Structure and floristic similarities of upper montane forests in Serra Fina mountain range, southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The upper montane forests in the southern and southeastern regions of Brazil have an unusual and discontinuous geographic distribution at the top of the Atlantic coastal mountain ranges. To describe the floristic composition and structure of the Atlantic Forest near its upper altitudinal limit in southeastern Brazil, 30 plots with 10  10 m were installed in three forest sites between 2,200 and 2,300 m.a.s.l. at Serra Fina. The floristic composition and phytosociological structure of this forest were compared with other montane and upper montane forests. In total, 704 individuals were included, belonging to 24 species, 15 families, and 19 genera. Myrsinaceae, Myrtaceae, Symplocaceae, and Cunoniaceae were the most important families, and Myrsine gardneriana, Myrceugenia alpigena, Weinmannia humilis, and Symplocos corymboclados were the most important species. The three forest sites revealed differences in the abundance of species, density, canopy height, and number of stems per individual. The upper montane forests showed structural similarities, such as lower richness, diversity, and effective number of species, and they tended to have higher total densities and total dominance per hectare to montane forests. The most important species in these upper montane forests belong to Austral-Antartic genera or neotropical and pantropical genera that are typical of montane areas. The high number of species shared by these forests suggests past connections between the vegetation in southern Brazilian high-altitude areas.

Floristic composition and phytogeography of an Araucaria Forest in the Serra da Mantiqueira, Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…This pattern is also found in the Southeasten Region, in the MNF of São Paulo state (Pereira Silva et al 2007;Polisel et al 2014). In the cloud broadleaved dwarf-forest of Serra Fina, Meireles & Shepherd (2015) highlighted the importance of this family in addition to other studies conducted in the upper highlands of the Atlantic Domain, where the abundance of Asteraceae species is associated with high elevation (Brade 1956;Falkenberg 2003;Meireles et al 2014).…”

“…Baccharis is one of the richest genera in the MNF of the PESP. Meireles & Shepherd (2015) and Falkenberg (2003) also found this genus among the richest in forests of Serra Fina (in the triple border of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo state) and Aparados da Serra (between Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul), respectively. The Andes and mountainous regions of Southeastern Brazil are the main centers of diversity for Baccharis (Müller 2006).…”

“…The species of Melastomataceae are very common in the understory of the MNF in the studied area, especially Leandra aurea, L. quinquenodis, Miconia budlejoides, M. hyemalis, and Tibouchina foveolata. Goldenberg et al (2012) reported that in forests of the Atlantic Domain, mainly at high altitudes, species of the tribe Miconiae are among the most common, especially those belonging to Leandra and Miconia, justifying their representation in the MNF of the PESP, as also indicated by Meireles & Shepherd (2015) in Serra Fina. Leandra, Miconia, and Tibouchina also are listed among the richest genera of mountainous areas both in the Atlantic Domain (Chiea 1990;Lima & Guedes Bruni 1997;Falkenberg 2003;Meireles et al 2008) and other Neotropical forests (Gentry 1982(Gentry , 1988(Gentry , 1995.…”

How much do we know about the endangered Atlantic Forest? Reviewing nearly 70 years of information on tree community surveys

“…In addition, our results suggest that rare AF subtypes, such as cloud, swamp, Caxetal and Mussununga forests, are still underrepresented within the AF. In addition to their rarity, cloud and Mussununga forests may also shelter considerable levels of plant endemisms (Thomas et al 1998;Meireles and Shepherd 2015). Therefore, making wise decisions to conserve the AF will depend not only on obtaining more quality information but also on more homogeneous coverage of these rarer or more threatened AF formations.…”

Genetic diversity of Cedrela fissilis (Meliaceae) in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest reveals a complex phylogeographic history driven by Quaternary climatic fluctuations

“…In South America, the most important orographic features of the Atlantic coast are the mountains of the Serra do Mar and the Serra da Mantiqueira (Almeida & Carneiro, 1998), which have a strong influence on the climatic conditions in the South and Southeast of Brazil. Previous studies reported floristic similarities between these highlands (Bertoncello et al, 2011;Meireles & Shepherd, 2015), high tree species richness (Pompeu et al, 2014), and a high proportion of endemic species (Meireles et al, 2014). The mountains harbor part of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF) (Oliveira-Filho & Fontes, 2000), one of the 36 currently recognized global biodiversity hotspots with an exceptionally high number of endemic species (about 8000 are vascular plants species and almost 600 are vertebrate species, Myers et al, 2000) and a high level of habitat loss (Myers et al, 2000;Conservation International, 2018).…”