Composition and structure of the vascular epiphytic of a swamp forest in Southern Brazil

Abstract

Vascular epiphytes are important components for forest diversity. We conducted a floristic survey and performed structural and spatial distribution analyses on the vascular epiphytic component of a swamp forest fragment in the municipality of Balneário Arroio do Silva, Santa Catarina state, Brazil, through the point-centered quarter method, considering trees as sampling units. We found 62 species of vascular epiphytes belonging to 34 genera and 10 families. Forty-nine of these species were sampled in the phytosociological survey. Orchidaceae showed the highest species richness, followed by Bromeliaceae and Polypodiaceae. The most diversified genera were Vriesea, Peperomia and Tillandsia. The predominant pollination strategy was entomophily and the primary dispersal strategy was anemochory. Crowns were more colonized than boles. The highest epiphytic importance value was shown by Microgramma vacciniifolia (Langsd. & Fisch.) Copel. The Binomial test revealed a significant difference between crown and bole for six epiphytic species, which showed preference for one of these strata. Our study contributed to the knowledge on epiphytic flora in swamp forests, as evidenced by the species richness found.