Puna vegetation Moquegua S Peru: Chasmophytes, grasslands, Puya raimondii - Montesinos et al. 2015

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Phytocoenologia Vol. 45 (2015), Issue 4, 365–397 Stuttgart, December 2015

Research Paper

The Puna vegetation of Moquegua, South Peru: Chasmophytes, grasslands and Puya raimondii stands Daniel B. Montesinos-Tubée*, Antoine M. Cleef & Karlé V. Sýkora Abstract: The phytosociology and ecology of puna vegetation in twelve localities at an altitude of 3750–4500 m in northern Moquegua (south Peru) have been studied. The study area has a pluviseasonal climate with summer rainfall. Using TWINSPAN, Detrended Correspondence Analysis and Farthest Neighbor Clustering, 157 phytosociological relevés were analyzed. For each community, the syntaxonomy, floristic diversity and relation with environmental variables are discussed. 210 vascular plant species belonging to 131 genera and 52 families were recorded. Three main vegetation types were distinguished: 1. chasmophyte vegetation composed of a great diversity of shrubs, dwarf shrubs, ferns and annuals, 2. Puya raimondii stands characterized by considerable species richness in shrubs, grasses and herbs, and 3. extensive puna grasslands influenced by grazing. The zonal vegetation of the supratropical and orotropical bioclimatic belts was represented by two phytosociological classes: Argyrochosmetea niveae (chasmophytes) and Calamagrostietea vicunarum (Puya raimondii and puna grasslands). Within the Argyrochosmetea niveae and Salpichroetalia glandulosae, the new alliances Argyrochosmo niveae-Neowerdermannion peruvianae and Hypochaerido mucidae-Loricarion graveolentis were distinguished, including six associations consisting of steep rock and crevice shrublands on lithosols. Within the Azorello compactae-Festucion orthophyllae (Calamagrostietea vicunarum) two associations with four subassociations and two communities were distinguished comprising grasslands and Puya raimondii stands. One association was described in the Calamagrostion minimae. The puna vegetation of Moquegua hosts rare, endangered and/or protected plant species in Peru. The vulnerability of the flora and vegetation in the mountains of Moquegua is briefly discussed. Keywords: Andes, Argyrochosmetea niveae, Calamagrostietea vicunarum, Peru, phytosociology, syntaxonomy. Nomenclature: Tropicos.org (http://www.tropicos.org; accessed January 2015; further referred to as Tropicos) and The Plant List, Version 1 (http://www.theplantlist.org; accessed January 2015) except for Solanaceae where the PBI Solanum Project 2014 (http://www.solanaceaesource.org; accessed November 2014) was used. Submitted: 19 May 2014; revised version submitted: 15 January 2015; final revision submitted: 23 September 2015; accepted: 24 September 2015 Co-ordinating Editor: Erwin Bergmeier

dominated by dwarf grasses, rosettes and cushion plants, although these occur also in the puna albeit with lower frequency. For the evergreen shrub formations occurring above 4200 m, Weberbauer (1945) used the term tolares. In the traditional vegetation classification for Bolivia, the term ‘puna’ has been used for the vegetation of the high plateaus of the Central Andes (Beck & García 1991; García & Beck 2006). Kuentz et al. (2007) characterized the southern Andes of Peru as ‘mountainous steppe and

Introduction Puna is the name given to extensive highlands in the central and southern Andes of South America and particularly to their distinctive alpine grassland vegetation (Cabrera 1968; Navarro 1993; Galán de Mera et al. 2003, 2009, 2011, 2014; García & Beck 2006; Montesinos et al. 2012). Weberbauer (1912, 1945) distinguished the puna from the vegetation of the Altiplano plateaus, which is

*Corresponding author‘s address: Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands; daniel. montesinos@wur.nl. Complete addresses of all authors can be found at the bottom of the paper. © 2015 Gebrüder Borntraeger, 70176 Stuttgart, Germany DOI: 10.1127/phyto/2015/0006

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