Epiphytic angiosperms in a mountain forest in southern Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest in southern Bahia State, Brazil, has high levels of diversity and vascular plant endemism. There have been few floristic surveys of the mountain forests there, however, especially those focusing on herbs and canopy plants, with studies of Atlantic Forest epiphytes having been limited to the southern and southeastern region of that country. The present study therefore surveyed the epiphytic angiosperms in the Serra das Lontras National Park (SLNP), the distribution of their species among genera and families, and their biogeographical patterns. Fieldwork was performed between February 2011 and March 2012. Collections were made along roads and trails and phorophytes were occasionally climbed and fallen trees and branches examined in order to sample canopy species. The study site demonstrated high epiphyte richness (256 spp.), one of the highest recorded in the Atlantic Forest. The richest families are Orchidaceae, Bromeliaceae, and Araceae, reaffirming the patterns reported in previous major reviews on epiphytes. The species exhibit high degrees of endemism (45%) to the Atlantic Forest, especially among the Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae. One new occurrence to Brazil, four to the Atlantic Forest and 30 to Bahia state are registered. The SLNP shares more species with areas of southern and southeastern Brazil than with other northeastern states. Keywords: Atlantic forest, Araceae, Bromeliaceae, Orchidaceae, biogeographical patterns. LEITMAN, P., AMORIM, A., MENINI NETO, L., FORZZA, R.C. Angiospermas epífitas de uma floresta montana no sul da Bahia, Brasil.http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/ S1676-06032014001013Resumo: A Floresta Atlâ ntica do sul da Bahia apresenta elevados níveis de diversidade e endemismo de plantas vasculares. No entanto, poucos levantamentos florísticos foram realizados em á reas de floresta montana, especialmente para ervas e plantas de dossel. Estudos com epífitas estã o concentrados principalmente em á reas do Sul e Sudeste do Brasil. Desta forma, o presente estudo realizou o levantamento das angiospermas epífitas do Parque Nacional da Serra das Lontras (PNSL) e verificou a distribuiçã o das espécies pelas famílias e gêneros e seus padrõ es biogeográ ficos. As coletas foram realizadas entre fevereiro de 2011 e março de 2012 nas trilhas e estradas de acesso. Alguns foró fitos foram escalados e á rvores e ramos caídos foram examinados com o intuito de coletar espécies restritas ao dossel. A á rea de estudo apresentou alta diversidade de epífitas (256 spp.), uma das maiores já registradas para a Floresta Atlâ ntica. As famílias com maior riqueza sã o Orchidaceae, Bromeliaceae e Araceae, reafirmando os padrõ es encontrados anteriormente em revisõ es do tema. As espécies apresentam alto grau de endemismo (45%) à Floresta Atlâ ntica, especialmente em Bromeliaceae e Orchidaceae. São registradas uma nova ocorrência para o Brasil, quatro para a Floresta Atlâ ntica e 30 para a Bahia. O PNSL possui mais espécies em comum com o Sul e o Sudeste do que com a regiã o Nordeste. Palavras-cha...

Serra do Urubu, a biodiversity hot-spot for angiosperms in the northern Atlantic Forest (Pernambuco, Brazil)

“…The high floristic diversity of the Serra do Urubu is also reflected in other groups of plants such as ferns and lycophytes, which according to Barros et al (2006), have more than 40% of the species cataloged for Pernambuco occurring in the PRNP Frei Caneca. In relation to similar inventories conducted in montane forests in the Northeast, the number of recorded species is compatible with values obtained by Amorim et al (2009), Coelho and Amorim (2014) and Leitman et al (2014), in areas of southern Bahia (412-792 species) and which are recognized for the high diversity and high levels of endemism in their floras. In addition, the richest fragments in the studies mentioned are of sizes comparable with the fragments of the Serra do Urubu (Table 2).…”

“…A proportion similar to this has been shown for areas of Bahia, wherein Orchidaceae account for between 8.2% and 10.2% of the flora (Amorim et al 2009;Coelho and Amorim 2014;Leitman et al 2014). Furthermore, the richness of the family in the Serra do Urubu is among the greatest ever recorded in floristic surveys in the size difference of fragments.…”

“…In addition, some examples are representative, such as Peperomia glabella (Sw.) Dietr., which in the Northeast is known only from montane areas in the states of Ceará (Serra do Baturité and Maranguape) and Bahia (Serra Bonita and Serra das Lontras) (Guimarães and Giordano 2004;Amorim et al 2009), P. pseudoestrellensis C. DC., which in the Northeast has been recorded only in southern Bahia (Amorim et al 2009;Leitman et al 2014), and P. increscens Miq., which occurs in higher areas in the state (Gomes and Alves 2010 In addition to sheltering a large contingent of endangered species, the Serra do Urubu has its relevance to conservation highlighted by the fact that it supports significant portions of biodiversity of ecologically important families of the Atlantic Forest and the flora of Pernambuco state. In this sense, the family Bromeliaceae has 17 genera and 41 species occurring in the area which represents 85% of the genera and 40% of the species recorded for Pernambuco (Forzza et al 2015).…”

“…In addition, the richest fragments in the studies mentioned are of sizes comparable with the fragments of the Serra do Urubu (Table 2). Nevertheless, forest fragments in southern Bahia with more than 2000 ha still have lower species richness than the Serra do Urubu (Amorim et al 2009;Coelho and Amorim 2014;Leitman et al 2014).…”

“…The most diverse families in number of species in the Serra do Urubu (Orchidaceae, Fabaceae, Rubiaceae, Bromeliaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae, Melastomataceae and Solanaceae) were also the most species-rich in floristic studies of montane areas in southern Bahia, such as in the Serra do Corcovado (Coelho and Amorim 2014), Serra Bonita and Serra das Lontras (Amorim et al 2009;Leitman et al 2014). A similar pattern of richness was found in Una where Fabaceae, Rubiaceae, Myrtaceae, Bromeliaceae, Orchidaceae and Melastomataceae were the most species-rich families, listed in descending order.…”