Aluminum accumulation and nutrients in Pterolepis glomerata, Desmoscelis villosa, and Rhynchanthera grandiflora in palm swamp communities

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate if the herbaceous species Pterolepis glomerata (Rottb.) Miq. (Melastomataceae) is an aluminum (Al) accumulating species and compare its nutrition with other Al accumulators from the same family in palm swamp communities as follows: Desmoscelis villosa (Aubl.) (herb), and Rhynchanthera grandiflora (Aubl.) DC. (shrub or subshrub). This is important because P. glomerata belongs to the tribe Melastomeae and generally Al accumulators are perennial lignified species belonging to more basal tribes in the phylogenetic tree. Heterogeneity was observed in the soil characteristics of six sites in the palm swamp communities under study. However, in all the cases, the foliar concentrations of Al > 3 g·kg−1, the Al transfer factors (TF) (leaves:roots) > 1, and the stoiquiometric ratios Al:Ca > 1 indicated that the three species behaved as Al accumulators. A principal component analysis (PCA) of 11 chemical elements separated D. villosa from the other two species and associated it to Al. In this work, Al accumulation was reported for the first time in P. glomerata and was quantified in D. villosa, previously reported positive using the aluminon colorimetric method in herbarium samples. The Al tolerance in P. glomerata is a trait that possibly contributes to its wide distribution in acid soils throughout the neotropics and its introduction and naturalization in localities far from its site of origin.