Orchidaceae in an Atlantic Forest area: floristics and similarity to other Dense Ombrophilous Forest fragments

Abstract

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is considered a global hotspot for biodiversity although it is currently threatened and highly fragmented. Orchidaceae in this phytogeographical domain is represented by 148 genera, of which 142 are endemic; Rio de Janeiro State contains approximately one third of all Brazilian orchid species. The Wildlife Protection Zone of the Palmares Environmental Protection Area (ZVS da APA Palmares) is located in the municipality of Paty do Alferes in Rio de Janeiro State and forms a mosaic of Dense Ombrophilous Forest fragments together with other conservation areas in the state. We surveyed Orchidaceae at 12 collection sites between July 2010 and February 2012 and analyzed floristic similarities between the collection sites and between 12 fragments of dense ombrophilous forest in Brazil utilizing PAST software and the Sørensen coefficient. The survey identified 27 genera and 43 species. Low indices of similarity among the areas were observed as well as weak support for grouping the ZVS da APA Palmares with the Serra da Tiririca Mountains. Greater conservation efforts are recommended for remnant fragments of Dense Ombrophilous Forest.

Mapping Threats to the Orchid Populations in an Environmental Protection Area in Bahia, Northeast Brazil

“…All individual orchids found were carefully counted and georeferenced (Wängler et al 2015). Special attention was given to the counting of individuals of Vanilla bahiana since they grow and branch out greatly, reaching up to dozens of meters in the area.…”

Ecological data for an orchid diversity hotspot show that the subtribe Laeliinae may be endangered in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

“…This is especially true in the Atlantic Forest remnants and for families that have been historically under pressure from collecting, such as Orchidaceae (Menini Neto et al 2013, Lenzi et al 2015, Lima et al 2015. Data on population size are frequently unavailable, hampering conservation efforts (Cardoso et al 2016), and analyses of spatial distributions of epiphytes on phorophytes and the level of epiphyte-phorophyte specificity are essential for understanding the ecology and preservation of vascular epiphytes (Wängler et al 2015).…”

PROPAGAÇÃO IN VITRO DE Coppensia ranifera (LINDL.) F. BARROS & V.T. RODRIGUES (ORCHIDACEAE)

“…Orchidaceae é umas das famílias botânicas com a maior biodiversidade dentre as angiospermas, com cerca de 25.000 espécies, com grande ocorrência nas regiões neotropicais (WANGLER et al, 2015). No Brasil, existem registradas 2539 espécies de orquídeas (BARROS et al, 2016) e em Santa Catarina cerca de 560 espécies (SIQUEIRA et al, 2014), dentre elas Coppensia ranifera (Lindl.)…”

“…As estruturas semelhantes a protocormos (ESPs) consistem em propágulos regenerados in vitro a partir da indução de diferentes tipos de explantes em cultura de tecidos vegetais (LEE et al, 2013). Dentre os reguladores de crescimento vegetal utilizados como indutores, as citocininas 6-benziadenina (BA) e o thidiazuron (TDZ) ativam os processos de regeneração in vitro em orquídeas (WU et al, 2012). Muitos autores afirmam que as ESPs são embriões somáticos (HOSSAIN et al, 2013;LEE et al, 2013), ou que a embriogênese somática é um passo inicial na formação das ESPs (ARDITTI; ERNST, 1993;BEGUM et al, 1994;ZHAO et al, 2007).…”