Vascular epiphytes on licuri palms ( Syagrus coronata (Mart.) Becc.) in a toposequence: Caatinga conservation indicator
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ECOLOGY & BIOGEOGRAPHY - ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Vascular epiphytes on licuri palms (Syagrus coronata (Mart.) Becc.) in a toposequence: Caatinga conservation indicator species Aurélio José Antunes de Carvalho1,2 · Everton Hilo de Souza1 · Grênivel Mota da Costa1 · Lidyanne Yuriko Saleme Aona1 · Ana Cristina Fermino Soares1 Received: 29 April 2020 / Revised: 13 October 2020 / Accepted: 16 October 2020 © Botanical Society of Sao Paulo 2020
Abstract Epiphytism in the Caatinga biome is still poorly studied. In this biome, the licuri palm (Syagrus coronata) is an important phorophyte of several species. In this study, epiphytes were surveyed on licuri palms in order to infer the conservation degree of a Caatinga area. A total of 496 individuals of S. coronata were sampled, in a toposequence in five areas: pasture with licuri (anthropized area), lowland, slope, hilltop and rocky outcrops of an inselberg (conserved areas) and in the community of Jatobá, municipality of Milagres (Bahia, Brazil). Fifty-seven species were identified, encompassing 38 genera and 17 families, growing on licuri palms. The family with the largest number of species was Bromeliaceae (21 species), followed by Orchidaceae, Cactaceae and Polypodiaceae with five species each. In Caatinga vegetation with palm species, the epiphytes on the licuri palm can help the reforestation process, the licuri palm being the key species, where the associated epiphytism demonstrates the dispersion of numerous species. It is a suspended seedlings bank with a nurse plant, where recurring families such as Bromeliaceae, Cactaceae, Orchidaceae, Araceae occur as strategic components in sustainable agroecosystem designs. Keywords Bromeliaceae · Cactaceae · Epiphytism · Orchidaceae · Phorophyte · Semiarid
1 Introduction About 10% of vascular plants are epiphytes, distributed in 73 families, 913 genera and 27,614 species (Zotz 2013). Adaptations appeared in the Pliocene/ Pleistocene, when there was a restriction of water and light (Benzing 1989). Epiphytes are defined as plants that live on others, without emission of haustorial structures on the host, taking advantage of places of accumulation of moisture and organic matter to develop, while obtaining water and nutrients out of the soil (Zotz 2013; Santana et al. 2017). Epiphytes can be classified according to their life cycle. Benzing (1990) and Zotz (2013) classified epiphytism as: * Everton Hilo de Souza [email protected] 1
Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Ambientais e Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, Rua Rui Barbosa, 710, Centro, Cruz das Almas, Bahia 44380‑000, Brazil
Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Baiano, Campus Santa Inês, BR 420 (Rodovia Santa Inês – Ubaíra), Zona Rural, Santa Inês, Bahia 45320‑000, Brazil
2
(1) holoepiphytes or true epiphytes (plants whose whole life cycle is on the phorophyte); (2) facultative or occasional epiphytes (plants that reach the support plant and can survive and complete their entire life cycle in the soil or on the phorophyte); (3
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