Epiphytic (including hemiepiphytes) diversity in three timber species in the southwestern Amazon, Brazil |
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Authors: | Flávio Amorim Obermüller Marcos Silveira Cleber Ibraim Salimon Douglas C Daly |
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Institution: | (1) Botany and Plant Ecology Laboratory, Natural Science and Biology Department, Universidade Federal do Acre, BR 364 km 4, Distrito Industrial, Rio Branco, AC, 69900-000, Brazil;(2) Natural Science and Biology Department, Universidade Federal do Acre, BR 364 km 4, Distrito Industrial, Rio Branco, AC, 69900-000, Brazil;(3) Institute of Systematic Botany, New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Blvd, Bronx, NY 10458-5126, USA |
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Abstract: | Forestry managers have been searching for ways to reduce the impacts of logging on Amazonian biodiversity, but some basic
factors are still not considered in native forestry operations, among them the diversity of epiphytes associated with the
logged trees. Our goals in this study were to determine the floristic composition, quantify the species richness, and characterize
the species diversity of the vascular epiphytic community present in three timber tree species in Acre State, Brazil. We collected
and identified all epiphytes in 30 randomly selected trees ≥35 cm DBH of each of three important timber species, Tabebuia serratifolia, Manilkara inundata and Couratari macrosperma. We also documented the epiphyte diversity in 120 randomly selected trees ≥35 cm DBH of 56 other species to determine whether
the three timber species have different epiphyte diversity than the tree community at large. The epiphyte samples in the three
timber species showed 77 species, 13 of which were new records for the flora of Acre state. The epiphyte community in the
randomly selected trees presented a total of 56 species. The timber species phorophytes hosted on average three times more
epiphyte species per tree than the other 120 randomly selected trees. These results show that a substantial portion of local
floristic richness can be lost during logging activity due if not properly managed by rescuing epiphytes after felling the
trees. Although these epiphytes could contribute positively to forestry sustainability due to their ornamental value, increasing
the economic yield per hectare, there are no local initiatives for economic use of epiphytes. |
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