Rocha et al. 2004 (Article) Brazil

Habitat disturbance in the Brazilian coastal sand dune vegetation and related richness and diversity of bromeliad species

Author(s):—C.F.D. Rocha, A.F. Nunes F., L.C. Carvalho & T.C. Rocha P.

Corresponding email:—cfdrocha@uerj.br

Publication:—Vidalia 2(2): 49-55. (2004)

Abstract:—We analyzed the level of disturbance and related bromeliad richness and diversity in 15 coastal sand dune habitats (“restingas”) of the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil, along 1,500 km, covering the states of Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo and Bahia.. The restingas varied greatly in disturbance level, but most fit under at least one type of disturbance. Bromeliad richness and diversity also varied accordingly, with the relationships between bromeliad species richness and disturbance level and between bromeliad diversity and disturbance being both negative. This indicates that bromeliads are strongly affected by human disturbance in restinga habitats. Bromeliads are organisms particularly important for the biodiversity of the ecosystem they live in, due to the increase of available microhabitats within the bromeliad for the establishment of fauna and flora. The increasing degradation of restinga habitats results in a loss of bromeliad species and because bromeliads directly affect many other forms of life, such loss results in a decrease of a large portion of biodiversity in Atlantic Rainforest habitat

Keywords:—restinga disturbance, biodiversity decrease, bromeliad richness.