Climbing plants from Estação Ecológica do Seridó: Diversity, interactive key and five new records for the Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil
Caatinga; Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests; Lianas; Virtual taxonomy.
In Brazil, Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs) are represented by Caatinga, which exhibits one of the greatest species richness and endemisms among the Neotropic SDTFs. However, the biome remains deficient in the study of flora, especially in remote and scientifically neglected areas, such as the Seridó region. Located between the states of Rio Grande do Norte (RN) and Paraíba (PB), the Seridó region has an underestimated floristic diversity, especially in non-arboreal components such as climbers. Given this scenario, the study aimed to survey the climbers of the Seridó Ecological Station, a federal conservation unit located in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, as well as to provide a multiple access online identification key. For this, collections were carried out from 2018 to 2019 as well as consultation of material deposited in the UFRN herbarium. In all, 52 species were listed, being 32 herbaceous and 20 woody climbers. Among these species, seven are new occurrences for the newborn, as well as one genus (Tetrapterys). The virtual publication of the identification key was performed in the online version of the program (Xper³), an interactive platform open to the general public. The key is hosted on the Xper³ platform, and can be accessed at: www.xper3.fr/xper3GeneratedFiles/publish/identification/-5191544848738008565/mkey.html