Macrófitas aquáticas da região neotropical: uma abordagem cientométrica

Abstract Ecological studies of aquatic macrophytes have increased in recent years and it is necessary a reflexion about the observed vegetation patterns. In this work an analysis of scientometric floristic survey of aquatic macrophytes in Neotropico was performed. Brazil, Mexico and Peru were the Neotropical countries that have focused effectively on the scientific production of the subject, growing noticeably over the past three decades, but for the most them, the papers were published in international journals of low impact. The analyzes also confirm that the most significant botanical families in these ecosystems (ponds, "wetlands", tanks, among others) are Poaceae and Cyperaceae, sampling of species is mostly stochastic and these studies mostly come accompanied of similarity analysis in order to detect patterns of floristic connections between areas. All this scientific effort, presented in this compilation of data, is essential to support conservation efforts, to subsidize further investigation of ecological hypotheses about the group and point regional gaps to the research aiming in the future organizing a general inventory of the aquatic macrophytes in the Neotropical region. Keywords: biodiversity, neotropics, bibliometric