Floristic Composition and Community Structure of Epiphytic Angiosperms in an Urban Forest Fragment in the Eastern Amazon

Authors

  • Josélia Rozanny Vieira Pacheco Herbário HCP, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia - campus Capitão Poço, Rua Professora Antônia Cunha de Oliveira s.n., Vila Nova, CEP 68650-000, Capitão Poço, Pará, Brazil
  • Felipe Fajardo Villela Antolin Barberena Herbário HCP, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia - campus Capitão Poço, Rua Professora Antônia Cunha de Oliveira s.n., Vila Nova, CEP 68650-000, Capitão Poço, Pará, Brazil; Programa de Pós-graduação em Botânica Tropical, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Avenida Perimetral 1901, Terra Firme, CEP 66077-830, Belém, Pará, Brazil

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/re.v3i4.3830

Abstract

Vascular epiphytes are one of the most important forest components, contributing to microclimatic maintenance. These plants find ideal conditions for development in the Amazon due to the spatial heterogeneity and high temperature and humidity typical of this biome. In recent years, the Brazilian Amazon has undergone dramatic changes in its landscape, mainly due to the increase in deforestation and fire rates. We present here the floristic composition and analyze the community structure of epiphytic angiosperms of an urban forest fragment in Eastern Amazon. A total of 71 epiphytic individuals were recorded belonging to eight species and four families. Orchidaceae was the most representative family, corroborating the pattern for surveys of epiphytic diversity in the Neotropical region. Epiphytic species were found on 24 individuals of 10 tree species. The epiphytic importance value (IVe) was low for all species, except for Aechmea tocantina and Rhipsalis baccifera. Cactaceae was the family with the highest IVe. Most epiphytes were found in the crown of trees (83.1%). The diversity index of the fragment was H’ = 1.80 and the equity index was J= 0.87, reflecting the absence of highly dominant species. Conservation of urban forest fragments is necessary for the maintenance of epiphytic flora and ecosystem services.

Keywords:

Amazon rainforest, Cactaceae, Crown, Diversity index, Epiphyte ecology, Forest remnant, Orchidaceae, Vertical distribution

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How to Cite

Pacheco, J. R. V., & Barberena, F. F. V. A. (2021). Floristic Composition and Community Structure of Epiphytic Angiosperms in an Urban Forest Fragment in the Eastern Amazon. Research in Ecology, 3(4), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.30564/re.v3i4.3830

Issue

Vol. 3 , Iss. 4 (December 2021)

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Articles

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Copyright © 2021 Josélia Rozanny Vieira Pacheco, Felipe Fajardo Villela Antolin Barberena

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.

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