Flora of Bahia: History and Organization

Tânia Regina dos Santos Silva, Ana Maria Giulietti, Raymond Mervyn Harley, Luciano Paganucci de Queiroz & Flávio França

The State of Bahia has an area of 567,295.3 km², representing about 6.6% of the Brazilian territory and approximately 36.3% of the Northeast Region. Bahia displays a great variety of habitats, representing almost all of the existing biomes of Brazil. In the eastern portion there is a predominance of Atlantic Forest , restingas , and mangroves. To the west, the semi-arid region covers more than 50% of the State, including Caatingas (Introduction and Chapter 6) and seasonally dry forests at lower elevations, and the massif of the Chapada Diamantina where can be found a mosaic of different vegetation types, including cerrado (savannah-like vegetation), different types of forest and the campos rupestres (see Chapters 6 e 9). The western most portion of the State is covered by a large area of cerrado, which represents an extension of the Central Brazilian vegetation.

In spite of the range of vegetation types and the exuberant flora, the State of Bahia has only 6.68% of its area in permanent, protected reserves. The structure of conservation areas in the State consists of 39 environmental protected areas (APA), 34 permanent protection reserves, 29 private reserves (RPPN) and seven areas in several others categories . In theory there are many areas under protection, but they still lack proper settlements concerning ownership of land property, effective management plans, trained staff and adequate surveillance.

Botanical Fieldwork since the 19th Century

Although previous estimates of the angiosperm flora of the State of Bahia have suggested that there may be about 10 thousand species - by any standards a very large figure – it now seems probable that this is an underestimate. A good example of the species richness of the flora can be found in the Flora of the Pico das Almas , which, in a relatively small area, records 1,123 taxa, 9.3% of which (105 species) were new to science. An extrapolation of this figure for the whole State, suggests a total of around 12 thousand species of vascular plants. Such a rich flora has attracted the attention of many botanists to Bahia, since the early part of the 19th century, as, for example, Martius, Neuwied, Blanchet, Sellow and Gardner, among others, while botanists such as Ule and Luetzelburg were active in Bahia at beginning of 20 th century. The earlier collections can be found in that monumental work, the Flora Brasiliensis.

Network of Botanic Institutions in Bahia

From the 1970s, many plant novelties from Bahia came to light with the expeditions carried out by Howard Irwin and collaborators of NYBG (USA) and by Raymond Harley from RBG-Kew (UK). This provoked a renewal of interest, among botanists, in the flora of Bahia . A partnership between CEPEC and RBG-Kew started a series of expeditions to several regions of the State, commencing in the early 1970s. The collected material was used as a basis for ‘Towards a Checklist of the Flora of State of Bahia’ , the first published checklist of the entire flora of Bahia since the Flora Brasiliensis more than one hundred years ago.

Another important partnership was agreed between CEPEC, RGB-Kew and IB-USP to perform a survey of the flora of the campos rupestres of the Cadeia do Espinhaço in the States of Minas Gerais (Espinhaço Range) and Bahia (the Chapada Diamantina). The material which resulted from the many joint expeditions was used to prepare the floras of the Pico das Almas , Grão Mogol and Catolés .

In 1994, the ‘Projeto Chapada Diamantina’ (PCD) united several institutions of Bahia , such as UEFS, IBGE and CEPEC, under the coordination of UFBA, with the collaboration of RBG-Kew and IB-USP. Besides the formation of a network, the partnership has resulted in the publication of a Checklist of vascular plants from the Morro do Pai Inácio (Palmeiras) and Serra da Chapadinha (Lençóis), Chapada Diamantina, Bahia and a book on useful plants from Chapada Diamantina .

The Flora of Bahia Project

The Flora of Bahia Project was planned between 1999 and 2001, being sponsored by CNPq and CAPES through the Northeast Program of Research and Post-graduate Studies, and has been responsible for keeping the PCD ongoing. Besides PCD members, the new network grew up to include UNEB, UESC, UESB, EBDA, NYBG and the non-governmental organization APNE, under the coordination of UEFS.

The project’s main objectives include: (i) sampling a series of less well-known or species-rich areas in the State, further enriching Bahian herbarium collections, (ii) improving the infra-structure and working practices of local herbaria, and (iii) the elaboration of species-lists from several areas of Atlantic Forest , restinga and campos rupestres. The development and stimulation of research on the flora of Bahia was one of the main outcomes, and led to the implementation of the Graduate Program in Botany at UEFS (Chapter 23), firstly M.Sc. (2000) and Ph.D. (2002) levels, with a series of studies giving a special emphasis on the Flora of Bahia. Following the Flora of Bahia Project, CNPq (2001–2003) supported a project on Taxonomic Studies in Groups of the Flora of Bahia, which centred efforts on sampling areas at that time scarcely studied and performing taxonomic studies on different groups of flowering plants in order to produce the first monographs on the flora of Bahia.

In 2003, the project got new funds from CNPq, now focusing on publication of monographs in UEFS’s institutional journal Sitientibus . To date, eight monographs have been concluded and 12 are now almost ready for submission (see list). The first volume of monographs will be published in the first semester of 2006 in a special issue dedicated to the Flora of Bahia, including an introductory article about the vegetation and the history of systematic botany on the Bahian flora. Later, the articles will be published in regular issues of the journal.

In order to evaluate and support the publication of the monographs, an executive board was established in 2004, which decided that the project would cover all plant groups (as traditionally known), including angiosperms, gymnosperms, pteridophytes, bryophytes, algae and fungi . The board includes members of CEPEC, IBGE, UEFS, UESB, UESC, UFBA, UNEB and the recently created Salvador Botanical Garden (JBSSA).

NE – Restinga is a Brazilian word used to refer to the low forests and open scrub that grow on the coastal sands that border the Atlantic Ocean.

NE – Information about conservation areas in the State of Bahia could be found in the site www.sei.ba.gov.br.

Harley, R.M. & S.J. Mayo 1980. Towards a Checklist of the Flora of Bahia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Stannard, B.L. (ed.). 1995. Flora of the Pico das Almas Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Pirani, J.R., R. Mello-Silva. & A.M. Giulietti. 2003. Flora de Grão-Mogol., Minas Gerais, Brasil. Boletim de Botânica da Universidade de São Paulo 21: 1-24.

Zappi, D.C. et al. 2003. Lista das plantas vasculares de Catolés, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brasil. Boletim de Botânica da Universidade de São Paulo 21: 345-398.

Guedes, M.L. & M.D.R. Orge. 1998. Check-list das espécies vasculares de Morro do pai Inácio (Palmeiras) e Serra da Chapadinha (Lençóis), Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brasil. Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador.

Funch, L.S., R.M. Harley, R.R. Funch, A.M. Giulietti & E. Melo. 2004. Plantas Úteis - Chapada Diamantina. Ed. Rima, São Carlos.

This journal is freely available online through the website http://www.uefs.br/dcbio/revistabiologia

NE - Information about the development of the project and a map service for plotting species distribution can be found at the website www.uefs.br/floradabahia; in the future, monographs will also be available at this website.