Biogeographical patterns of the ferns from Cordoba Hills (Argentina) and their implications in conservation

Abstract

Biogeographic atlases are the synthesis of distributional patterns represented by individual and generalized tracks, nodes, areas of endemism and area cladograms. They may help propose areas for conservation. Ferns are indicators of the quality of habitats and are especially useful for establishing biogeographic patterns due to their lack of coevolutionary relationships with biotic vectors, as well as their monophyly and morphological conservatism. Our aim was to apply a track analysis and a parsimony analysis of endemicity to the fern fl ora of the Córdoba Hills (77 taxa) in order to contribute to the Biogeographic Atlas of central Argentina. The established distributional pattern shows the closer relationships of the fern flora of central Argentina with the Subandean Hills, Peruvian and Ecuadorian Andes, Buenos Aires Hills and southern Brazil, corresponding to the “Serranean Peripampasic Arch”. The protection of a rich and complex geographic area, with both endemic and widespread taxa, guarantees the preservation of conditions where the taxa develop. In this way, Cordoba Hills are a priority area for conservation, since they constitute a node or complex biogeographic area, with a remarkable fern richness of different historic origins, being a biotic convergence area.