Abstract
ABSTRACT We evaluated the local population dynamic of two epiphytic species, Syrrhopodon helicophyllus and Thysananthus amazonicus, over six years from 2014-2020, both before and after the fire event which occurred in the white-sand forest (Campinarana) located in Central Amazon. We did not observed an overall differences on colony abundance on the host tree over time before the fire event in 2019. However, colony abundances shifts along the vertical gradient towards mesic microenvironment which allow to persist during the El Niño event of 2015-2016, and recovered in the following years. Moreover, we observed that colonies of both bryophyte speciesdrastically declined after the fire event in 2019, leading to a complete loss of the species in some of the host tree studied. The direct impacts of climate change with an increased fire and drought events in Central Amazon forests will result in the loss of epiphyte local biodiversity, especially in the unique isolated white-sand forests.
Highlights
White-sand forests (Campinaranas) are habitats characterized by acid poor nutrient sandy soils, with short stature vegetation stature and high luminosity (Cordeiro et al 2016)
Study site - We study populations of epiphytic bryophyte in a white-sand forest located between the municipalities of Manacapuru and Novo Airão, in the State of Amazonas, Brazil (3°02’53.1”S, 60°45’38.5”W)
T. amazonicus was more abundant in the outer canopy than S. helicophyllus (Tukey test p-value = 0.1)
Summary
White-sand forests (Campinaranas) are habitats characterized by acid poor nutrient sandy soils, with short stature vegetation stature and high luminosity (Cordeiro et al 2016). Plant communities are highly diverse in this habitat (Vicentini 2004, Ferreira 2009, Boelter et al 2014, Adeney et al 2016, Guevara et al 2016), with composition changes over the Amazon landscape (increasing beta diversity with geographical distance) (Costa et al 2019). Paleoclimatic studies suggest these open habitats, such as Campina and Campinaranas, expanded in the Amazon forest due to drier climatic conditions during the Last-Glacial maximum, which lead to the specialized biota observed today (Zular et al 2019).
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