Included here are the pampas and campos regions of South America and includes the central parts of Argentina, all of Uraguay and the southern extremities of Brazil.
Pampean Flooding Pampa
These wet or humid grasslands are located in the Laprida basin and the Rio Salada basin between the rolling and southern pampas. Some of the grasses, such as Bothriochloa laguroides and Briza subaristata, of these usually low and flat areas, are in fact, also found in rolling pampa but a number of others are characteristic. These include Chaetotropis elongata, Distichlis scoparia, Paspalidium paludivagum, Paspalum vaginatum, Sporobolus indicus, Stipa formicarum and Stenotaphrum secundatum, although composition can be significantly altered by domestic grazing, and there may be several introduced species. Where flooding tends to persist for long periods other species such as Agrostis jurgensii, Deyeuxia viridiflavescens, Leersia hexandra, Panicum milioides and Phalaris angusta become more conspicuous. Swamps and depressions that are more or less inundated all year round are typically dominated by one or two reed-like species. Among the common monodominants here are Typha dominguensis and the endemic or near endemic Zizaniopsis bonariensis (Poaceae), but in saline swamps either Spartina brasiliensis or endemic or near endemic Spartina montevidensis (Poaceae) usually predominate. Common broad-leaved herbs throughout the flooded pampa include Alternanthera philoxeroides, Eryngium ebracteatum, Heliotropium curassavicum, Petunia parviflora, Sida leprosa, Vicia graminea and the endemic or near endemic Grindelia discoides (Asteraceae) and Pamphlalea bupleurifolia (family?).
References
Anon. 1996. Habitats of South America. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology and Intitut Royal Des Sciences Naturelles De Belgique.
Burkart, S. E., León, R. J. C., Perelman, S. B. & Agnusdei, M. 1998. The grasslands of the flooding pampa (Argentina): floristic heterogeneity of natural communities of the southern Rio Salado Basin. Coenoses, 13: 17-27.
Faggi, A. M., Krellenberg, K., Castro, R., Arriaga, M. & Endlicher, W. 2008. Biodiversity in the Argentinean Rolling Pampa Ecoregion: Changes Caused by Agriculture and Urbanization. Urban Ecology, pp. 377-389.
Feldman, S. R. & Refi, R. O. 2006. Changes in the floristic composition in a pampean native grassland under different management practices. Ciencia e Investigación Agraria, 33: 89-96.
Overbeck, G. E., Müller, S. C., Fidelis, A., Pfadenhauer, J., Pillar, V. D., Blanco, C. C., Boldrini, I. I., Both, R. & Forneck, D. 2007. Brazil’s neglected biome: The South Brazilian Campos. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 9: 101-116. ScienceDirect. Elsevier.
Parodi, L. R. 1947. La Estepa Pampean. Geografia de la Republica Argentina, 8: 143-207.
Perelman, S. B., León, R. J. C. & Oesterheld, M. 2001. Cross-scale vegetation patterns of flooding pampa grasslands. Journal of Ecology, 89: 562-577.
Prieto, A. R. 1996. Late Quaternary vegetation and climatic changes in the pampa grassland of Argentina. Quaternary Research, 45: 73-88.
Ragonese, A. E. & Castiglioni, J. C. 1970. La vegetacion del Parque Chaqueno. Boletin de la Sociedad Argentina de Botánica, 11: 133-160.
Rodríguez, C., Leoni, E., Lezama, F. & Altesor, A. 2003. Temporal trends in species composition and plant traits in natural grasslands of Uruguay. Journal of Vegetation Science, 14: 433-440.
Zuloaga, F. O. & Morrone, O. 1996. Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de le República Argentina. I. Pteridophyta, Gymnospermae y Angiospermae (Monocotyledoneae). Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Volume 60.
Zuloaga, F. O. & Morrone, O. 1999. Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de le República Argentina. II. Acanthaceae – Euphorbiaceae. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Volume 74.
Zuloaga, F. O. & Morrone, O. 1999. Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de le República Argentina. II. Fabaceae – Zygophyllaceae. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Volume 74.