Floristic Survey of the Murici Forest, Alagoas - A Collaborative Effort

The Area
One of the southernmost fragments of the northeastern forest is the Murici forest in Alagoas. It encompasses several large fragments of forest found in the adjacent municipalities of Fleixeiras, Murici, and Branquinha (09°07’- 09°16’S and 35°46’-35°59’W) and occupies an area of 6116 hectares (15,108 acres) with elevation varying from 200 to 600 m. Well-known for the diversity and uniqueness of it’s birds, the Murici forest was not included in any protected reserve system until very recently. Increased awareness of its biological value caused it to become the focal point of conservation and scientific activity, including our own work, and led IBAMA (Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment) to designate the area as the Murici Ecological Station in 2001 (it may be years, however, before all the needed land is disappropriated from the areas landholders).

While the birds of Murici are known in great detail, the plants forming the framework of Murici’s forest ecosystem had never been surveyed. Knowledge of the flora is critical to understanding the forest and its fauna and will be the foundation of future reforestation efforts. Five institutions (The Institute of the Environment of Alagoas; the Federal University of Paraíba; the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco; the Center for Cocoa Research, Bahia; and The New York Botanical Garden) joined forces and proposed to carry out six collecting expeditions to the Murici forest with the objective of improving and consolidating our knowledge of the plants of the Murici forest and making this information available for conservation and science.  Over the course of 18 months in 2001 and 2002, the survey participants made six collecting trips to Murici. 

Floristic Relationships
The forests at Murici vary depending on elevation and exposure but are in general more moist than the lowland tabuleiro forests nearer the coast. They are an example of submontane tropical moist forest (Floresta Ombrófila Submontana), the forest type that typically is found along the east-facing slopes of the Borborema Highlands between 100 and 600 m elevation. Where the forest is drier, Cryptanthus, a genus of Bromeliaceae restricted to eastern Brazil and usually found in dry forests, can be found. Moist, undisturbed areas of forest support populations of Euterpe edulis, the palm from which Hearts-of-palm are harvested and a tree found throughout humid parts of the coastal forest.

The presence of species such as the rare sedge Hypolytrum bullatum may provide insight as to the floristic relationships of the Murici forest. Hypolytrum bullatum is known from only three sites, the Murici forest, the forest of São Vicente Ferrer in northeastern Pernambuco, and the forests near Ilhéus in southern Bahia. The São Vicente Ferrer forest, about 250 km north of Murici is also a forest on the east-facing slopes of the Borborema Highlands. The Bahian forests near Ilhéus are over 600 km to the south of Murici and are coastal lowland forests on rolling hills.

The Survey
Although the Murici forest, a remnant of the Atlantic coastal forest in Alagoas, Brazil, is famous for its rare bird life, there has never been a detailed inventory of its forest plants. Six expeditions carried out over 18 months in 2002 and 2003 were carried out through a collaborative effort of five institutions. The collections have brought to light 225 species of flowering plants in 88 families and 146 genera. In addition, there were five families and eight genera of pteridophytes.  These data were presented as a poster at the 54th Brazilian National Botanical Congress, held in Belém, Pará, from 13-18 July, 2003 -- abstract in Portuguese.

Our work shows that the arboreal component includes Tapirira guianensis and Thyrsodium spruceanum (Anacardiaceae), Anaxagorea brevipes, A. dolichocarpa and Cymbopetalum brasiliense (Annonaceae), Schefflera morototoni (Araliaceae), Ocotea duckei and O. glomerata (Lauraceae), Eschweilera ovata (Lecythidaceae), Byrsonima crispa and B. sericea (Malpighiaceae), Guarea macrophylla (Meliaceae), Mollinedia ovata and M. oligantha (Monimiaceae), Apeiba tibourbou (Tiliaceae), among others. Among the shrubs, we encountered Tabernaemontana flavicans (Apocynaceae), Bactris hirta, B. pickelii, Geonoma pauciflora (Arecaceae), Piper gaudichaudianum and P. marginatum (Piperaceae), as well as various species of Miconia (Melastomataceae) and Psychotria (Rubiaceae). The herbaceous layer includes Cryptanthus spp. (Bromeliaceae), Hypolytrum bullatum, Rhynchospora cephalotes, R. comata, R. nervosa, R. radicans (Cyperaceae), Voyria sp. (Gentianaceae), as well as various ferns and fern allies in the genera Adiantum, Anemia, Lycopodium, Lygodium, and Selaginella. Among the epiphytes and vines, the most common are: Aechmea fungens, A. tomentosae, Portea leptantha (Bromeliaceae), Epiphyllum sp. and Rhipsalis sp. (Cactaceae), Monotagma sp. (Marantaceae), Mendoncia bivalvis (Mendonciaceae), Cissampelos glaberrima (Menispermaceae), and Tetrastylis ovalis (Passifloraceae). Although several species have been collected in flower, orchids are not an important component of the terrestrial or epiphytic flora.