| Abstract Detail
Tropical Biology Section Duarte, Cristina [1], Fernandes, Claudia [2], Romeiras, Maria [3]. Alien flora of Cape Verde Islands: taxonomical, biological and biogeographic traits. The 10 islands of Cape Verde archipelago are located on the North-eastern Atlantic Ocean, about 500 km from Senegal in West Africa. Cape Verde vascular flora includes about 750 species (native and naturalized), most of them originated from other geographical regions; 30% of the taxa are of uncertain origin. As in other insular ecosystems, the exotic flora is considered a main threat to native flora and to natural plant communities. In this account a taxonomical review of naturalized nonindigenous species is performed. Provisional numbers points that from a total of 93 angiosperm families (75 Dicotyledons, 18 Monocotyledons), 56 have exotic representatives (50 Dicotyledons, 7 Monocotyledons). The largest families - with more than 10 alien species – of angiosperms in the alien flora of Cape Verde are Asteraceae, Leguminosae (including Fabaceae, Mimosaceae, and Caesalpiniaceae), Solanaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Malvaceae, Lamiaceae, and Poaceae. The genera contributing with more than 3 exotic taxa are the Solanum, Amaranthus, Chamaesyce, Ipomea, and Datura. Lantana camara and Furcraea foetida are amongst the worst present day invaders in some Cape Verdean habitats, whereas other species like Prosopis sp., introduced in the archipelago in the last decades, appears as a very problematic species in a near future. Some traits of naturalized exotic species like grow-form (herbs, shrub, trees, climbers, lianes), longevity (annual/biennial, perennials), life-form (Raunkiaer classification), and biogeographical origin are analysed and their relationships with species distribution within the archipelago assessed. The results will contribute to a first insight of the invasion phenomena in Cape Verde archipelago and aims to be useful in conservation management plans.
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1 - Instituto Investigação Científica Tropical, Centro de Botanica, Travessa Conde da Ribeira, 9, Lisboa, 1300-142, Portugal
2 - Ministério da Educação, Ciência e Ensino Superior de Cabo Verde, Liceu Domingos Ramos, Santiago Islands, Cabo Verde
3 - Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical / Instituto de Ciencia A, Centro de Botanica / Unit of Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Travessa Conde da Ribeira, 9, 1300-142, ICAT, Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa, Campo Grand, Lisboa, Portugal
Keywords:
exoctic species
invader plants
species traits
West Africa.
Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton
Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: P61003
Abstract ID:1323 |
