Síntese do conhecimento sobre fenologia e frugivoria no gênero Psychotria L. (Rubiaceae)

Abstract

Phenology help us to understand species responses to environmental and temporal variation in ecosystems and the dynamics of ecological relationships. Thus, the present study aimed to gather information available in the literature on the phenology of Psychotria L. and to characterize the phenology of Psychotria carthagenensis in the Pantanal in a case study. We compiled information about the periods of budding, leaf fall, flowering and fruiting available for the species of the genus, as well as the geographic and temporal distribution of the studies carried out, their respective authors, journals and studied species. There has been a considerable increase in the interest of researchers about the phenology of Psychotria in recent decades, however, studies include only 79 species, which corresponds to less than 4.5% of the species of the genus. Panama and Brazil stand out as the countries with the highest number of studies on phenology for the genus. The most studied were: Psychotria nuda, P. suterella, P. tenuifolia and P. tenuinervis. Flowering and fruiting in Psychotria were investigated in a greater number of phenological studies and encompassed a greater number of species (69 and 70, respectively). The phenophases generally presented a fruiting period of intermediate duration, followed by an extended and short duration. For the case study on Psychotria carthagenensis in the Pantanal, flowering had intermediate duration and annual frequency, fruiting was classified as extended duration and annual frequency. Shrub species are one of the key components in understory areas and understanding the vegetative and reproductive dynamics of species is essential to determine the performance of ecological relationships established between pollinators and seed dispersers.