Contribution to the Knowledge of Rocky Plant Communities of the Southwest Iberian Peninsula

Ricardo Quinto Canas; Ana Cano-Ortiz; Giovanni Spampinato; Sara Del Río; Mauro Raposo; José Carlos Piñar Fuentes; Carlos Pinto Gomes

doi:10.3390/plants10081590

Contribution to the Knowledge of Rocky Plant Communities of the Southwest Iberian Peninsula

Plants (Basel). 2021 Aug 2;10(8):1590. doi: 10.3390/plants10081590.

Authors

Ricardo Quinto Canas^{1

2}, Ana Cano-Ortiz³, Giovanni Spampinato⁴, Sara Del Río⁵, Mauro Raposo⁶, José Carlos Piñar Fuentes³, Carlos Pinto Gomes⁶

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal.
² CCMAR-Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal.
³ Department of Animal and Plant Biology and Ecology, Section of Botany, University of Jaén, Las Lagunillas s/n, 23071 Jaén, Spain.
⁴ Department of AGRARIA, "Mediterranea" University of Reggio Calabria, Località Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy.
⁵ Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management (Area of Botany), Mountain Livestock Farming Institute (Joint Center CSIC-ULE), Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Campus of Vegazana, University of León, s/n, 24071 León, Spain.
⁶ Department of Landscape, Environment and Planning, Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development (MED), School of Science and Technology, University of Évora, Rua Romão Ramalho, n° 59, 7000-671 Évora, Portugal.

Abstract

The rocky habitats of southern Portugal are ecosystems with extreme xericity conditions, associated with special abiotic strains. In these unstable ecological conditions, a considerable diversity of plant communities occurs. The objective of this study, carried out in the Algarve and Monchique, and the Mariánica Range biogeographical sectors, is to compare chasmo-chomophytic communities of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, using a phytosociological approach (Braun-Blanquet methodology) and numerical analysis (hierarchical cluster analysis). From these results, two new communities were identified, Sanguisorbo rupicolae-Dianthetum crassipedis and Antirrhinetum onubensis, as a result of floristic and biogeographical differences from other associations already described within the alliances Rumici indurati-Dianthion lusitani and Calendulo lusitanicae-Antirrhinion linkiani, both included in the Phagnalo saxatilis-Rumicetea indurate class.

Keywords: Antirrhinum onubensis; Dianthus crassipes; Phagnalo saxatilis-Rumicetea indurate class; numerical analysis; phytosociology; southern Portugal.