Abstract
Indicators are applied faster and at lower costs than conventional surveys, providing quick and efficient responses that can facilitate protected areas management. Our aim was to select indicators from vegetation to monitor protected areas. For this purpose, we analyzed understory and quantified lianas and tree ferns in protected and non-protected areas, in order to find indicator species. Our study areas are located in Vale do Ribeira, southeastern São Paulo state, Brazil. One of the areas is under two protection categories (IUCN's categories II and V), and the other is a privately owned farm. Lianas with large diameters (> 13 cm) and tree ferns with great heights (> 19 m) were considered indicators of undisturbed areas (protected areas) because their growth is directly related to forest successional stage. Indicator species within the protected area were shade tolerant species, such as Bathysa australis (A.St.-Hil.) K.Schum., whereas outside the protected area were pioneer species, such as Pera glabrata (Schott) Poepp. ex Baill. e Nectandra oppositifolia Ness. All of the suggested indicators can be used in management actions, especially in protected areas, to guarantee forest maintenance and ensure fulfillment of the conservation objectives of these areas.
Highlights
The Atlantic rainforest is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, because of its great diversity of species, level of endemism and threat (Myers et al, 2000)
This study was conducted in two different areas – a protected area (PA) and a non-protected area (NPA) – which were approximately 65 kilometers apart, both in the Vale do Ribeira, southeastern of São Paulo State, Brazil (Figure 1)
All plots allocated in NPA were classified as intermediate successional stage
Summary
The Atlantic rainforest is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, because of its great diversity of species, level of endemism and threat (Myers et al, 2000). The Atlantic rainforest remnants are highly fragmented, mostly as small. A.C.D., Coelho, S. and Cardoso-Leite, E. and isolated patches (Ribeiro et al, 2009). The largest continuous area of this domain is located in Vale do Ribeira, southeastern São Paulo State, Brazil. The remnants represent approximately 50% of what have not been ravaged (Kronka et al, 2005) and the main strategy to conserve the Atlantic Rainforest’s biodiversity is via protected area establishment (Gaston et al, 2006; Le Saout et al, 2013)
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