Bryoflora of the Itatiaia National Park along an elevation gradient: diversity and conservation

Abstract

Bryoflora of the Itatiaia National Park along an elevational gradient: diversity and conservation). Itatiaia National Park harbors a unique bryoflora due to presence of different forest formations and well-defined climatic and vegetation bands: Montane Forest, Upper Montane Forest, and High-Altitude Fields (Campos de Altitude). Analysis of bryophyte diversity was undertaken to elucidate the richness and floristic composition of the different Atlantic Forest formations and to investigate the influence of elevation gradients on the bryoflora. Data from literature, herbarium samples, and data banks of the state's flora were consulted. Ten representative elevations were examined. The bryophyte diversity was high, comprising 519 taxa in 213 genera and 81 families (57 % of the total bryophyte flora known to Rio de Janeiro State, and 34 % of the Brazilian bryoflora). Bryoflora distribution was not uniform, showing differences in both species richness and floristic composition along an elevation gradient. The Montane Forest had the highest species richness (296), and numbers of exclusive taxa (172) and the Upper Montane Forest had more endemics species (47), which could be explained by its diversity of climatic, edaphic, and physiographic parameters. The 15 families with 59 % of the total number of species are also among the most species-rich families found in tropical America inventories. The species richness of mosses and liverworts reached their peaks at the mid-Communicated by Jefferson Prado, Pedro V. Eisenlohr and Ary T. de Oliveira-Filho.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Bryophytes of the cloud forest of Pico do Marumbi State Park, Paraná, Brazil

“…The family Leucobryaceae was represented by 19 species (2 Brazilian endemics) in our study, and Costa et al (2015) also observed this in Rio de Janeiro state.…”

“…These authors indicated that bryophtes were the richest and most diverse above this elevation. The results of several other authors are consistent with this finding , Frahm 1990, Gradstein 1991, Kessler 2000, Santos and Costa 2010, Costa et al 2015.…”

“…The genus Sphagnum was found to be dominant in the cloud forests that we surveyed, and this dominance was earlier noted by IAP (2006). Sphagnaceae was among the families with the greatest contribution to the high species richness in High Mountain Forest habitats and elevational meadows of Itatiaia National Park, state of Rio de Janeiro (Costa et al 2015). Species of the genus Sphag num were found growing in dry habitats, such as on such rocks and tree trunks, as well as moist habitats, such as springs and bogs.…”

“…The studies of Santos and Costa (2010) and Costa et al (2015) represent the only bryophyte investigations conducted above 1000 m above sea level in Brazil. These authors indicated that bryophtes were the richest and most diverse above this elevation.…”

“…Upper Montane Forests and High-Altitude Meadows are fundamental to the conservation of bryophyte diversity in the Atlantic Forest, and Santos and Costa (2010) and Costa et al (2015) emphasized the importance of their protection and conservation. The objective of our study is to record and analyze the floristic composition of bryophytes occurring in the cloud forest of Pico do Marumbi State Park, as well as to evaluate the geographic distributions of bryophyte species found.…”