trapswere placed during a whole year (august 2011-august 2012). A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) wasperformed to determine the spore assemblages for each altitudinal level. The record includes 11 sporetypes (Adiantum sp., Anemia sp., Asplenium sp., Cheilanthes squamosa, Microgramma squamulosa,Pecluma sp., Polystichum sp., Pteridaceae indeterminate, Pteris exigua, Pteris deflexa, Pteris inermis)that partially reflect the local flora of the forest understory. Ferns represent 31% of the total speciesrecorded (both pollen and fern spores), while their relative contribution to the total accumulation rate(4567, 7 propagules cm -2 year -1 ), was 6.17% (275.3 spores cm -2 year -1 ). The PCA allowed recognizingthe spore’s associations for each altitudinal level. The study contributes with preliminary deposit rates offern spores, achieving advances in the knowledge of their aerobiological characteristics. This expandsthe knowledge of the current environment and serves as reference information for paleoenvironmentalstudies of the region. The study provides preliminary data on the rate of deposition of fern spores of theYungas, making progress in the knowledge of the plant group, scarcely known from the aerobiologicalpoint of view.