FLORISTIC COMPOSITION OF ANTHROPOGENIC SEASONAL WETLANDS IN THE COASTAL MOUNTAIN RANGE OF CAUTIN, CHILE

Abstract

Secondary anthropogenic temporary wetlands are formed in seasonally flooded landscape depressions in the mountainous region of Tromen (Region Araucanía, Chile). We sampled 80 plots of 25 m² distributed between 10 seasonal wetlands, estimating the cover of plant species in each plot. We analysed the taxonomic composition, status and life-forms of the flora and compared the species composition of the wetlands through classification (hierarchical clustering) and ordination (nMDS) analyses. The floristic composition of the wetlands was very heterogeneous. Their species richness was not correlated or other their area size or their community composition. The high importance of introduced plant species and the low number of ephemeral wetland specialists in the studied flora (only 9 specialists of 87 species) confirmed the secondary character of the studied wetlands. The effects of disturbance on the seasonal wetland flora are also discussed.