Epífitas vasculares na área urbana de Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul

Abstract

Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants, generally trees, without taking nutrients from them through specialized structures. It’s a characteristic ecological relationship of the rain tropical forests of the Earth. About 10% of the vascular flora is formed by epiphytic species, and in Brazil, stands out the Atlantic Forest, where there is greater diversity and abundance of species. In urban environments there is a tendency to decrease autochthonous diversity, including epiphytes, due to habitat destruction and fragmentation, pollution and the introduction of invasive alien species. We carried out a vascular epiphytes inventory in the urban trees of Dourados, MS (22°13'08”S and 54°49'05”O), in different parts of the city, including streets, urban parks and city square. We recorded all vascular epiphytes in each sampled tree were and samples of phorophytes and epiphytes were collected for taxonomic identification. Epiphytic species were classified according to their relation to the phorophyte, dispersal syndrome and main adaptive strategies, in order to better understand the ecology of these species. A total of 472 trees were surveyed belonging to 42 species, with 2571 epiphytes occurrences, 24 species and nine families; Cactaceae (seven species), Bromeliaceae (five), Polypodiaceae and Moraceae (both with three species each) were the richest (63% of the total species), being Tillandsia recurvate (L.) L., Tillandsia loliacea Mart. ex Schult. & Schult.f. and Rhipsalis teres (Vell.) Steud. the most frequent species. Zoochory was the most frequent dispersal syndrome, while xerophytism and its associated adaptive characteristics was the most common life strategy among epiphytes. Urban epiphytes play an important role in enhancing urban biodiversity as they can provide shelter and food for faunal species, even during periods of water deficiency.