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| Author(s): |
Marina Melo Duarte
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | Piracicaba. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC) |
| Defense date: | 2013-03-06 |
| Examining board members: |
Sergius Gandolfi;
Flávio Bertin Gandara Mendes;
Flaviana Maluf de Souza
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| Advisor: | Sergius Gandolfi |
| Abstract | |
Enrichment using non-arboreal life forms, such as epiphytes, is critical to the development of forests under restoration, in fragmented landscapes, where natural dispersal is scarce. Epiphytes are plants that grow on top of other plants (phorophytes). They play very important ecological role, performing nutrient cycling and providing microenvironments and food to other life forms. Features of phorophytes, climate, and microclimate influence local diversity of epiphytes. In order to improve success of enrichment in areas under restoration, it is important to determine what filters may play a role in this process. We censused areas that received authorization for vegetation removal and found out that, every year, about 500 ha of Semideciduous Seasonal Forests and Rainforests, in different regeneration stages, are legally cut down, only in the state of Sao Paulo. They can provide material that can be recovered and used to restore other forests. In this work, we focused on the epiphytes that may become available from deforestation. We transferred 360 individuals of six species of this life form among Bromeliaceae (Aechmea bromeliifolia and Tillandsia pohliana), Orchidaceae (Catasetum fimbriatum and Rodriguezia decora) and Cactaceae (Lepismium cruciforme and Rhipsalis floccosa) to two different Semidecidual Seasonal Forests in process of restoration, one of them was 13 years old and the other, 23 years old. Annual canopy cover averages provided by diffferent phorophytes ranged from 62.2 to 85.0% in 13-year old forest and from 79.3 to 92.9% in 23-year-old forest. Survival rates of epiphytes species were higher in the younger forest, from 63.33 to 100%, compared to the ones obtained in the more mature forest, from 55.17 to 89.66%. Transplants performance using palm tree fiber, which enables higher water retention, and at the beginning of rainy season may have been responsible for higher survival rates in the young forest. Survival, rooting, sprouting, flowering and fruiting rates were not related to phorophyte species, to their bark roughness nor to the position of transplantation. On the other hand, they were always relatated to epiphyte species. Only in some cases and for determined species, rooting, sprouting, flowering and fruiting were related to canopy cover. Animals can play important roles as pollinators and dispersers of epiphytes, which shows that their presence in forests is fundamental for the long-term persistance of these plants. In the end, we gathered the main results taken from this work and organized a guide of practical procedures to be adopted in enrichment of areas using epiphytes from forests about to be suppressed. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 10/04370-9 - Transplantion of epiphytes between two Semideciduous Seasonal Forests for enrichment of restored forest |
| Grantee: | Marina Melo Duarte |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |