Biogeographical Review of Asteraceae in the Espinhaco Mountain Range, Brazil

The Espinhaco Range is characterized by its high taxonomic diversity and endemism level, where Asteraceae is one of the richest plant families. The present study aims to catalogue the Asteraceae species recorded in the campos rupestres of the Espinhaco Range and evaluate its biogeography. We built a database that contained recorded Asteraceae species and their geographical location. We thus produced a catalogue of species and their distribution representing 2420 records of Asteraceae distributed among 19 tribes, 106 genera and 535 species, from which 430 were endemic to Brazil and 178 were endemic to the campos rupestres of the Espinhaco Range. Areas of Cerrado share the most species with campos rupestres (251 spp.), followed by disjoint areas of campos rupestres (140 spp.). The results showed two floristic groups: one included in the Caatinga domain and another to the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest domains. The analysis of the environmental factors suggests that climate is the main determinant of the distribution of Asteraceae species in the Espinhaco Range.