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Contribution à la connaissance de la flore vasculaire du Maroc oriental - plaine de Lamrija et revers nord des monts de Debdou

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As a consequence of its somewhat difficult access (limited road network) and a flora considered to be poorly diversified, eastern Morocco remains little attractive for botanists, and consequently its flora is poorly known. As a part of a research program on natural habitats and flora of this area, led by the Emirates Center for Wildlife Propagation, botanical surveys were performed in 2011 and 2012 in the Lamrija plain and northern slopes of the Debdou mountains. This article presents the most remarkable floristic observations resulting from these surveys (around 150 taxa): regionally new taxa (Africa, eastern Morocco) and rare taxa in Morocco. Numerous discoveries have been made in this area (15% of observed taxa are new or confirmed for eastern Morocco), in particular: - 3 taxa new to science - 1 taxon new to Africa - 119 taxa new or confirmed from at least one biogeographical sector of eastern Morocco - 4 endemic taxa recorded for the first time outside of their known distribution area of endemism.
... The type subspecies is more widely distributed in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula and it has been evaluated as vulnerable at the national level (Moreno, 2008). Recently, a new location of this taxon has been found in north Morocco (Chambouleyron et al., 2015), but unfortunately, it has not been possible to include this population in our analyses or check its identity. Last, A. tejedensis (≡M. ...
... Pseudomoehringia (Fior & Karis, 2007) (Fig. 1; Table 1). Unfortunately, it was not possible to include in this study the Moroccan population from Jebel Kelti assigned to A. suffruticosa by Chambouleyron et al. (2015) and identified as A. glochidisperma. Population sizes in the studied species are usually low, but we tried to collect 25 individuals per population whenever possible. ...
... Sampling locations covering the distribution of A. suffruticosa, A. funiculata, and A. glochidisperma. ★ Location of A. suffruticosa described in the study ofChambouleyron et al. (2015). A, Detailed sampling of A. funiculata. ...
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Phylogeographic and evolutionary studies are necessary to establish solid taxonomic treatments and for the implementation of effective conservation programs. Unfortunately, a well‐argued and well‐founded taxonomic framework is still lacking for some Mediterranean taxa. This is the case of Arenaria section Pseudomoehringia, a group that currently comprises three species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula (A. funiculata, A. suffruticosa and A. tejedensis) and A. glochidisperma, which is restricted to the Rif mountains North Africa. However, the taxonomic boundaries and phylogenetic relationships among these species are still uncertain. To explore the evolutionary history and phylogeographic patterns within this section, analyses based on nuclear (AFLP and ITS) and plastid DNA markers (psbA‐3’ trnK‐matK and rps16) were performed. Our study has confirmed the monophyly of the section, in which two species are clearly identified (A. funiculata and A. glochidisperma) and an additional species complex (“A. suffruticosa+A.tejedensis complex”) is also supported as a monophyletic clade. The phylogeographic results point to a dispersal event of a common ancestor of the group from the Iberian Peninsula giving raise to A. glochidisperma in North Africa. Moreover, A. funiculata and A. glochidisperma are identified as closely related species edaphically differentiated across the Strait of Gibraltar. Our study indicates low levels of recent gene flow among populations of the “A. suffruticosa+A. tejedensis complex”, which are genetically highly structured and suggest an isolation by distance pattern probably due to a combination of ecological and geographic barriers. Furthermore, the taxonomic and conservation status of taxa included in Arenaria section Pseudomoehringia has been reviewed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... To date, this research program has yielded its most significant results (4, SEV 285880) and S. masguindalii (5, SEV 285890); j-m appearance of several cliff-dwelling Sonchus species: S. pustulatus (j), S. fragilis (k), S. masguindalii (l) and S. radicatus (m). Scale bars: 2 mm (1e, g-i), 0.5 mm (1f) from the Lamrija plain and the Debdou mountains (Eastern Morocco) with the discovery of three new plant taxa (Chambouleyron et al. 2015a) here. Two of these have been described previously (Chambouleyron et al. 2014(Chambouleyron et al. , 2015b, with the third, a species of the genus Sonchus L., being presented here. ...
... The discovery of S. boulosii and several other taxonomic and floristic novelties by ECWP (Chambouleyron et al. 2015a) illustrate the interest of maintaining well-planned biodiversity field surveys to address the description of hitherto unknown biodiversity (Wägele et al. 2011;Wege et al. 2015). During forthcoming decades, it seems essential to maintain these efforts, especially within global biodiversity 'hotspots' such as the Mediterranean region (Myers et al. 2000), and a careful analysis of the results obtained to optimize these efforts. ...
... During forthcoming decades, it seems essential to maintain these efforts, especially within global biodiversity 'hotspots' such as the Mediterranean region (Myers et al. 2000), and a careful analysis of the results obtained to optimize these efforts. For example, the three new taxa described during the aforementioned surveys are colonizers of open rocky habitats (Chambouleyron et al. 2014(Chambouleyron et al. , 2015a, which highlights the value of prospecting these habitats further, at least in the Mediterranean region. Indeed, high levels of endemism are sometimes indicated for rocky slopes (Lavergne et al. 2004;Bragazza 2009;Pérez-García et al. 2012) due to endemic taxa association with high habitat specificity, low dispersal ability and their naturally fragmented distribution (García et al. 2002;Lavergne et al. 2004;Thompson 2005). ...
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We describe a new cliff-dwelling species within Sonchus (Asteraceae): Sonchus boulosii and analyze its systematic position and evolutionary significance; in addition, we provide a key to the species of Sonchus in Morocco. Both morphological and ecological characteristics suggest a close relationship of S. boulosii with taxa of section Pustulati. However, ITS nrDNA and cpDNA matK markers indicate its uncertain position within the genus, but clear genetic differentiation from the remaining major clades. ITS phylogenetic trees show that likely evolutionary shifts to rocky habitat took place at least five times within genus Sonchus and that sect. Pustulati and S. boulosii clades have a clearly independent evolutionary origin. We postulate that the strong resemblance of S. boulosii to other rocky species reflects a phenomenon of homoplasy, probably driven by parallel evolutionary adaptations to the severe ecological constraints of its cliff face habitat. Therefore, a new section is also described, which includes S. boulosii as its sole representative: section Pulvinati. According to phylogenetic trees, the new clade may share its common ancestor with the clade comprising sections Maritimi and Arvenses, from which it is widely divergent in morphology and ecology, with the exception of Sonchus novae-zelandiae. However, the latter is a derived taxon, with high level of polyploidy unlike S. boulosii that shows 2n = 18, basal chromosome number of the genus. Since sections Pulvinati and Pustulati seem to be quite old in Sonchus, we also hypothesize that some similarities, such as fruit morphology, may reflect the persistence of some primitive characteristics.
... Des campagnes d'inventaires botaniques sont menées par l'Emirates Center for Wildlife Propagation dans le Maroc oriental depuis 2007, une région dont la flore était alors considérée comme mal connue (Ben Elmostafa 1995, Dobignard 2002, Chambouleyron et al. 2015. L'étude d'une partie des récoltes de Poaceae a permis d'identifier plusieurs taxons nouveaux ou peu cités au Maroc, appartenant au genre Helictochloa Romero Zarco et au nothogenre × Agropogon P. Fourn. ...
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La flora herbácea de Marruecos se enriquece con una especie: Helictochloa cincinnata (Ten.) Romero Zarco. Se citan por primera vez dos nothospecies, × Agropogon lutosus (Poir.) P. Fourn. y × Agropogon robinsonii (Druce) Melderis & D.C. McClint.; en el caso de × A. robinsonii, esta es la primera cita para el continente africano. Además, se amplia con nuevos datos el conocimiento de la distribución en Marruecos de un cuarto taxón, Helictochloa gervaisii subsp. arundana (Romero Zarco) Romero Zarco. Esta nota tiene una adenda (descargable en el mismo sitio web)
... Numerous floristic studies have explored the vascular flora of eastern Morocco (Khalil, 1999;Ben El Mostafa et al., 2001;Achhal et al., 2004;Chambouleyron et al., 2015). The number of vascular taxa recorded in this region is 1114 species, belonging to 490 genera and 86 families (Khalil, 1999). ...
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Journal home page: www.plantarchives.org Knowledge of the diversity of the bryophytic flora of the Tafoughalt massif in northeastern Morocco is insufficient and poorly known. The present study is the first bryological work on this massif. The bryophytic exploitation, which lasted three years (2015-2017) during periods favourable for sampling, revealed the existence of 30 bryophyte taxa, 27 of which belong to the Mosses and 3 to the Hepatica, divided respectively into 21 genders and 10 families (90%) then 3 genders and 3 families (10%). The most represented families are the Pottiaceae, Brachytheciaceae and Bryaceae. The most species rich genera are Bryum and Tortula. Four species are the most abundant in this massif, including three mosses and one liverwort:Grimmia decipiens, Orthotrichum rupestre, Pleurochaete squarrosa and Targionia hypophylla. We report the presence of two species new to the bryophytic flora of Morocco. These are Amblystegium serpens and Oxyrrhynchium speciosum. These two species are very rare in our study site according to the ecological significance index (ESI). There are five species newly observed in the region. The majority of taxa (more than 90% taxa) are saxicolous and/or terracolous.
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27 taxons sont signalés pour la première fois dans des unités géographiques du Maroc oriental ou de ses marges littorales, six autres y voient leur présence confirmée. De nouvelles données complètent également la répartition de quelques taxons rarement indiqués dans ces unités.
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27 taxons sont signalés pour la première fois dans des unités géographiques du Maroc oriental ou de ses marges littorales, six autres y voient leur présence confirmée. De nouvelles données complètent également la répartition de quelques taxons rarement indiqués dans ces unités.
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