doi: 10.1590/0102-33062018abb0280 Acta Botanica Brasilica New initiatives for Brazilian aquatic plant data management 1 Marco Otávio Dias Pivari 2 * , Pablo Hendrigo Alves de Melo 3 , Filipe Soares Souza 4 , João Renato Stehmann 4 , Edson Gomes de Moura Júnior 5 , Suzana Neves Moreira 6 , Vali Joana Pott 7 , Arnildo Pott 7 , Aline Lopes 8 , Maria Cecilia Chiara Moço 9 , Lukiel dos Santos Oliveira 9 , Alba Lucia de Almeida Lins 10 , Rafael Arruda 11 , Isa Lucia de Morais 12 , Gustavo Santos Silva 4 and Régis Moreira Ferreira 13 Received: August 8, 2018 Accepted: October 10, 2018 ABSTRACT Initiatives directed at managing information on aquatic plants can support diferent areas of scientifc research, educational practices and political decisions for sustainable management and protection of wetlands and natural resources, as well as reveal knowledge gaps regarding aquatic plants and wetlands. Furthermore, such initiatives can contribute directly to consolidating wetland classifcation systems in Brazil. Te objectives of this work are to present and explore the use of a data repository and online platform created specifcally for the management of data on aquatic plants in Brazil. Te data repository for aquatic plants was developed to store information on species occurrence records in a standardized form considering: systematics, taxonomy, habit, life form, geographic distribution, hydrographic basin, wetland, bibliographic references and herbarium material. A total of 3,903 records referring to the Southeast Region of Brazil were generated for the data repository. Tis total encompassed 1,036 species distributed among 132 families and 466 genera. Our results illustrate the diversity of information available regarding aquatic plants, circumscribe this group of species and serve as a source of data about them. Similar databases and electronic infrastructures can be developed for other fora in the future. Keywords: aquatic macrophytes, biodiversity conservation, data platform, data repository, environmental variables, wetland classifcation Introduction Aquatic plants constitute a group of highly diverse and particular organisms with great morphological variation suiting them to diferent aquatic habitats (Sculthorpe 1985; Lins et al. 2002). Te group deserves special attention due to their distinct ecological and economic roles (Esteves 1988; Irgang & Gastal-Júnior 1996; Pott & Pott 2000; Rebouças et al. 2006), which make them essential for the 1 Research performed through the Núcleo de Especialistas em Plantas Aquáticas (NEPA) of the Sociedade Botânica do Brasil (SBB) 2 Herbário do Parque Estadual do Rio Doce, Parque Estadual do Rio Doce, Instituto Estadual de Florestas, 35185-000, Marliéria, MG, Brazil 3 Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Estadual Paulista, 13506-900, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil 4 Laboratório de Sistemática Vegetal, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 30130-000, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil 5 Núcleo de Ecologia e Monitoramento Ambiental, Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco, 56300-000, Petrolina, PE, Brazil 6 Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul, 79400-000, Coxim, MS, Brazil 7 Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, 79070-900, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil 8 Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, 70910-900, Brasília, DF, Brazil 9 Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil 10 Laboratório de Anatomia Vegetal, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, 66040-170, Belém, PA, Brazil 11 Instituto de Ciências Naturais, Humanas e Sociais, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, 78550-728, Sinop, MT, Brazil 12 Herbário José Ângelo Rizzo, Universidade Estadual de Goiás, 75860-000, Quirinópolis, GO, Brazil 13 Centro Universitário Belo Horizonte, 30455-610, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil * Corresponding author: marcopivari@yahoo.com.br