Diversity and abundance of climbers from the Atlantic Forest, southeastern Brazil

Climbing plant community composition and abundance was compared between the Alto da Serra de Paranapiacaba Biological Reserve (ASPRB) and the Nascentes de Paranapiacaba Municipal Natural Park (NPMNP), two protected areas in the largest Atlantic Forest remnant, southeastern Brazil. Climbing plants ≥1 cm in diameter were sampled in 52 quadrats of 10 × 20 m (1.04 ha). From these data we calculated the Shannon–Wiener diversity index, calculated abundance and importance values for families, performed a principal coordinate analysis, and created a similarity dendrogram (TWINSPAN). The composition and abundance of species between ASPRB and NPMNP differed significantly due to the successional state of the ASPRB forest, which was affected by more recent disturbance. There we found 34 species, while in the NPMNP, species richness was 72, with only 24 species in common. The two areas formed two groups corresponding to two distinct floristic subsets. These montane forests were characterized by a predominance of species of the Asteraceae. The high species richness, floristic composition, and community composition reflect the greater degree of conservation in the area of NPMNP. The high density and community composition of climbers in the more conserved area of rainforest may be due to the low intensity of disturbance.