Fenologia Reprodutiva de Espécies da Família Asteraceae

Abstract

The southern grasslands constitute an ecosystem of their own biodiversity and are being lost by human activities, mainly agriculture. The phenological study has extreme importance to better understand a biology, as an ecology of the species and ecosystems, helping in processes of recovery of degraded areas. One of the main families that constitute this biome and that is of extreme importance is the family of Asteraceae. The goal of this study was to investigate the phenolohgy of 23 species of the Asteraceae family that occurring in a southern grassland area in the municipality of São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Among the species found are the tribes: Astereae, Chicorieae, Coreopsideae, Gnaphalieae, Eupatorieae, Plucheeae, Senecioneae and Vernonieae. The methodology used were biweekly observations of the reproductive phenomena, using the walking method, during the period of one year. The plants were separated by tribes to be evaluated using the frequency of the reproductive phenophases (flowering, fruiting, dispersion) by circular statistic. The results indicate that of the species studied, the majority had reproductive phases in spring, summer and autumn, with decrease during June and interruption in the months of July and August.