O CERRADO E SUAS FLORES: UM LEVANTAMENTO SOBRE A DIVERSIDADE DE ESTRUTURAS SECRETORAS

Abstract

Cerrado, the second largest Brazilian biome, originally occupied 21% of the national territory and is recognized as the richest savanna in the world, home to approximately 12,866 species of native plants. An important hotspot for Brazilian biodiversity, it continues to be threatened by agricultural expansion, fires and the unsustainable use of its natural resources. Therefore, research on its native flora is important as a justified source for preservation. Floral glands are an essential part of angiosperms, providing various functions such as protection against herbivory and attraction of pollinators, as they provide greater reproductive success for plants and the maintenance of ecological interactions between species. The present work seeks to compile the knowledge about floral glands in the Cerrado in academic literature, through the use of keywords, in three platforms: Scielo, Web of Science and Scopus; aggregating information on: (i) scientific name of the species, (ii) botanical family, (iii) area/place of collection, (iv) type of secretory structure present, (v) location of the secretory structure (eg petal, sepal, ovary, etc.), (vi) type of article (morphological/taxonomic, ecological or anatomical), (vii) journal of the publication/platform found. Thus, showing the low number of publications found in the aforementioned platforms (17), also demonstrating a large geographic concentration of areas with the highest number of publications, such as São Paulo and Minas Gerais, which total 14 publications. The list of publications found presents a total of 12 families and 26 species, where the largest number of results are linked to floral nectaries and colleters, adjunct to a smaller number of results on glandular trichomes, elaiophores and osmophores; which are presented in a descriptive way. It is concluded that there is a greater number of researches targeting floral nectaries, in addition to an absence of works published in regions such as Goiás, Distrito Federal, Tocantins, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso, which are present in these three plataforms.